John Smoltz Talks The Mid Summer Classic And Buck Showalter
MLB Hall of Famer John Smoltz joins the Scott Garceau Show with Jeremy Conn to discuss his enshrinement into the Hall of Fame and an upcoming special on Baltimore Orioles Manager Buck Showalter. John will be enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame later this month. Scott asked Smoltz how he's feeling heading into the ceremony. "There's a lot of it and the reason is because it's like getting ready for a huge start, it's the 7th game and you want to do your best to be prepared. I think it's the same thing, you just want to deliver, it's one time you don't get a chance to redo it."
John played in 8 All Star games over the course of his 21 year career, most of which were after the change to the All Star game giving the winner Home Field Advantage in the World Series. John gave his thoughts on the mid-summer classic and how it could be improved. "I think you can't change the game and still have the same rules of how the guys get on the team. Baseball always did a great job of representing the guys that the fans want to see and the most deserving people. Now managers are given the task of trying to win for their respective leagues so you don't try to get everyone in like you used to. You don't try to reward everyone for their efforts. You just are basically given that opportunity to maybe benefit from that one game that you might win."
The MLB Network is running a special on Baltimore Orioles Manager Buck Showalter Wednesday July 15th at 7 PM. John talked about the man Baltimore has taken under its wing. "I think Buck is a great example of a mind that thinks about baseball and tries to get the most out of his unit of guys. He's learned a lot from his past and maybe even made him a better manager now than he was at any point. It showed last year and unfortunately the guys ran into a buzz-saw in Kansas City. But I think Baltimore had it's best chance to really do something special."
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