Thank you

...

I, and, and I was even perplexed a little bit because, you know everybody, whether you're on the field, whether you're a fan, whether, whatever you do and you follow the Phillies, you wanna hear, you know, what their feelings are about what happened and what, what their goal is moving forward.

And the fact that it's taken this long is, uh, sort of perplexing in a way.

But I guess, you know, they wanted to get everything in order and I'm sure they're ready for whatever questions that the media's gonna fire at them.

How about that?

So, so th- that's, that, again, we go back to the word discipline.

You, you know, y- just I watch guys warm up in spring training, and it's not just the Phillies.

So Mike Schmidt knocking in his fourth run of the ball game, 89th of the year, and what was ironic I guess in a way about that, Larry, is, uh, you were at first base, but the one-oh pitch that he took prior to getting the count to one and two looked like it was right down the pipe.

Yeah, it was, and he was sort of mad at himself for taking it.

And, uh, we were sort of teasing Mike tonight in the batting cage.

You know, we have a lot of instigators on the team, and he hadn't hit a home run at Veterans Stadium since July 31st.

And, uh, about four or five of us let him know, and he said we was gonna do something about it tonight.

And the home run's, uh, our biggest weapon, you know? With the first two guys get on, that's the easy way to get three runs, and, you know, Mike and Bull's been doing it all year.

A high bounding ball over the head of the first baseman, but that'll make up for some of the line drives certainly, the first time.

Well, Harry, you know, lately I've been, uh, a little lazy with the bat.

I was

upset.

And like I said, I remember in L.A. when Gary Maddox caught that fly ball.

That leaves a mark, man.

I don't care what people say.

They're not going to think about that.

I mean, I'm sure they thought they had this game, not in a bag, but they thought they got a good chance of winning it.

Oh

prior to getting the count to one and two looked like it was right down the pipe

yeah it was and he was sort of mad at himself for taking it and uh we were sort of teasing mike tonight in the batting cage you know we have a lot of instigators on the team he hadn't hit a home run in veteran stadium since july 31st and uh about four or five of us let him know and he said we're going to do something about tonight and so home runs are our biggest weapon you know with first two guys get on that's the easy way to get three runs and you know mike involved been doing it all year

high-bounding ball over the head of the first baseman, but that'll make up for some of the line drives, certainly.

Well, you know, lately I've been a little lazy with the bat.

I've been getting my hits, you know, every game, one or two, mainly one, and...

You know, everybody comes up to me and says, are you tired? And the more I hear it, then I say, yeah, I guess I must be.

But I'm really not tired.

When you're in first place, you go out there, and we know we have to throw our lineup out there every day until we clinch it.

What's your response to that,

Bo? I think that there's a lot of organizations that have basically, this is how we do it in this organization.

I'm sitting here watching Milwaukee the last two days.

Do they have super, superstar players? No, but I'll tell you what, they play as a team.

And they execute when you're supposed to.

There's not a lot of Mental mistakes made.

Obviously, everyone's going to make physical mistakes, but there's not a lot of mental mistakes.

Man, I wouldn't trade these three starters with anybody in baseball,

prior to getting the count to one and two looked like it was right down the pipe

yeah it was and he was sort of mad at himself for taking it and uh we were sort of teasing mike tonight in the batting cage you know we have a lot of instigators on the team he hadn't hit a home run in bedford stadium since july 31st and uh about four or five of us let him know and he said we're going to do something about tonight and so home runs are our biggest weapon you know with first two guys get on that's the easy way to get three runs and you know mike and bull have been doing it all year

A high-bounding ball over the head of the first baseman, but that'll make up for some of the line drives, certainly.

Well, Harry, you know, lately I've been a little lazy with the bat.

I've been getting my hits, you know, every game, one or two, mainly one, and...

You know, everybody comes up to me and says, are you tired? And the more I hear it, then I say, yeah, I guess I must be.

But I'm really not tired.

When you're in first place, you go out there, and we know we have to throw our lineup out there every day until we clinch it.

prior to getting the count to one and two looked like it was right down the pipe

yeah it was and he was sort of mad at himself for taking it and uh we were sort of teasing mike tonight in the batting cage you know we have a lot of instigators on the team he hadn't hit a home run in veteran stadium since july 31st and uh about four or five of us let him know and he said we're going to do something about tonight and the home runs are our biggest weapon you know with first two guys get on that's the easy way to get three runs and you know mike involved been doing it all year

Well, Harry, you know,

lately I've been a little lazy with the bat.

I've been getting my hits, you know, every game, one or two, mainly one, and...

You know, everybody comes up to me and says, are you tired? And the more I hear it, then I say, yeah, I guess I must be.

But I'm really not tired.

When you're in first place, you go out there, and we know we have to throw our lineup out there every day until we clinch it.

prior to getting the count to one and two looked like it was right down the pipe

yeah it was and he was sort of mad at himself for taking it and uh we were sort of teasing mike tonight in the batting cage you know we have a lot of instigators on the team he hadn't hit a home run in veteran stadium since july 31st and uh about four or five of us let him know and he said we're going to do something about tonight and the home runs are our biggest weapon you know with first two guys get on that's the easy way to get three runs and you know mike and bull have been doing it all year

high-bounding ball over the head of the first baseman, but that'll make up for some of the line drives, certainly.

Well, you know, lately I've been a little lazy with the bat.

I've been getting my hits, you know, every game, one or two, mainly one, and You know, everybody comes up to me and says, are you tired? And the more I hear it, then I say, yeah, I guess I must be, but I'm really not tired.

When you're in first place, you go out there, and we know we have to throw our lineup out there every day until we clinch it.

And if we were 10 or 11 games out, yeah, I'd be tired, but I'm not tired.

And Billy DeMarz and myself went down the cage today, and we tried to work on hitting the ball into the ground, and tonight I hit the ball very good, and I was pleased with myself.

It looked like it was right down the pipe.

Yeah, it was, and he was sort of mad at himself for taking it.

And, uh, we were sort of teasing Mike tonight, being in the batting cage, you know, we have a lot of instigators on the team, and he hadn't hit a home run at Veterans Stadium since July 31st.

And, uh, about four or five of us let him know, and he said we was gonna do something about it tonight.

And the home run's our biggest weapon, you know, with the first two guys get on, that's the easy way to get three runs.

And, you know, Mike and Boone have been doing it all year.

A high bounding ball over the head of the first baseman, but that'll make up for some of the line drives certainly for that stretch.

Well, Harry, you know, lately I've been, uh, a little lazy with the bat.

Right.

Because this guy's hit 300 almost every year.

And I think sometimes I, I ...

He's never said this to me, but this is just me.

I think sometimes he might take a last at-bat out there or maybe a ba- bases loaded and pop up a pitch that he thought and the next pitch, next time up, ground ball.

Mentally, he's got the skills.

And the guy works.

What is the interaction like between the manager and the GM and the front office at this time of year when you have a good team that has flaws or holes and the trade deadline is approaching? Are you in there every day saying, "Get me this, get me this?" What, what are those conversations?

Do you feel like it's still like that?

I think it, I think it's more for, uh, amusement now.

I don't, I, I, back then it was like, "Okay, let's see who's the better team," because we didn't have Interleague and so you, you tried to measure yourself up to the American League at that time.

And the All-Star Game proved to be one of those things to say, "Okay- You guys are supposed to be pretty good and so are we.

And we, we took it personally when we played.

And to have the, the president of the league and the manager say how important the game was, that was a big deal.

The president came down, president of the N- United States came down one, especially the one in, uh, 1976.

... do you think they should go back to an American National League just for, like, the nostalgia part of it?

This is a part of you.

You know what, Anth? I, I think the biggest thing is, is, uh, is that these guys, the f- when I say these guys, the fans, they want effort.

If you give them effort every time you put that uniform on, I'm not gonna say they're never gonna boo you, 'cause hey, they booed the greatest third baseman ever in Mike Schmidt.

But they also realized halfway or three-quarters of the way through his career what a great player he was, and then they honored him with ovations every time he came to the plate.

You have to be ready to play when you put that uniform on, especially, I mean, all the time you should be ready, but when you, when you're playing a home game, you better do your homework, you better play hard, and l- give the fans what they want.

This is a blue-collar city, and they want you to play like a blue-collar player.

They don't want to see you trot down to first on a ground ball.

Yeah.

Prior to getting the count to one and two, it looked like it was right down the pipe.

Yeah, it was.

And he was sort of mad at himself for taking it.

And we were sort of teasing Mike tonight in the batting cage.

You know, we have a lot of instigators on the team.

He hadn't hit a home run in Bedford Stadium since July 31st.

And about four or five of us let him know, and he said we were going to do something about it tonight.

high-bounding ball over the head of the first baseman, but that'll make up for some of the line drives, certainly.

When someone brings up the 1976 All-Star Game in Philadelphia, is there a specific moment or memory that, that comes to mind?

You know what, Scott, the fact that we played in, in our own city was unbelievable.

Uh, the reaction, the crowd reaction when they introduced all of us is something that you never, ever forget.

With the exception of winning the '80 World Series, that was an incredible moment for me, uh, to play in front of your hometown, in your ballpark, and looking at the cast of characters, the players on both sides.

You know, I l- I happened to just check out the roster a couple days ago, and the, the American League had some good pitchers there.

And I, uh, the thing that stands out in my mind, you know, you have a meeting before.

It's, it's a lot different now, obviously.

Have you ever seen anything like it, just in terms of a, um-... a transformation or, or the kind of growth that he's had.

And what, what have you seen from those two guys? And is this sustainable the way they've been playing?

I think it's su- sustainable, uh, no question.

I don't think Bohm's a 200 hitter and I don't think Stott's a 220 hitter.

You know, baseball's a long season, and when you get out of the gate slow, everything's magnified.

You look up there and your average is 185 or 210, and you don't really have a lot of at bats, and then once they settle in a little bit.

We're getting, we're getting, uh, players responding from every position right now.

It's not just one guy.

You see them both growing into just being everyday guys with the way they're playing?