The 6-1-1 Podcast: Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro joins Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins
All right, we are back on the 611 podcast. It’s me, JRo, Jimmy Rollins. Got my man Big Peace Ryan Howard. And today, uh, we have a guest, a a distinguished gentleman. Yes. Shall we say? Yes, sir. He served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 2005 through 2012. Montgomery County Board of Commissions from 12 through 17. is the former AG of Pennsylvania and currently the 48th governor. Wow. of Pennsylvania. Governor Shapiro, welcome to the show, guys. It is cool to be with you. And you you read up on my Wikipedia page or something there, right? Well, I keep it on my phone and just just to be certain, I always put on the on on the big screen, you know. You got to have you got to have it. The secret behind the cast. Got to have a team to make you sound good. There you go. Thanks, guys. [Music] Thank you so much for joining us first and foremost. First, wait, I I do want to say one thing real quick before we get into this thing done. Yeah, the old I’m going to add I’m going to add a new nickname in from my man Young James. We’re going to call him hole in one. That was unbelievable. Which was which was amazing to see. Tell us about that. I was known around there as Captain Boat Man. Captain Boatman? Yeah. It was I walked up and Josh Allen was like, “What’s up, Boatman?” I was like, “Yeah.” Well, I got some questions here. You ever do that before? Never done it before. First one. So, you get up. It’s par three. It’s like 140 or something. 139. 139 is the actual yardage, but 140 sounds like Okay. 140. That’s 149. And you just you you line it up. You get it. Here we go. Walk us through this. Here we go. So, we’re coming from holy um whole 11 to 12. Okay. And who’s your partner? Uh that day was Grant Hill and Devonte. Devonte. Okay. You walk up and the boat is right there and it is a gorgeous boat. And year after year it’s like, man, it’d be nice to win the boat. You know, every I think everybody has that thought and it’s not necessarily about getting the hole in one. It’s the prize that comes if you get one. Now, if you get hole in one, you’re going to be happy no matter where you where it is. But you’re buying drinks. I happen. Well, they were they were for free for everybody at the cliff. So, I sent everybody up top. So, as we’re approaching the uh whole the volunteer, sweet, sweet, sweet old older woman was like, “I just really think they want somebody to win that boat today.” I’m like, “Oh, yeah. Why do you say that? They have it right up front for you guys. It’s only 139 yards and this is a hole I play a lot and it’s down up front. So, all you have to do is land it to the right and then move to the left.” I’m like, “That’s all it takes.” She’s like just just a little bit on the right and it’s going to move to the left. You had a little unfair advantage. She had a little coach. Yeah. Wow. We’re getting a real scoop right here. It’s being coachable. See? Yes. You have to be coachable. You have to be coachable. Yes. So I said, you know what? I’m going to try to do that. You said just a little to the right. He’s going to move left. She said just right to left. So I come up there and you know, you’re lining up and in back of your mind you’re like, man, this would be nice to win a boat. But it’s not something realistic. It’s just a thought obviously something to chase. So I take the swing and when I hit the ball I’m just staring at I was just like lost space. It was just like oo man that’s a nice looking shot and that’s a pretty ball. And I’m hearing Dvonte Adams in the background like man that’s going to get in the hole. Jump in the hole. And I never looked at the green. You know usually when you hit a ball you kind of look you look at the green and you’re trying to judge it yourself. I didn’t do that. You’re just watching. I just watched the flight and I was just lost in lost in the flight. It’s like, “Oh, that is a nice looking ball.” And then you’re watching it hit the ground and as it hits, it’s like slow motion at this point. Yeah. I see the ball. It looks like I’m standing on the green and in my mind because I’ve gotten close before between the four balls that I’ve gotten really tight. There’s probably two feet total of me being that close to not making a hole in one. It I see it bounce and I think it bounced the second time they told me. I just saw a bounce in a roll and then it disappeared. But prior to that, I’m thinking, okay, here’s another middle tap in for birdie cuz they never go in. They just never go in. Sure. And here it is at Tahoe, the ACC um American Century Championship. There’s no way it’s going in for both. And it goes in and I turn around and Devonte is already in the air. This what it felt like. It felt like slow motion. And so he’s a strong guy, too. But he’s like 6’4. It’s one thing for and he jumps into big piece here. He’s jumping into the short stop. I mean, that’s So, it felt like I was saying I was like, “Oh, I guess I better jump too. Just kind of alleviate some of this weight, but he grabbed me.” I turned around, gave Grant Hill a five, gave Ray, my caddy a five cuz he’s he shot some wrong numbers before, but he got that one right. Um, and then I went over to the lady and I was like, “Right to left just like you said.” And so then I had some fun, you know, jumped on the boat like this boat is mine. But I I’m like, “Do I jump on the boat? Can I get on the boat?” And the mass crash is like, “Well, it’s your boat.” I’m like, “It is my boat.” Well, that was the question cuz when you first ran up to the boat. Yeah. It was like a little kid trying to jump up and into look into the window and was like, I kind of thought about it halfway through and was like, “Ah, I’m not going to be able to make it all the way up.” Okay, that’s a fact. I thought I No, I was like, “Hey, don’t get too ahead of yourself.” But I got on the boat cuz that Mastercraft was there. They came over. Everybody screaming and yelling and I was like, “Can I go?” I was like, “It’s your boat.” Like, you damn right. My boat. Hook it up to the back of the truck and drive it home. No. So, it stayed out there. I I told him leave it on display. Don’t don’t don’t take this away from people. You know, everybody else. You’re such a good man like that. You know, everybody share. It was showtime. It was It was It was a red light. Speaking of sharing, on behalf of my client Big Piece, over here, how how many days a year, how many weeks a year does he have access to the boat? I want to make sure. So that that I don’t know that you’re there without I’ve been asked I’ve been asked plenty of times and I will say look I’ve moved to California that is a wakeboard boat which means it’s pretty much made for lakes nice you know conditions obvious obviously lakes can get choppy but not like the ocean water I want a Pacific and I don’t want to have to pay dockage fees storage fees uh you know having to drive to two hours to uh lakeor and that’s not a boat for Lake. I need a a lake late lake. You feel me? So with that being the case. Yeah. I don’t know if there going to be any hours for you, Ryan. Oh, so all those all those throws he picked out of the dirt, that’s all yours all those years. Did you see all those four samers that he would drop? Hit them right in his boom. Just right in his palm. Look at that. That’s two hand piece right there. You know, just Wow. I tried to go onehanded and it was a new glove. Oh, it’s probably a new glove. That’s why it wasn’t broken in. had a little cut at the end. Yeah. Oh my god. But I digress. I digress. Okay. Anyhow, I threw I threw one of the truest balls. JJ Hardy may have been truer than me than it was me. Come on, bro. That’s it. That’s it. I think he was still moving. It was It was those feet trying to get in position, not the gloves. Well, it’s 16s trying to get them things in position. It’s a little tough. Got to got to get lighter with There it is. You guys heard it here first. It was never the gloves fault. It was It was the feet. The size 16s. Anyhow, we digress. Let’s get back to here. Let’s get back to why we’re here, right? We Yeah, Pennsylvania has a pretty uh full schedule coming up and it’s going to be the 250th of the country. And uh I’ll we’ll let you introduce what’s all happening. And I know one thing took place before you were governor, but you still have to make sure the biggest piece of it all. See, I saw you saw that. The biggest piece of it all done is executed at the highest level because we we happen to be associated with this game. But you tell us what’s happening in 2026 in Pennsylvania. 250 years ago, it all started, right? The birth of this great nation, the birth of democracy, the birth of real freedom. And it happened in the city of Philadelphia. Amazing. Band of patriots come together. They say, “We’re gonna declare our independence from a king and we’re gonna we’re gonna get this started.” And what the beauty of this nation is everybody’s got a shot to perfect the union. Now, we haven’t always been perfect and we’ve made strides and we’ve made progress over the years, but we’ve got an opportunity now after 250 years of that being set in motion in the city of brotherly love and sisterly affection to put our stamp on it for the next 250 years. And so to celebrate that, we got all kinds of cool events happening from, of course, Major League Baseball All-Star game coming back to Philly. I think it’s been 29 30 years I got drafted. Yep. So, it’s going to be amazing. I think Banks going to be rocking. It’s going to be incredible. Hopefully, a bunch of Phils are going to be on that team. We also have a ton of other stuff. I worked my tail off to get the NFL draft on the other side of the state. Pittsburgh, that’s a massive event. We’re going to have the PGA Championship. I understand you’ll you’ll be playing in that at Aronomic, right? They need somebody to hit all They need celebrity guests. There you go. We got March Madness coming to Philly. Um, we’re working on some other stuff, too. I mean, it is just going to be an amazing amazing year. And I think it’s an opportunity to have fun. It’s also an opportunity to like be serious about recognizing we live in the greatest country on the face of the earth. We got differences. We got partisanship. We got people who sure at this table we got things we all disagree on, but it’s a moment for us to set aside those differences and celebrate this great country. And I I’m I’m excited. And and of course, we’re going to have the international eyes on us, too, with FIFA, the World Cup, which is just going to be incredible. You know, you know, he’s a He’s an owner of a football team. Yeah. Crystal, was it Crystal Palace? Crystal Palace. Uh, they’ve had actually a pretty good year. Yeah. Pretty good year this year. So, see, he’s had he’s had the soccer team or football team longer than half the boat and I still haven’t been invited out. So, enjoy a match. We’ve already discussed this. Put it to put this out here. He wants to be a guest to Augusta with me, but he doesn’t want to invite me to a Crystal Palace. So, we’ll get See, we’ll get I think you guys need to talk this out. Yeah, we got to talk this out. That’s what we’re doing. Just airing out all the dirty laundry out here. We have We have an arbitrator. He’s He’s How long have you? Oh, been in it now for about What is it? Six years. And I’ve owned the boat for two weeks. Wow. And he wants me to invite him on my boat. Not even access to a Crystal Palace map. What do you guys play? What’s that? What do you guys play? Sur. Yes. Yes. I’ve never been. See, wonder why. Be nice to go. Yeah. I thought it would be amazing to go. Maybe we go together like if we got an invite or something. We’ll get it done. We’ll get it done. You guys are officially invited. You know what? Invite. You are officially invited. Both of you. And then we go then we figure it out from there. Yeah. Both of you are officially on with me. You know what I’m saying? We’ll get over to a match. What made you want to buy a a football team? I always loved football. I I I grew up playing multiple sports. Yeah. Not like how a lot of kids are doing today where it’s you’re having to focus on one sport, right? But grew up playing basketball, soccer, baseball. That’s how you knew what time of year it was by the season. And so it always wanted football. I always enjoyed it. My mom wouldn’t let me play football. Think you could play was soccer. She wouldn’t let me play football. So were you any good? So I learned it. I was all right. But then yeah, I played, you know, played against a couple guys like St. Lewis, where I grew up, was pretty big soccer soccer spot. And so we had a couple guys um that wound up like playing MLS that I that I grew up with. So I’d like to say I was participating while they were actually playing. He was he was helping to make them great players. Yeah. The size 16 is like, look, it’s not the footwork. We got to kick around his foot. I mean, those are some big problems. If we can kick around that foot, we’re good. That’s when they learn to bend. I managed I managed to work my way from the front to the back. I started off, you know, as a as a forward and worked my way and finished my soccer career as a defender. I have a I have a more serious question for you. So, you’re playing all these sports. I grew up the same way. Just like whatever the season was, that was the sport you played. Soccer was like less of a thing. I think when I was I’m older than you guys, but here’s my question for you. In in all seriousness, when did you realize like you were pretty special at baseball? Like that, hey, I’m good at all this stuff. I like all this stuff, but like I might have a little something special here on baseball. Hold on. You’re talking about this. This sounds like a Josh from Juniata. Juniata section, you know, you know, I mean, this this is what this sounds like. You know what? I’m going to kick back and enjoy this. I love it. I love it. Uh, it was more so I think my parents saw it and then my like coaches like other coaches and people saw it. Like I just enjoyed playing the game to play the game. Like I love the thrill of me versus the pitcher is what I always thought it was. It was that one-on-one like everybody else was just there. Yeah, but um basketball was my first love and when I grew and got to high school and then I saw that point guards were 67 68 I was like this probably ain’t going to work. So yeah, and everybody was always saying like, “Hey dude, you’re way better at baseball.” You know, I had mastered my skyhook, my Magic Johnson sky hook basketball, you know, but you know, it was one of those things where I was like, “All right, let’s see where baseball takes me.” Jimmy, you okay? You want to fix your fix your face? You okay? I was You need a break? I I was parched. I I was parched. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. But Gov, speaking of of sports and and I love that you’ve delved so much into it and what you’re doing for the state. Thanks. Um we have to ask you a couple um on the spot questions about Pennsylvania athletes. Oh. Not necessarily the city of Philadelphia or Pittsburgh. The two major You’re going to force me to make some choices here. Yeah, it’s it’s it’s always uncomfortable to have to answer these, but when it comes to Pennsylvania athletes Yeah. and and and and you can expand. You can add, you know, athletes on. You don’t have to keep it at five. Okay. You can you can drop more drop more on there. Who who would fit that bill? Your Mount Rushmore of Pennsylvania athletes. Roberto Clemente. Okay. Solid. Uh Dr. J. Yes. I know he played in Green Bay also, but I think he got to put the Minister of Defense, Reggie White, on there. Yep, for sure. Um, he’s pretty special. I think you got to put Schmidy on there. And do I have room for two more? I’ll throw you two up there. Hey, you know, thank you. Why not? I mean, we we don’t match the credentials of the others. No, but we will take it. I I grew up I mean, you could make an argument for AI, right? AI. And I’m I’m a huge Hoops fan. Like I’m just Sixers have been I’ve been just like a fanatic about them my whole life. But I mean there’s just something about the way Dr. J changed the game. Like I don’t think there’s MJ who I consider to be the GOAT without Dr. J. And so I put a lot of stock in that like the guys who changed the game and led to you know sort of a a a new approach to you know how the game would be played. And I I think Doc was kind of that that transitional figure. How was your game? It’s been said you were considered to be a pass first type of John. Yeah. Just kind of a facilitator. I mean, what what what kind of game did you have? You came along at a time when the point guards were 67, right? The Magic Johnson types. I mean, Magic was that unicorn cuz most of the point guards at that time were motifs, right? They were 5’11, 6 feet tall. So, I was a traditional point guard. And there was nothing better to me than the big guy getting the rebound, kick it to me, let’s run. And rarely would I take it all the way to the hoop. But I would love to find the person for the the quick pass for the layup. Now, this is long before Steph Curry, who would be flying down another hole. He hit a hole in one recently, by the way. Yes, he did. Coming down, stop and pop from three, which is what my kids do now. And yeah, I’ve coached my kids. I’ll I’m the coach that’s like, “No, don’t shoot that.” And then it goes in. I’m like, “That was a great play. That’s what I do with it.” Right. Right. But, you know, when I played it was you bring it down, you get to that foul line, you look one way, you pass the other. So, that was my game. Um, and that’s how you Yeah. I could hit a jump shot. Although threes were frankly less of a thing. It was more that mid-range jump shot. Okay. So I be the guy that would score eight to 10 points a night but have eight or 10 assists. Were we breaking? Were we breaking ankles though? Did they need Did they need that? Did they need that ankle insurance? I mean look over. I’m a 5’9 Jewish guy, so I’m not sure I’ve got like all the skills there, but I could see the game. I could see the game. And and like a moment of seriousness, I still think about the game when I do my work every day. Yeah. So, I’ve got this incredible team I get to work with every day. And you know, look, technically I’m I’m their boss, right? I get to make the decision. But I I view it more like we are colleagues. We are on a team and if everybody’s doing their part, right? whether it’s getting that rebound, you know, spotting up, being able to play defense, like everybody’s got their role in my administration, and if they all excel at that, then I’m going to end up getting the win, getting the W, right? And so to me, I I view everything through that prism of a team game, a team sport, and and basketball, which I think is the most beautiful sport, right? If everybody’s occupying the right place on the court, you got the right spacing, everybody’s doing the right thing, you’re going to make the shot, you’re going to stop the others from making theirs. And so I still think about that a lot when when I uh when I govern and I still play a little bit with my kids, although they don’t respect me anymore, so they just run right the hell like, “Dad ain’t got a Jay. We good. We good. He’s he always waiting to get to the foul line and dish it off. Make make him shoot. Back off dad when he’s behind the big thing. They’re always like, “Dad can’t make the three. Back off them.” I’m like, “Ah.” And my first step is I do not have an Andrew Tony like uh, you know, first step. There’s some things we lose as we get older. And it’s okay. It’s It’s okay. I don’t even know the last time I’ve tried to run after anything. I’ll be honest. My daughters, they they’ll run around the house. They look at me like, “Dad, you’re slow.” And they’ll say it and I’m like, “Man, that is that that hurts.” But it’s the truth. Well, I don’t know if this happens to you guys now when I go out to play. My wife doesn’t wish me the best. I hope you win. Have a great game. It’s don’t get hurt. Yeah. Like I don’t want to deal with you if you get hurt. Right. So, as a kid, speaking of children, who or what was your favorite team? And who were you who was your favorite player? Any sports team period. Not. So, for me, it’s like in phases, right? The 83 Sixers. Mhm. When Doc did the Rockabby Baby and you know, they won that championship like that was very special. I was 10 9 10 years old. Nine years old I guess something like that at that point. And like that was the first time I sort of felt like I knew everything about a team. Like I studied them every day. I read the box scores. I listen to sports radio. Like I was all in. Of course you had the 80 Phillies, but like for me I think that was that was like the first team that I I felt like this deep connection to as a kid. I knew everything about every player, every game, everything. And then we had a whole bunch of lean years, right? I mean, we lost at everything. And then I think your team in 2008, I had two kids at that time, one who kind of knew what was going on, right? Um, and that was pretty special for me having lived through those lean years to now be a dad in a city that had been tortured and heartbroken and to be able to like sit down and watch you guys play with my kids with my dad. I was at that game five, remember that got split, you know, with the bad weather with my dad. Like that was really special for other reasons, right? Like I sort of felt like we had come through this dark moment and you guys brought us light and joy and it was amazing. And then, you know, of course when the birds, you know, beat Tom Brady on that incredible, you know, Philly special. So I think like those are moments but but I think that juxosition between the 83 Sixers that like as a kid I was like so a part of and then to come back with you guys in ’08 that was pretty damn special I got to say. Was there anything like that from the baseball standpoint like growing up? Did you play I did baseball? Yeah. How was that? I played as a pitcher. Um and it’s interesting my dad’s a a pediatrician and he saw so many kids who blew out their elbows. So my dad would not let me throw a curveball, but he taught me how to throw a dirty split finger fast ball. And I actually had good control. I was a good pitcher, you know, did our travel league, all that kind of stuff. And and I enjoyed that very much. But I always kind of was drawn back to basketball and and enjoyed that, you know, maybe maybe a little bit more, but I I love baseball and I love playing it and and I love being a pitcher. So, hey, speaking of baseball, we, you know, you there are a couple teams in the state. Uh, one’s doing really well. One has some some dynamic players, some dynamic players, some stars on the way. It’s unbelievable. And if Josh from Abington was calling in today? Yeah. What would be his hot button topic? I guess right now, what are the Phils gonna do at the trade deadline? Do we need to do we need to bolster the bullpen so we don’t have to have Well, yeah. That’s like where, you know, the heart starts racing. Um the the bullpen just worries you. And you know, look, I happen to think we have enough bats to be able to win a World Series. Our problem the last two seasons is we got a little cold when when it mattered most. And so, you know, if you’re Dumbrosski, do you say, “Look, I’m banking on the fact that we’re going to be hot at the right time because we got the pieces we need. So, I’m going to go bolster the bullpen or do I not trust that and say, “Look, if past his prologue, we need we need something else. We need another bat going into the playoffs.” We’ll see. I think that’s something I would I’d probably weigh in on. And then look on the other side of the state. I mean, the Pirates have uh they have a real decision to make, right? They have a real decision to make on what their level of investment is going to be, what their level of commitment is going to be. It’s going to be real expensive. It’s going to be real expensive over there. And I don’t know if they can afford that budget. If you’re a club that can’t keep skins and can’t keep some of these other guys and surround them with a great veteran like Cut and others, like, you know, I think you got to ask ask questions about not just the future of the Pirates, but the future of small market baseball teams. Um, and you know, I think those are those are real issues that we’re going to have to grapple with and you know, h how we can make sure to protect the Pirates and and give them a chance to be successful every year while also competing with teams like the New York Mets, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, and Los Angeles Dodgers and others who frankly are spending crazy money crazy money. Um, how do we create some equity there? So probably those are those are things we are here in MLB offices. there’s a guy that you can go talk to. We we can find what employer he does a great job. I’m I’m a fan of Commissioner Lford, I got to say. And he and I have gotten to know each other over the years. He has a tough job um to lead America’s pastime. And I I think he does a really good job. And to be able to figure out how to balance, right, like I said, you know, stupid money like the New York Nets with these small market teams, the Rays, the Brewers, the Pirates, and others. That’s tough. That’s a tough thing. and um figuring out how to get some equity like you have in the NBA, in the NFL, and other places. They got to work at that. There’s a lot of celebrity baseball, softball, all that kind of stuff. We do have the kind of a two-part question. One, are there any celebrities you would love to see in the celebrities softball? Are they talking about just celebrity? Well, let’s go let’s go let’s go let’s go both. Both. Let’s go. Let’s go a little bit of both. And how much pull do you have? Cuz that’s that’s what’s really going to You want me to get them to play? We got to call some people. We got to call some in that from the capital standpoint. Where like there’s we’ve been told there’s a lot of fans right in in in the sport of baseball. Is there like a capital like Democrats, Republicans type of game, softball, baseball game? There is not a game and and not for any like political reason or I just there hasn’t been one. There is a men’s pickup basketball game, but that’s a little looser. I mean, it’s not sort of the most formal thing. We should get a Capital baseball game and maybe you guys could come and and kind of be our our celebs that, you know, you could coach each team. I would do it. I would love that. House versus Senate, D versus R. Whatever. We’ll figure it out. Got to go to the bird. I like that. Let’s do it. All right, let’s do it. You heard it here first. We have We’re not sure what year this is happening, but we’re going to do it. We’re going to do it. And we should get Shady McCoy. He’s a Harrisburg guy. Micah Parsons is a Harrisburg guy. We’ll get some I did not know that. You know what? Only because that’s why I didn’t know that. Mike, we good now, though. We good. Uh we got Aaron Donald. He’s a Pittsburgh guy. So, we we got some guys that’d be a lot of fun. Nice little squad. Nice little squad. But who who comes to the uh All-Star game? Who’s your who’s your wish list? I mean, right, you got to get Taylor Swift. She’s Pennsylvania. You should be a hell of a hell of a draw. Um I mean, non Pennsylvania, look, I’ll tell you what, my sort of bucket list of of guys I want to meet, athletes I want to meet, I want to meet Michael Jordan. Oh, I grew up with MJ being sort of the goat. I think MJ and Dr. Jay, and I’ve had the chance to meet Dr. J and I just kind of felt like I didn’t know what I can, you know, I kind of talk to most folks with Dr. J. I was like, back to being a kid. MJ, that’d be pretty amazing, right? MJ kind of has that effect, too. You see him, it’s like you feel like you’ve you’ve known him your entire life cuz he’s been around my entire life. Yeah. And it’s like, man, I haven’t really officially well, at least first of all, I hadn’t really met him yet, but he welcomes you in like family. That’s cool, you know? So, but you definitely you hear about that glow and that aura about you definitely feel that he what is he what he 66 but from a distance he’s like 8t tall it’s like that’s MJ keeps and it keeps getting bigger the closer you get and then it’s like MJ cool as hell man so that’s that’s a good one he he’d be my wife was teasing me about that the other day like I’ve look I’ve been privileged in this world I’ve met presidents I’ve met pope I’ve met some like extraordinary people right feel like MJ’s like in a little bit of a different category Right. No doubt about it. No doubt about it. Okay, so we MJ, who are you guys drafting? Dr. J. Dr. J is the guys on the list. Who else is on your list of that you would love to see attend the 2026 Allstar game? Well, look, we got to have some fun. We’ll bring Meek, right? We got Meek out. He’d be a lot of fun. Um, I don’t know. Who are you guys bringing? I’m calling up Miles. Miles Taylor. He’d be great. I think you got to look at Bradley Cooper. Yeah. But and Milesley Miles for sure was a huge massive Philly Philly Philly sports guy. Rob Mhenny, we got to get Rob another guy like you. That’s right. Is is is he in your level yet? They’re still He’s still They’re still one down. But what a story that amazing what they’ve been able to do over there. It’s amazing. And speaking of Rob, we went golfing with them last year in Scotland. He had us out there with his uh with his crew. It was Chase Rob. Uh I forgot his business partner’s name. Uh Steve. Steve. uh myself, Ryan, and Shane, and we had a blast. We had an absolute blast. It was a lot of fun. So, yeah, that that’s a pretty good list for me. And Shady, and Mike Parson. Yeah, for sure. I would love to see AI come back for that. I would love to see Donovan come back for that. You know, I know at the end it got a little rough for him, but you know, with time, I think everyone’s remembered differently. So, having Donovan back, um, especially because we share the stadium when we were at the vet, that’d be cool. Have him come across it. It It’ll be dope. I think he’d be well received and it it’ be awesome. He deserves the crew. He deserves the crew. We need Quest come through. You know who else we need? We need our buddy Michael Rubin cuz we got to look. We got to look good when we’re playing. We got to get got to get him out there. We need some fresh gear player. You feel me? Got to get him. You ever see him throw a baseball though? We do not want him playing. So, we don’t we don’t want you throwing the ball. What you’re saying? We just want him to be there. Outfit the team. That’s what we now assistant assistant coach. Michael, we need you, Michael. You are invited officially. Come on out. Come on out. You know where to find us. Obviously, as as being a a Philadelphiaian and and I guess we’re adopted to the city. Uh 2026 is a special year. You guys are part of the fabric of this city. What are you talking about? I mean, you’re both No doubt about it. No doubt about it. I keep it real though. I’m from Cali. Yeah, I’m from Cali. I love now Philly is my second and everyone knows that. Uh but you know they’re surprised. Who’s your favorite? I’m like the Niners. What about the Eagles? I’m like yeah they’re my second favorite but I grew up loving the fair. So to keep it real but but by the way I mean all kidding aside you guys show up in the city you’re beloved. Oh yeah we love the city just as much. And it’s just it’s it’s deeper than just the fact that you won a World Series. It’s how you make people feel, right? It it reminds me of that feeling I had when when you guys won the World Series. And and so it’s a gift what you give to to folks like me. This this feeling of joy. I mean that I’m not sound like corny, but that’s a real thing. You guys are loved. I will say I hear I’m sure you do. Everywhere we go. It doesn’t matter wherever in the world I’ve been. I’m sure Ryan, it’s always some of from Pennsylvania. I try to go hide in the most obscure countries. You run to somebody. Thank you for 2008. Right. I’m like, man, I can’t take you nowhere. But it’s a beautiful thing. It’s like that ising it is to always to hear that is it’s so it’s always so funny to me because it’s like when we just we were just like we were just playing baseball. So it’s like we never thought about it like the the actual joy that you’re bringing to people and bringing people together. We’re like, “Bro, he’s a short stop. I’m a first baseman. We’re just we’re trying to go out here and go win games, but doing our job.” Yeah. Just doing our job. And and to hear that like it’s so rewarding. You didn’t appreciate that when you were playing. Oh, I mean we you you just you do but it’s like it’s it’s not necessarily Yeah. It’s not necessarily like front of mind, right? Yes. To win, but it’s literally like almost like what’s next as in for the next season because when he won, your fans get even hungrier now. You know, you’re hungry for that taste now. It’s like no, we got it. So, it’s ours and you have to keep going. So, yeah, I think Mike Schmidt had said it best. He said that I wish I had more fun when I was playing. Interesting. And he told me this in maybe about 2006 or 2007. And I thought, I hear you. Yeah. But I admittedly asked myself, but how? Yeah. Because you have to go out there and win. And I don’t we we all know winning is fun, but the work you do that the work that is needed to win, it just adds pressure, right? It’s a grind. You have to be like I said in the beginning your your team has to be on point and you can never let off the gas but when you’re done you’re able to reflect and that’s when you’re able to kind of like understand what you did was special but it it’s it’s but we did but we did have fun though we had fun we had fun as a team cuz we knew we knew who we were Yeah we were winning but we knew who we were we knew what our identity was and like everybody knew what their roles were so it was fun like coming into the clubhouse like we were we were that team on and off the field. That’s that’s what made us so good. And we still have relationships with all of our teammates today. That’s true. You know, to where it’s like we got the group chat and everybody’s still talking trash and all that kind of stuff trying to get us to buy horses with them. Right. Right. That’s right. So, I mean, it’s it’s one of those things to where again hearing you say that and hearing fans, it’s like the appreciation that’s shown, it’s like at that time, it’s like, wow, I don’t really I’m just trying to do my job. But it’s like it’s so impactful for me because it’s like, wow, you know, I never really thought about it like that and how families would come closer and and everybody was enjoying themselves. You know how many people there are out there? thousands of people who never met you guys, who know nothing about you personally or or anything like that, who go, they’re great guys. And by the way, you guys are great guys, but but I want you to think about that for a minute. It is it is actually them like the you’re a mirror to them, right? Like the way you’re making them feel about themselves, about their childhood, about their relationship with their children. That’s super powerful, guys. And that’s that’s why people feel that way about you. And don’t don’t ever kind of brush that aside. Don’t ever not appreciate that. Like you’ve brought joy in people’s lives for folks who do not know you. Closest they ever got was the seat they were at at the bank and and you guys on the field, but you bring joy to them. That’s really special. That’s really special. That’s that’s deep. That’s Sorry to be deep. I was just trying to get to the 2026 logo. Sometimes we go down those roads. We want to I just ruined your podcast. Beautiful. I want to set this up cuz I wasn’t there and I was a little envious that the Allstar game was announced and they revealed the logo and they had all stars from different generations and a bat company from Pennsylvania KOP area. That’s right. They have God created this amazing beautiful bat to represent the absolutely allstar game in 2026. That’s the bell I think it is. Ring the bell. Ring the bell. That is That is sweet. That is gorgeous. Beautiful. Philly is just going to be on fire. And by the way, bat making is big business in Pennsylvania. Victas. And they got that uh you know the torpedo bat. I don’t know what you guys think of that, but but they also got the traditional ones here, too. Hey, look. Yeah, Ryan. Yes, sir. You did pretty good with the tra traditional bat. I did. I did. Um I mean, it’s all about getting your specs right. You know what it is. But I loved it, man. every single one. But this thing right here, that thing is beautiful. I’m going I’m going to need one of these for the for the house. I’m going need a couple of them. Victus, y’all hear us? You hear us? Come on. You know where to find us. You know where to find us. You got to get a batch of Ryan, baby. Wow. This is our clubhouse, by the way. This was the clubhouse. You’re getting inside stuff. This is what it was every day for the cutting room. However many days we were, what was it? 200 days. Who was the most fun in the locker room? Wow. The most fun it rotated. I’ll tell you this. Who got talked about the most prior to John Mayberry Jr. coming was probably Shane. Shane always gave you material. Yeah. Flying Hawaii. Yeah. He always gave you material cuz if he wasn’t on his meds, you can tell. Yeah. You can tell. Yeah. Uh but after we received a player known as John Mayberry Jr. Junior. Junior. Junior. Oh, he was he was fine. He gave him material daily. Um I mean and he was I don’t I don’t know if he did it on purpose cuz he liked the attention or he was just kind of aloof. I wouldn’t say airheaded cuz he went to Stanford. He’s an intelligent guy, but it was just some things that just wouldn’t click for him and I mean he gave us material. Just sheer comedy. Just comedy. Who was most serious in the locker room? Um I’d have to say Doc. Yeah, Doc. Roy Halliday. Yeah, Roy Holidayiday. Cuz on days that he pitched, it was one of those things where you’re just like I would say, “Hey, what’s up, Doc?” and just kept it moving. I didn’t so locked in. He’d be over in his locker and just read him until until we actually were on the field. How about that? Yeah, it was that that was his day and it was like, “All right, cool.” But every other day, he was like a big kid for real. He’s a big kid flying flying, you know, the toy airplanes. He loved all that stuff. So, he’d be flying that stuff all around. Rest in peace, man. Governor, we have a segment that is known as the banana boat ritual segment. Okay. When you’re preparing to make a speech and it’s it’s a big or you’re getting ready to, you know, get on stage as you’re campaigning. Yeah. How do you prepare leading to that big moment? I I don’t like having a prepared speech. Um I don’t enjoy sort of getting up there and reading something. I I enjoy feeling like I’m connected to the crowd, connected to the moment. And so for me, um probably the best speeches I feel like I’ve given over time. Others can be the judge of whether they liked them or not is where I can figure out, you know, time, place, and people. What’s this moment that we’re dealing with? What’s this place where we are? Like what what is unique about this place? And you know where who are the people and and what drew them there. And if I can understand that, honestly, I just jot probably three points I want to make on a on a card and I bring that up with me and I could talk for five minutes or 45 minutes on that. Uh, but it really is about if I can get that feeling for the crowd, the folks who are there, why they’re there, what motivates them, this place where we are, I can usually uh do all right and I do better not having a speech written out, but instead just sort of speak from the heart. Mhm. Yeah, that’s what I prefer. I like it. That’s that’s I try to get down. Yeah. I I have something and I’m and I’m glad that was on my mind because I’m being inducted to the wall of fame and everyone has asked me the same thing August 1st, you know, are you going to write something? And it’s like I just want the names of the people to thank because in that moment you don’t want to forget that. Yeah. Exactly. In that moment and and it’s helped that they’ve retired our numbers already. Our numbers. Jesus Christ. I hope they retire our numbers. But we had our retirement night. So you I’ve kind of been through it before. Mhm. Uh but going on a wall is different. Yeah. you know, and honestly, I just kind of want to get over, but I I I think that’s what I’m going to do cuz everybody’s asking, “Are you going to write it?” I’m like, I just want to make sure there are names of people that I don’t forget. And then the rest, it’ll come to me being in that moment, you know what it what it means. Yeah. There’s going to be someone, not someone, many someone’s who show up there uh who probably bring their kid there because of what I was talking about before, how you made them feel, you know, what, damn near 20 years ago, right? Yeah. and speak to them. Speak to them about how you know that your game wasn’t just on the field, but how it brought families together, how it made people smile in the stands. I think if you do that, man, that’ll be a really special thing cuz people know that you get them and you get the emotion of what people went through watching you guys play. I’m looking forward to it, young James. Yes, sir. Looking forward to cry. You going to cry? No, I’m not, bro. I hope not. I don’t know. If it does, it happens. If you see a tear come on my eye, Ryan, just know it’s for you. So you I would not let utly speak because then you just got you got profanity. I mean it’s like then it’s not family. You got to get them riled up. You got to get them riled up for I was something for you. That was an iconic speech. It was well I don’t know if it was a speech. Who knows what goes on in Chase’s mind. He he we we have a whole episode about Chase’s thoughts. Oh my gosh. So as we bring our time to a close, we have amazing time. one burning question here. Oh boy. That we’re gonna get our minds. Yeah, we’re going we’re going deep. We’re gonna make a lot of people mad either way. Just go a little Thank you guys. I appreciate you. I’m in the business of trying to bring people together and now you’re going to somebody’s always going to be mad at you. Somebody Yep. And we’re going to add to that. We’ve got We’ve got to know. All right. What do you got? The burning question. Sheets or Waw Wa? All right. Uh I am a Waw Wa guy. All right, my man. Uh, I do need I do need to say one serious thing, and this is not meant to backpedal or anything like that. Um, sounds like he’s backpedal. My wife No, no, no, no, no, no. My wife has made it the cause of her work as first lady of Pennsylvania to help people with disabilities, and she has gone to both Sheets and Wawa, and they have um initiatives to hire people with disabilities to work at Sheets and Wawa. So, I got to say, you know, to Travis Sheets, the CEO, Chris Gson, CEO of of Wawa. I mean, they do amazing work for people with disabilities. I love them both for for that and and it’s really important stuff what they do in Pennsylvania. Oh, that’s a win-win for both. That’s that is I mean on that both sides win, but Yep. back to the answer. It’s waw wa. Yeah. It’s waw wa. Let’s keep that thing. Here’s the thing I’ve learned as governor, man. You cannot your way through sports or through convenience stores. So, you got to be true and authentic. So, I love it. They’re both great. Good. Yeah. Wawa guy. Well, Governor, thank you for your time today. I know you’re busy running around putting out fires and inspiring people along the way, but thanks for taking time with us today here in New York. Although we’re repping the P Pennsylvania, we’re in New York MLB offices. And thanks for spending some time with us. It’s been a pleasure. It’s a thrill. Thank you guys. Appreciate you guys. Thank you very much. Awesome. [Music]
Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins sit down with Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.
Don’t forget to subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/mlb
Follow us elsewhere too:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MLB
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mlb/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mlb
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mlb
Check out MLB.com daily to watch the MLB.TV Free Game of the Day! https://mlb.com/freegame
Visit our site for all baseball news, stats and scores! https://www.mlb.com/
2 comments
this energy can’t be recreated 🍒🧡
i watched this with my mouth open the whole time 👄😻👅