In episode 160, Crawly and Dustin discuss the latest Hot Stove news and rumors and also look at the Cubs’ attendance numbers for 2023. Crawly then interviews author John St. Augustine, who worked with legendary catcher Randy Hundley on a book called “Ironman,” which chronicles Hundley’s life. Also, the guys remember Rocco Caputo, a longtime vendor at Wrigley Field who passed away this week.
#chicagocubs #mlb #flythew #gocubsgo
Segment 1: Cubs’ attendance numbers
0:00 — Crawly and Dustin discuss the latest Hot Stove news and rumors and also look at the Cubs’ attendance numbers for 2023.
Segment 2: Crawly interviews John St. Augustine
11:36 — Crawly interviews author John St. Augustine, who worked with legendary Cubs catcher Randy Hundley on a book called “Ironman,” which chronicles Hundley’s life.
Segment 3: R.I.P. Rocco
53:47 — Crawly and Dustin remember Rocco Caputo, a longtime vendor at Wrigley Field who passed away this week.
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You are listening to the fly the w670 podcast season 2 episode number 100 the Cubs Iron Man don’t forget to listen download review most importantly subscribe to the podcast follow us on the socials fly the w670 on Twitter Instagram and fly thew on Facebook or email us at flyth w670
Gmail.com Crowley hope you had a nice Christmas and now getting ready for uh New Year’s Eve yeah it’s been uh been pretty busy I’ve been working on the Cubs cave a little bit getting some things done working on some pieces getting some things framed and uh just
Trying to enjoy a little bit like you said New Year’s coming up so um trying to have as much fun and I am going to winterland on Saturday so that’ll be fun all right Saturday so that Saturday is the 30th I actually went yesterday the 27th had a great time my uh daughter’s
12th birthday celebration with a couple of uh her friends my wife and my other daughter so we all went down uh super great super easy all the workers as usual at Wrigley super friendly um nice and spread out lots of fun uh things for all ages there is food there is booze
There are rides there’s lots of hot chocolate uh swag everything you could need the only my only complaint Crawley was afterwards after the game we’re going to have lunch right we’re going to have some lunch so my kids like wings and one of the girls that was with us
Likes wings and I knew your recommendation but I didn’t know if I could get that past the goalie right so if you if you weren’t gon to go now you would where is your suggestion for those who don’t know where is your output is the number one place for
Wings but just about I don’t know 50 yards north of output is uh where a lot of people think the best wings are in Wrigleyville and that is are you talking about uh boy I full Shilling no ysis ysis Okay okay right 50 about 50 yards north of outpost same
Side of the street right right closed closed yesterday closed so the trouble is I went to Canes we ate we were in Wrigleyville and we ate at canes I could eat at canes anywhere totally disappointed the the trouble with that is when you’re going for like a lunchtime thing most of the
Pl establishments don’t open till about like 3 4 o’clock and so if you’re going for like a noon you know uh well we got there right when it open we got there right when it opened about it about one you know we were in there for about two
Two and a half hours at that point we were pretty we were pretty chilled and uh needed some uh needed some nourishment and uh so we yeah so we ended up at Canes All right well you know you live nothing wrong with nothing wrong with nothing wrong with canes but
Like lots of places were not uh not open yet yeah they don’t open and if anyone’s going down there one that I really recommend if you’re coming right off the expressway off of 90 on Irving Park Road there’s a place called Big League burgers and so that’s right when you get
Off the expressway it’ll be on your leand side like literally right when you get off the expressway has some phenomenal food um if you’re going at a lunchtime around lunchtime because they will be open all right so enough about food but yeah if you haven’t had a
Chance now how long is Winterfest open until until like the seventh yeah until about the 7th and then the next weekend is Cubs con so yeah you got you got about about a week left if you haven’t been out there yet you haven’t done it if you haven’t done it absolutely something to
Do so Crawley as we sit here on the uh 28th day 29th day of December the Cubs have still done nothing and the moves all together are pretty quiet since uh Otani and Yamamoto yeah Cleveland Guardians traded right-handed pitcher Cody Morris to the Yankees to center fielder eston floral
On Wednesday the twin signed free agent right-handed pitcher Josh dalmont and today on Thursday when we’re recording this the white socks have signed a left-handed relever Tim Hill so no Earth shattering moves but Dustin the twin signing was big because that means 29 out of the 30 teams in MLB have added a
Player to their big league roster through free agents signings or trades the only team that has not Ed anyone your Chicago Cubs I mean that’s pretty wild that they’re the only team that has not added anybody and I’m listen I’m okay with you know why why would you add
A guy just for the sake of adding a guy right I mean nobody nobody’s suggesting that but there are enough holes I mean they they’ve got a bullpen to rebuild too so I’m not quite sure what the heck’s going on yeah and I and by the
Way I did not see I did not see Jed or Carter on the bumper cars at Winter WonderFest so that’s not they were that’s not where they’re at if you’re wondering they’re not on the bumper cars but the bumper cars are fun I I I just
Got to say though you know I mean could we see some movement before New Year’s uh sure maybe but I mean we we’re gonna have to definitely some see some movement in January because Dustin pitchers and catchers report February 13 so we’re talking about a month and a
Couple weeks so like six seven weeks till pitchers and catchers report so again we we’ve talked about you know Boris controlling a lot of what’s going on and just waiting for the car with for The Dominoes to fall and once they do it’s going to be in quick Su sucession
But uh right now we’re we’re at the point where we’re wondering who’s going to Blink first is there going to be a team that jumps at one of those Boris clients and then everybody kind of scrambles like a game of musical chairs SO waiting and seeing but it makes you
Nervous to see you know Jed trying to thread this needle it’s it’s boy as for Cub fans it gets you nervous yep absolutely get you nervous and part of that nervousness or part of their um lack there of doing something has an effect on the attendance crawling we’ve got some 2023
Attendance numbers to uh go over yeah no surprise Cubs attendance went up as they were in the playoff hunt until the last weekend of the Season everyone knows that summertime just really was rocking and rolling and Dustin there there’s nothing better when the Cubs are in it
At summertime in Wrigley I mean it’s just perfect uh the Cubs finished with an attendance of 2.8 million which is really really good um and and it’s up compared to 2.6 million in 2022 but when you think about what the Cubs were drawing from 2016 to 2019 they
Were drawing Dustin an average of 3.2 million fans per season so those number you know what are you talking about four million that are you know that you’re or not 4 million but 400,000 that you’re down I mean that’s that’s not you know nothing there you know no it’s it’s
Nothing it’s nothing to laugh at nothing to sneeze at as some would say yeah and so if you you know when we look at the attendance and this um graphic comes from um Bleacher Report here is is the best attendance if you take a look number one was the Dodgers with 47k
Yankees averaged 40K per game Padres 40K Cardinals 40K Braves 39 Phillies 38 Astros 37 Blue Jays 37 then you get to the Cubs at number nine at 34 and the Mariners with 32 um as as well and so or 33 but when you’re looking at this Dustin I guess
The thing that that you know jumps out to me from this graphic here is when you talk about the Dodgers and the Yankees and the Padres and the Braves and the Phillies Houston Toronto Seattle those were all teams that made the postseason uh the previous year and and
People thought that they you know they were excited going into the season they’re going to run it back right yeah right and and the car Cardinals always kind of they have a huge season ticket base and even though they averaged 40K they didn’t have 40,000 crossing the
Gates but those were 40,000 paid tickets but you know the Cubs when we went into last season we had a lot of uncertainty we didn’t walk into 2023 thinking the Cubs were going to be as close as they were to the postseason and so I mean
That just goes to show you Dustin how a loyal cuup fans are or but B when you put a winning product on the field the fans are going to come and when I when when you go in April and the weather’s miserable and there’s not a lot of fans I mean a lot
Of those numbers are are happening when you know you’re in those summer months so if the Cubs want to continue to move those numbers up they got to get the fan base excited they got to be making moves and and and hopefully you know they’ll get to those numbers where they were in
2016 2019 when they average 38 39,000 per game right and now Cowley on on a best day at Wrigley what the 42,000 right yeah it’s it’s 41500 something like that yeah yeah okay so you know keep keep that in mind when we’re talking about um these attendance
Numbers but it is you know it is not as great as you as you might think those are a lot of those are a lot of empty seats so when we talked about well wait a minute you can’t sell any more seats you can’t you can’t charge any more for
Beer you know they have six to 7,000 seats a game on average going unused Otani would have Otani would have guaranteed a sellout for every single game absolutely that’s guaranteed aell now I don’t know that Bellinger is gonna guarantee a sellout for every single game but Otani would have guaranteed a
Sellout for every single game every seat would have been every seat would have been accounted for now it doesn’t mean every’s going to show up doesn’t mean every going to go through the Turn Style re have a hot dog and a beer but every every single seat would have been sold
Yeah and for a while the Cubs were just averaging three Mill above three million fans for that that period of time you know 16 17 18 19 and then the pandemic comes and then you know you’re slow to kind of get back but it’s it there is
It’s not the automatic sellout that you know people think it once was and so if you want that to be if you want to get back over the 3 million attendance mark I don’t think people are just going to do it just to go to Wrigley Field or
Just to see the Cubs you have to be the Cubs considering you know when you think about how bad 2022 was Dustin in every episode it was we predict the Cubs hopefully don’t get swept I mean they do still have a good fan base considering how they’ve done since 2021 I mean you
Look at the south side of town and you look at attendance numbers I mean just Absolut you know they don’t they don’t have you know a lot of teams don’t have what the Cubs do that they have you can guarant guante probably 20,000 per game
Right right but if you want to get up to that 38 3940 then you’re going to have to do something it’s not it’s just not going to be you know a couple of uh retreads out there and thinking that people you know you’re not gonna get
Jorge Solair you know and and and one other guy and think that you’re G to hit over that three million Mark again no it’s it’s different it’s it’s not it’s not what it used to be especially with Marquee and the different apps out there access to seeing the games is easier
Than ever so uh getting people in attendance is not uh is not just TurnKey a as it used to be this is the fly of the w670 podcast it’s episode 100 of season two the Cubs Iron Man don’t forget to listen download subscribe to the fly the W podcast and
Don’t forget to leave those five star reviews in this segment Crawley has already started that winter reading and as you may have already guessed they are books about the Cubs that’s right Crowley and the Cubs peanut butter and jelly author John St Augustine joins Crowley to talk about his book Iron Man
John work with Randy Huntley to tell his story of the legendary Cubs catcher life joining me on the Fly of the W podcast I’m happy to have on John St Augustin he is the author of the book Iron Man that he worked on with Randy Huntley legendary Cubs catcher how you doing
Today John Paul great to be with you so excited to do this talk about this fantastic book and the uh the opportunity to uh to shed a little light on the Iron Man of baseball Randy Hunley now when we talk about Randy you know what was it do you think that made him
Finally decide to want to kind of tell his story I think because when he turned 80 years old he realized he’s running out of time you know uh he and I talked about this over the last 10 years we’ve been friends a very very long time I did
Not think I would be the guy to do it I mean I’ve written a lot of books for a lot of people in my own stuff stuff and things like that but uh we went back and forth and I thought you know he’s got a story to tell like everybody does the
Route to Major League Baseball for him was uh not certain but it became one that was very very powerful and and obviously as cup fans we all know that uh so when he just after turned 80 years old he called and asked if we go to breakfast I said sure So we’re at
Breakfast he’s kind of fidgeting which means he probably doesn’t want to pay the check he wants me to pay the check but in all seriousness uh he saysi think it’s time to write the book I said ‘great good luck with he goes no I want you to write
It okay W and then I said Randy there is 20 30 40 50 guys in this town that are pure Sports writers that would really be able to do something with this he said I trust you what am I goingon to say no so uh a
Lot of work went into it and uh I make the the comment in the back of the book in the afterward there’s a great book called Wednesdays with uh Tuesdays with Mor and this became Wednesdays with Randy for over six months eight months somewhere there every Wednesday we go to
Breakfast uh and he would be mobbed by Cub fans it’s amazing to me Paul that people were remembering stuff from 67 68 69 70 and we’re all talking about at the parking lot before and after breakfast so once we finished that we would go to his house we would talk for two three
Four five hours whatever it took about everything you can imagine about his life and after six eight months of that then it was my turn to kind of burrow into my studio and and take all these parts of the puzzle and put it together in something which you now have there
Called Iron Man and and when I read the book The the thing that really to me there’s two people that really play an important role in ry’s life obviously the first one being his father and it was it was just so interesting the impact that Randy’s father had on his
Career I mean everything from coaching him to being his first agent PR guy you know and and the one thing I think that you know maybe just doesn’t even get credit is that his father was the one that taught him how to catch one-handed which is basically
Normal now but was not the norm back then yeah 100% right Paul so his dad Cecil Randolph Hundley senior one tough so this guy weighed 155 pounds if if he’s lucky but he was built like you know pig iron uh he played Semi-Pro baseball for over 20 years he was a
Catcher he broke every hand in his throwing every bone in his throwing hand I’m sorry many times over and he was a prodigious home run hitter there’s there’s a I found an article with a headline it says Hunley hits 560 foot home run I mean come on so when
It was time for young Randy to learn the game of course he turned to his dad was was kind of his hero and he went through all the different positions on the on the diamond and his dad say you could be a great pitcher but you’re can ruin your
Arm we don’t want that so after you’ve gone through all that there’s only one place left that’s behind behind the plate and you’re 100% right back then in the day catching two-handed with a mitt and holding the other hand right next to it was the norm and that’s where all
Those file tips and things like that took those guys out bent fingers what have you and he said you’re going to learn to catch one handed I do not want to see that right hand up there and if it come I’m coming to get you if I see
That hand up there and he Randy tells the story of this Dad putting his finger in his forehead at like eight nine years old and scaring the crap out of him and that stayed with him his whole career he said we’d be playing in in St Louis I’m
I’m up against you know Bob Gibson and Lou Brock and all these guys and I’m hearing my dad in my head thinging don’t put that hand up there I’ll come get you so it was very profound and you pointed out if his dad had not done that I’m
Sure somebody else would have come along but it just happened to be Hunley uh he was the first one-handed catcher in ml MLB history and after that Johnny Bench followed and once Johnny Bench followed that was it yeah and you know one of the one of the you know there’s so many good
Good stories uh if you are a true baseball fan throughout the book and I remember listening to there’s a famous story um you know where uh Ron Santo and Billy Williams were coming up and Roger Hornsby basically told you know each guy whether they should go back home and get
A different job or if they were going to be MLB players and I found it really interesting I didn’t know this that Randy got some good hitting advice when he was a young Prospect from Hank SAU and maybe not a lot of Cub fans know
That but but Hank was was a very popular player in Chicago in the early 1950s MVP in 52 and I always love when the old generation passes on advice to the new generation like Hank SAU passing his knowledge on to Randy Huntley you know um I’m reminded every time when Craig
Kel who was the new manager was playing he had his Bat way up in the air remember that he’d be twirling way up in the air and Hundley did something yeah similar to that he would time pitches by Twirls and after about six or eight pitches you know walks over and says
That’s not going to cut it kid so Hank sour if you read his stats was Superman back in the day I mean it was incredible what he accomplished he also wore number nine by the way and I’m not sure there was any connection when Yosh gave Randy
Number nine he knew that it was really Hank you know was kind of continuing the the legacy of Hank SAU and eventually jav would wear it 2016 but that few minutes in the batting cage even though Hunley is not known for his power and for home runs I mean you know and and
You know all that stuff that maybe bench would be known for some of these these catchers today it shifted him into a position of being a very strong hitter back at a time when catchers weren’t really known for this because they were just expected to catch and that’s all
They did so they didn’t really care what your batting average was but Hunley if you read his game summaries which there’s a lot of them in the book you can see he was a very clutch hitter when it mattered he had more home runs in his rookie year at that time than any
Catcher 19 of them so you know he knew his way around the plate and Hank SAU had a lot to do with that yeah just you know so cool and and then you know when I when I think about Randy’s debut September 27th 1964 it’s at Wrigley
Field of all places against the Cubs and and and if that’s just not poetic bait justice but but just thinking about his teammates that day mdia Lou Willie ma Orlando Sepeda Willie mccovy Duke Schneider I mean he had to have I mean that had to have been a intimidating but
Man can you just imagine how much knowledge and learning how to play the game the right way when those are the guys on the bench next to you yeah no doubt about it one of the great pictures we came across that Randy had from his archive is that picture of him squatting
At Wrigley you can see right field clearly behind Randy you know doing that and he was brought into that game to pinch run for Duke Snyder of all people he wasn’t brought into catch right away and you’re right how uh you know profound was it h that eventually he
Would come to the Chicago Cubs not much longer after that and make that his home for so long but there’s also a picture there I believe it was the 1966 Topps rookie card and Randy smiling big time he’s just a kid you know and he can’t believe he’s he’s on the Tops rookie
Team card list and he said do you know why I’m smiling so much like well I guess because you made the tops team he goes no mccovy sepa and Willie Mays are all making fun of me off behind the photographer I think they were mooning
Him but we cleaned it up for the book and you know like you said he came in to pinch run but his very first start happens on June 28th 1965 the first pitcher he ever has to face is Don drste I mean come on you know I was talking to
My dad who’s a huge Huntley fan and it’s just like oh Dale was a head hunter I mean God can you imagine that no and and you know there’s so many versions you know I Randy would talk about his view of this obviously but he remember having conversation with Dale later and Sandy
Kofax who was the second one and later on down the line with Bob Gibson these great powerful pitchers that you know you got to go up against and look at it I like the game today but I gotta go back to those days when these guys were you know pitching complete games they
Were men among men back then not two innings here four Innings there so these guys were bringing the heat all the time and Dale as you said was a head hunter his job was to make sure you didn’t want to step back in the Box again so
Hunley’s first at bat you know he Roseborough who’s catching says you better watch your butt because it’s coming and Randy’s like yeah okay whatever and next thing you know here’s Dale yelling watch out because it’s coming right for his head and after a while he just wore him flat out and it
Was either him or the kofax uh story where he realized he’s not gonna hit anything he should just pack a lunch and go home it pretty funny now he Randy is going to come to the Cubs for a trade on December 2nd 1965 along with Bill Hans and it’s interesting the relationship
Those two men had they’re kind of interconnected throughout their uh careers uh Randy and Bill Hans but uh you know he comes to the Cubs and they had hired legendary manager Leo de lip de roer who you know i’ I’ve heard a lot of different Cubs from that 1960s team
Talk and to me it was interesting because I feel out of everybody it seems like Randy had the closest relationship if anyone really could with Leo the lip um and as far as the trust that Leo had in rley in Randy yeah that’s a good observation Paul because uh you know D
Roer called the trade of bringing Hundley over the greatest thing since Gabby hartnet I mean no pressure right no pressure on this kid to come over and be the next Gabby hartnet and I think he understood look Leo D Roser for all his faults was an incredible ball player and
A credible manager and you had to learn how to deal with his managerial style these guys were not there was no politically correct back then just put that out there right on the gate so when Randy was earning his wings so to speak with with Leo Leo just pushed on him
Mercilessly to see what he had and I think you there we make the comparison of the book some sports writers called Leo the the baseball equivalent to Vince Lombardi I it’s the same inyour face up your butt let’s get this done kind of deal and I think Randy needed that you
Know he at one point we’re having this long conversation about de R roer and I said to him hey did you ever make the comparison between Leo de r roer and your father and he sat back in his chair at the house we’re drinking coffee said never thought of that before but they
Are the same guy in so many different ways so he needed that push and I think that’s what brought up the best in Hunley and when the day came and Leo finally tipped his cap and said you’re the guy out there you’re the field General the confidence that that brought
Up in him uh never ended now obviously that you know the Cub 60s team they were all just a close-knit group but it seemed you know that the connection between Randy and Fergie was just so important and Fergie wrote the forward to to the book Iron Man and and
Randy wrote the book forward for uh you know Fergie’s book it’s just I was there when uh Fergie got his statue at Wrigley Field it’s on you know on Statue row and yeah the when I talked to Fergie just the the High Praise that he had towards
Randy Huntley the between those guys is just absolutely I just wonder if it was immediate or if it was something that took a little time to build you know it’s so interesting there’s so many sort of back themes to this book Paul and one of them is that you got to recall the
Time these guys played in the 60s was turbulent to say the least this is you know people think things are tough now take a look from 60 to 69 what we went through as a nation in the world and so you got Vietnam you got civil rights uh you got the Democratic National
Convention you got four people assassinated in five years and the racism that was going on back then was rampant so you have this black Canadian flamethrower and you got this country boy from Virginia and you’re going to put them together in Chicago which is a hotspot for for all the things going on
With civil rights and in some ways there was an immediacy because you know they both they’re Pros right they’re rookies but they’re Pros the second thing was is and Randy talked about this he said you know it just it just comes out to realize that color doesn’t matter except
Whatever uniform you’re wearing now the players got that but outside the park that wasn’t always the case and so I think it didn’t take very long for them to realize the importance of this relationship you know in that time you got the white Catcher from the country
And the the black pitcher from Canada and you’re putting them out there constantly and their their success is undeniable I believe it was something like I don’t I can’t remember how exact what FY wrote the forward but Randy caught more of his games than anybody else he threw to including Jody Davis
Including Jim sunberg you know so those type of things mattered and when I sat with Fergie this past August we talked about the forward just before the book was printed I was at the Hall of Fame game with Dunston and Mark Grace and we were all there together and and he says
You know it’s about time this book got done this guy is so humble meaning Randy I’m surprised he said anything about getting a book done he’s not a promoter he doesn’t call attention to himself he just shows up and does his job so we were so fortunate and uh and humble to
Have Fergie write a great forward to the book it’s fantastic now speaking of those 60s Cubs obviously 1969 is the one that both I think revitalized the franchise but at the same time it was so crushing for anybody that lived through it and it was the strange thing is that
You know the amazing metch of the ones that passed them and went on to the World Series Etc but but it seems like all the weird games that were negative happened against the Mets uh don young missing two balls which caused some controversy for Ron Santo there was the black cat game where
Some black cat came out of the you know who knows where and circled around Santo on the on Deck Circle yeah but to me the one that that what Randy talks about is is a game that was tied at two and Tommy AE looked like he was thrown out at the
Plate rookie umpire makes a call and and to me I don’t think ever got over that and I remember I I was there you know I was in a documentary called wait till next year and Randy they had footage of Randy after that call and he literally is hopping
Mad if you want to piss off Randy Hunley just ask just say Tommy Ag and say shay Stadium that’ll set him right off even at his his age of 81 now you know it’s h i that was the first chapter of the book I wrote Because that’s it lit his fuse
We had breakfast that morning we went back and talk we’re just talking I got the tape rolling nothing you know it’s all informal no real pointed questions he says I’ll tell you one thing AG was blooming out at the plan of Chase that’s how this starts the whole book started
With that so that’s the first chapter that I wrote and you know I if they would have had instant replay like we have now in reviews he’d have been out by a mile it Hundley tagged him and later before AG passed away he admitted he was tagged you know Todd Randy son
Played New York for 12 13 14 years whatever it was and before went to the Dodgers and back and forth with them but he ran into Ag and he says well tell your dad I I know I was out but I’m not going to tell him that so but you’re
100% right there was this domino effect of these plays that seemed to culminate in this tag thing and while he points out in the book it probably wasn’t the most important play of the year it was definitely the most telling it was kind of the the core sampling of how this
Season was going to go so close yet so far and the pictures in the book man I had more fun digging through thousands of pictures literally to find the right pictures that go in there so that hopping up and down thing that’s in the book just yeah just it’s something that
Always is kind of in my head when I when I think about Randy and like I said I didn’t know he could jump that high uh I’m looking though 1972 he’s one of a few catchers in all history to catch two no hitters in one season you know I don’t know if people
Remember the Bert hooton no hitter that was the first one and then the second one is Infamous and cubs lore that’s mil perfect game going with two outs in the ninth a 3-2 pitch and Bruce Fring called ball four on a borderline pitch I don’t know how Randy was able to settle Milt
Down Milt was bitter about that until his dying day yeah about that perfect game that but to think two no hitters and nearly a perfect game in one season that is a rare accomplishment yeah there’s only five catchers that we could find when I did my digging that have
Done that I don’t remember the other four guys but ry’s one of them and he talked about berd ho you know hooton never played minor league ball in his life he’s a Phenom he came out and he had this you know knuckle curveball thing that would drop off Randy said it
Was as effective as kofax is curveball I mean had saying a lot so he caught that game and of course the infamous Fring incident um that you know just endeared Bruce fing to carpet cup fans forever not uh he talked about how difficult it was and what what fing was saying he’s
Like you know if he comes up another step off that mount he’s out of here you don’t want that and so Randy to go settle out say look you got a no no going here I mean a perfect game would be great and but we got to take care of
Business and that the first time then he had to go out and settle them down again and he said the hardest part though was after the game was not have Milt strangle Bruce fing at some point you know but yeah it’s very very cool now you know that obviously teams can’t stay
Together forever and and that 69 team’s going to kind of break out but there’s some some interesting characters that are going to come after and you know the one guy I I was at Club 400 you know our mutual friend Stuart MC bicker and uh
This was a few years back and it was Joe peperone and and Randy wasn’t even on the bill he just kind of showed up because Rand you know Randy loves Club 400 and what it’s all about and all of a sudden it was the two of them they were
Roommates yeah uh Leo didn’t trust peperone and so he basically makes huntlee be his roomy and the stories between those two you got the the foul mouth New York you know first basem and you got Randy Huntley who’s never said a swear word in his life right right and
And the two of them it is it is literally one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen in my life man I wish I could have been there for that I’ll tell you you know Joe peperone passed away during the writing of this book and Randy for two or three days was
Inconsolable he loved the guy so much and to see he had talk to him for a while and to see that kind of emotion from Randy just really shed a lot of light on their friendship and their relationship and you’re 100% right you know we put a few stories of Pepe in
There but there’s some stuff you just can’t put in print it’s just not a good idea and you’re right so ry’s version in ry’s vocabulary of shoot and Shucks is a little different than when peperone would have told the story but my favorite one that we do have in the book
And I gotta I just share this here real quick is that apparently pepon had a motorcycle and he parked it on purpose outside of De roer’s office at Wrigley and so he would deliberately get on the motorcycle and start revving it up and just to piss off Leo and eventually Leo
Figured that something to do with the handles because he’s driving the motorcycle was screwing up paton’s wrist which changed his b probably not true but it was a way for Leo to dig into that and so the whole story goes is that Randy gets called up to Leo’s office and
He thinks he’s being traded and he comes out and he says well your roommate he’s got a motorcycle and it’s ruining his batting because of all the that’s going on and ry’s like what do you want me to do about it he says ‘well we’re going to
Have a meeting I want you go find pepone and and tell him to keep his mouth shut in the meeting and not say anything I don’t know where he that go find it to for this meeting so Randy tracks pepone down because he’s smoking a joint in the
Bathroom stall somewhere and he follows the smell of the weed to to connect with peperone he hauls it back to the meeting and Leo starts in with his stuff and going now this is I think this is 1971 72 somewhere in there pepon has been around for a little while he’s got his
Fake hair on and the sideburns and the whole thing and at the end of Leo’s rant he raises his hand Pepa to raises his hand and R’s like what are you doing and pepone says Leo Ralph hul doesn’t manage this way what is your problem oh my gosh
It just set the roer off in every direction and then stuff about Ron sanod got pulled in and then the GM had to come down and people are at each other’s throat and he said at one point there was four guys restraining Ron who wanted
To strangle de roer de R roer is ready to quit Randy sitting there and looks over at pepone is just enjoying the show he was he was he was both you know just an amazing guy Pepe and just like I said that’s that’s what Randy would call me
Say Bey a p you know and Paul no slouch two-time Gold Glove Allstar I mean this guy had the goods he was he was not just a loud bu he’s a great guy great ball player now after Randy gets traded he goes the Twins and 74 the Padre’s in 75
And just like I like I said it’s just baseball is such fortuit is you know just the way things work sometimes he finishes his career with the Cubs and in the book you guys talk about this this really this last home run that he hits
That you know if you want to tell that story that one really kind of got we talk about the double we got second it was a double actually so yeah his first time up I think it’s the eighth inning Kenny Rudolph had been catching at that point Randy comes in he’s back from
Playing with San Diego he just didn’t feel like you know he was done with baseball they the Padres actually offered him a managerial spot he turned it down he still wanted to play so he goes up back with the Cubs he’s in his first game back I think Dutch Renard one
Of the best DPS of all time you ever go watch a Dutch rener highlight video he would just scream like that it was great so Dutch Renard’s catching they’re playing the Dutch Renard’s the up I’m sorry they’re playing the Mets actually and Randy gets up and just drills a double off the wall
In left center field he’s standing on second base and he said I knew I was home again the it was a capacity crowd to play against the Mets everybody watches that uh and they just stood a standing ovation he saw some of the Mets players giving him an ovation because
Everybody’s kind of in the same boat he said it was the most emotional moment for him in his entire career uh to have those accolades come down on him and be back home and finish his career with the Cubs where he knew he always would be pretty emotional absolutely and and you
Mentioned the Padre’s offering him a managerial career and he was hoping to go that pathway with the Cubs and unfortunately it didn’t work out right and again it’s it’s weird how life works out because you know there he is you know baseball’s over what’s he gonna do
Next and just out of happen stance the the idea of a fantasy camp comes out tell us a little bit about that well there’s a gap here right so he he he they bring him up once he’s quote retired from playing they bring him back as a bullpen coach emergency Catcher And
You know that lasts for a little while that’s you know his introduction to becoming a manager at some point so they sent him down to the triaa he does really well there and it bounced around back and forth and at one point they’re going to do a revamp of the uh the Cubs
Minor league teams and he was told he’d have a bunch of uh new players coming that he could work with he was very excited about this now you gotta remember too back when he played these guys would have offseason jobs this is not like now where there’s a guaranteed
Contract of x amount of dollars even if you get fired you’re paid for the rest your life none of that existed at this point so prior to the managerial thing he was working selling cars or working at insurance or at a company the bank or you know uh trading stocks and stuff
Like that so it was a very different time so managerial uh position would be stability for him and his family and you look at the catchers that have been great managers Rossy and and you know some of these other guys have all been catchers because of the of the way they
See the game and that didn’t turn out they fired him and he was bent let me just tell you that uh and you know so that was option was off the table had to figure something out went home sulked for a few days and a friend of his Rich
Melbin who’s the guy that started all the let us entertain you entertain you restaurants in Chicago uh said hey about doing kids camps so they went to Harper College which is not far outside of Chicago approached the ad there the ads knew who he was we’d love to have you
Here in record time these camps filled with kids four five six seven days a week and Randy said it wore his hillbilly Fanny out because these little kids are running around learning the game and stuff so after one season of that uh somebody asked him it was
Probably Melman again he had a partner at the time who you know was with him for a little bit said what about getting some of your former teammates to come teach the kids and he said that’s when the Epiphany came he had this thought that if he could recreate the major league experience
Spring training especially but Major League experience for for fans guys like you and me that had never been done before it did not exist there was a couple corporate things here you could have Bob Gibson come out sign your ball or something but certainly not suiting up certainly not playing with the with
The the pros against the Joe’s that had never happened so in 1982 late 81 into 82 he started reaching out to friends and guys that he had played with and said this is what I want to do and he had his first camp in January of 1982
And within six months the next one filled up we talk about in the book how important that was because Leo de roer agreed to be the coach of his former teammates in that second Fantasy Camp pepone included and Santo was there and there was a great reconciliation to a
Greater or lesser degree because of what had happened in the clubhouse years earlier between him and San and at one point in the after uh kind of after the the ball game they had these big dinners and Leo got up and was just emotional and talked about you know how wrong he
Was in bused on San and a lot of these guys something You’ never thought Leo de ro would do the whole room was you could hear a pin drop and so it went on from there and for 38 years until Co hit the Randy Hunley fantasy camps were out two
Three times a year I played the 1993 Camp uh it was a fascinating and fantastic experience for me first paid writing gig I ever had Chicago Sports profile magazine cover the Randy Hundley fantasy camp and you’re G to pay me $250 where do I off and sign up for this and
It was fantastic and and then we became friends and and that’s how all the rest of this unfiled but there’s a whole chapter in the book about the campers they supplied me these stories I had way more than I could use but a special shout out to Beth chaplain in Minnesota
Who’s been to 30 camps 35 camps the first time she ever went was with her dad’s was the first father daughter Camp experience and the transformational experience this was showed up when we did our book launch last August this past August uh at lavilla on the northwest side of Chicago best Italian
In the city little plug for lavilla and we had you know over 250 people show up and a huge con contingent of the fantasy campers came some wearing jerseys and all that kind of stuff to see their coach and real quick Fergie Jenkins points out in the opening of the book in
The forward that while Randy never managed at the level he would have liked to in The Bigs for 38 years he managed thousands and thousands of very talented people who want to play in the fantasy camps that’s that’s uh really something to be to be celebrating
And and again now you see other teams doing the same thing it was it was Randy who was the first to do it and you know when when you listen to the camper talk and you read their stories yeah to them it was it was something sacred it was
Something very important and you know you talk about you know the pros versus the Joe’s but you also had celebrities there Phil John cusac Chris Chelios and for a lot of Cub fans you know they don’t realize that Eddie veter you know Pearl Jam who is understanding going to
Play Wrigley this August yes um that that Eddie wrote the song Someday will go all the way at the request of Ernie Banks at Randy huntley’s Fantasy Camp can you just imagine that it’s a movie man I mean come on I mean to see Eddie veter sitting there with Ernie Banks
Struming on the guitar writing the song and Ernie’s like you know snaply pretty good Eddie keep going it’s just it’s just the stuff dreams are made of you know and you’re 100% right you know there’s a great picture of Eddie in the book and and talked about that
Experience you know Bob SRO who’s at WGN here in Chicago radio he went to the camp early on in 1983 so you know he’s in the book there’s a great picture of him and Ernie because they were they were Locker mates Mark De Carlo who is
In in Los Angeles the comedian the TV personality you know he says it turns grown men into children which is really important baseball at its core to me is about remembering the 10-year-old boy or girl inside you that loved the game besides all the crap that you that gets
Surrounding on it uh and that’s what it gets down to and to a person the people when they reach out to me after they’ve read this book that’s what happens they are emotional For Better or For Worse the 69 team you know it is what it is
For a long time they were the most lovable losers in baseball and there’s not many of them left you know those guys are kind of few and far between and so we achieved our goal which was really on three things to tell ry’s story to to
To show how this this skinny little kid from Virginia ends up being an iron man catcher in the big leagues a premier catcher for years uh Gold Glove all All Star the leader of the Chicago CBS and then he went on to this great other career as the fantasy camp guy that was
Number one number two was to show the backdrop of where these guys play I mean again not to beat it to the ground but there’s a story in there about the Cubs getting ready to play a uh exhibition game before the opening season in 1968 and they’re in Indiana somewhere
And all of a sudden Randy says he sees Fergie Jenkins running like a man with his hair on fire through the lobby of the motel and getting ready to you know lock himself into his motel room and ry’s like what what’s going on and they just found out that MLK had been shot
And Fergie says they’re coming for us next can you imagine having to go pitch I mean come on him Billy Williams all the players of color back then they were put upon in ways you and I can’t possibly nor could the players of today possibly understand so that was another
Piece this was this historical part and then the third part I think is the appreciation of the game before sliding Ms you know before pitch clocks before the whole Outfield was adorned with with signage how baseball in so many ways is now an experience to be had not just go
To the game you know when I was a kid back in the day I’m probably got a few years on you young fellow there I used to go like you hear these stories you know my mom would give me 10 bucks for a double header we go on Saturday morning
And take the bus down work walk up Clark Street and and sit up and wait for the bleachers to open and you can sit there all day for a double header get sunburn yell your head off I learned more words in left field my parents never taught me
From the bleacher bums and all of that stuff was like those are the three pieces of the book the pictures really I think pull all of it together and I got to tell you it’s we are pleasantly surprised quite frankly with the success of the book people buying it you know
They keep we keep restocking we just came through the Christmas season and sent out countless autograph personalized copies to cup fans all across the country so you know it is it has become a thing and of all the projects that I’ve worked on of my career which is well over 30 years now
In radio and broadcasting and TV and all this work I’ve done you know for literary uh and things this is the best thing I’ve ever been a part of we’re friends but it’s more than that and to see this for him the accolades he’s getting to see him all dressed up at the
The book signings we’ve done and signing books endlessly and shaking his hand out because he’s getting tired of signing books man it doesn’t get any better than that I got to tell you you talked about emotion and I did get emotional when I read the last chapter the book um it’s
Called Extra Innings yeah and I don’t know if it was always his intention to write that chapter or your guys’s intention to to put that in there but you know it’s to me it’s hard because when I was a young kid and I’d go to
Cubs con I mean you know when you looked at Huntley or when you looked at at at Ron Santo or Ernie Banks or everything you know these guys were big strong guys you know yeah yeah and um you know these guys used to just rib on each other they
You know all these sessions at Cubs convention and and you know they would all be I remember God you know Becker ripping on Santo or you would have um you would have a I’ve always remembered a funny one was always Jose Cardinal and Randy would would sit there and rip on
Each other and it was just so you could just sense the love and admiration and you know time pass you know F what is it father times undefeated yeah um you know it it’s it’s really when when I read about him talking about his wife about his former teammates yeah
Um it really you know is is a reflection of his life and you know it really kind of hits you hard and then that that whole you know winning the World Series um when the Cubs won it and Tom rickets and crane cranny gave him a a ring a
World Series ring I mean truly a great ending and and it just really brings the whole book full circle yeah it was tough to write that you know um he and I talked about what to include and what not there were stories that we’d like to put in we
Thought we revisit him said we leave that out it finds its own narrative along the way these book projects find their own life basically and we got to that last chapter you know we talked about that how do you close this out you know as you mentioned his wife Betty
Passed away uh 20 years ago it’s been very very difficult for him that’s not something you can prepare a plan for and it’s it took half of him away he says that I’m only half the guy I used to be because she’s gone and and then these
The partners and the people he’s worked with you know some of them are gone then you get to the teammates and how much of that as you said about cardal and these guys you know they all bucked on each other and you go down the roster and I
Think there’s only 17 18 19 guys left from the 69 team including pepon who came in 70 but we kind of lumped him in there and makes you look at these guys and the whole thing a lot different at least it did for me and I’ve known some
Of these guys over the years and when we started talking about it you know first thing he talked about was Ron San he’s literally getting ready to go play golf and see Ronnie and he got a call from Ron Jr totally unexpected he knew he was
Ill but not that much right and then it goes to Ernie Banks you start talking about that and then you start going down a list of these guys who are no longer here and these names are the names we grew up with like you said so not only
Is it his loss Paul it’s our loss because that part of our childhood whatever that’s gone it becomes something in a history book you know Glenn beckard like you said I still have his autograph you know my autograph book I look at it now and again this strong
Autograph of this guy it’s like he cannot be gone it’s not allowed but it is and so really kind of winding it all up you know ry’s 81 now he’s pushing towards 82 next June he’s had health problems it’s been up and down you know there’s some challenges there uh but I
Will tell you the thing that I found most interesting in all of that even at his age is that you know his grip is as good as it’s ever been sometimes I give him a boost up and he’ll grab my hand I’m like damn boy what have you been
Doing all night he has this inner fire in him that has not gone out while the the machine has its bumps and bruises and and challenges the inner Spirit of Randy Hunley is is right there and no more is that prevalent when we’ll be talking about something for example
There’s a story about Kenny holtzman’s no hitter Brandy didn’t catch that game he was injured so he’s at home watching the game with a ruptured torn or torn toe tendon or something like that so he can’t catch the game I think it was either JC Hy or John babell and talking
About that game and he’s watching on television not even catching and was against Atlanta and Henry Aaron hits a ball that had the wind not been blown in there’s no hitter it’s gone it would have been a one hitter it would have been a run and so we’re recounting that
Going back and forth and I said yeah so as as I’m writing this I review with him and I said well the ball right center or left Center he goes no stop it was a dead center dead left field I’m sorry it was dead left field he says I remember
Seeing it clearly on TV I don’t remember seeing it clearly on TV I’m just going by what the stats talk about where he at but he knew exactly where that ball had been hit he knew exactly where Billy Williams was standing he knew exactly what pitch Kenny Rudolph through I’m
Sorry restart that he knew exactly what pitch Ken Holtz been through so when he does things like that I’m like well he’s he’s still there so it’s been a high education on baseball itself not just his story and all the other stuff that’s in there about Morgana The Kissing
Bandit and cleat Boyer some of this stuff that he would recall he would actually got embarrassed he’s talking about I saw this woman bouncing out of stands and she just bouncing I can’t remember who the M was behind him and they just said they just started
Blushing you know just it was just a bit much for him so it just so much of this is uh will never leave me I I have this huge postage you can see behind me but over on my wall of fame over there I have a huge uh replication of the of the
Cover of the book and for a guy like me I talk about this in the afterward for a kid like me who at 10 years old was waiting on the on the corner for an autograph in 1970 during a rain out game and I was getting ready to leave and
Here comes ry’s Red Corvette and he stops rolls the window down and pulls me out of the rain and signs my mitt and then 20 some odd years later I’m writing a story about him and then I’m playing in the fantasy can up right in this
Book come on I mean it’s gold and and you know the F you know when I first met Randy you know as a younger man you know he’s kind of an intimidating president you like’s straightforward yes bird G very you know but God a heart of gold
And I guess the thing to me that I still look at is the fire in the eyes you know what I mean like like I have a picture in my memorabilia collection an 8 by10 of of Huntley and he’s like looking into the camera and you can just see it
Piercing and it’s just an unbeli it’s one of my favorite autographs because I I don’t I don’t I it’s like a picture to me that just encapsulates the complete essence of the man and like I said just just a a wonderful wonderful book and I I really recommend it for any Cub fan
Any baseball fan um you know I I already I gave a copy to my father he went through he was done with it in about a day and a half yeah you know he couldn’t put it down so I just really it is called Iron Man legendary Chicago Cubs
Kenter rley Huntley and John St Augustine I really appreciate you jumping on here and talking about the process because it truly is a special book that I think all Cub fans would enjoy I will appreciate your time and I I Randy says his best wishes you know
You’d like to be here today but it didn’t work out but we appreciate you flying the W for us and getting behind the book it’s great stuff and and I got to tell you real quick my final story in it uh I mentioned about being at the
Hall of Fame game with dunon and Grace going in at one point we were up in the booth they gave us Rickett’s Booth which was very nice and then right next to we crane Kenny has his Booth so we’re over there sitting and crane Kenny and are going back and forth about different
Things about the game and stuff like that and I happen to look down and here’s Billy Williams sitting here and Randy sitting here and I’m sitting in between them eating ice cream out of a little Cub helmet you know I’m thinking I’m 64 years old but I’m really 10 years
Old to sit I never would have guessed that and to hear how they talked about the game between these two great grizzled battern allar hall of fame veterans was stuff you know too bad the book was already in prick because that would have added just to it so I keep I
Keep that picture on my camera on my phone when I want to be reminded about how special this journey is Billy Williams here and Randy’s sitting here and crane Kenny’s behind me and I meet ice cream out of a little mini Chicago Cubs batting helmet it was the best
Stuff man well thank you so much on and and Cub fans get the book Iron Man you’re really going to love it best place to do that by the way is lulu.com the only place you can get it is lulu.com it’s not on Amazon for a lot of
Different reasons lulu.com put Iron Man in the search bar and you’re there you go and and we’ll have all your information to link to it and we’ll be good to go so people can get their copy of Iron Man thank you so much Sean thanks Paul appreciate
It this is the fly the w670 podcast it’s season 2 it’s episode number 100 the Cubs Iron Man Crawley great job with that interview don’t forget to listen download And subscribe to the fly the W podcast don’t forget to follow us on all the social media platforms and don’t
Forget the five star review uh Crawley some sad news for the Cubs family those uh who attend Wrigley as much as somebody like yourself yeah it was on Tuesday that I got word that Roco Caputo Long Time uh vendor at Wrigley Field um at uh you know guaranteed rid or whatever they’re
Calling the Southside Stadium in the Old Chicago Stadium uh he passed away at age 56 of uh following complications from a liver transplant he’s had liver issues for a while and and and he was able to kind of fight it off for a long time he
Dustin he began uh vending at rley field when he was 16 years old and so his dad was a vendor he he vended for 40 years and you know he was anyone that met Roco he was just he was just an old school throwback kind of guy here’s a picture
Of him if you’re on the the uh score 67 the score YouTube channel but everybody knew Rocco for all the like I said I’m a season ticket holder 24 years so he was there the entire time I’ve been going to games pretty much my whole life and you
Know he be got a lot of notoriety when he appeared on Undercover Boss so if you remember this um Todd rickets one of the uh owners of the of the Cubs from the Ricket family he decides to go dis under disguise and one thing he decides to do is become a hot dog
And it didn’t matter if Rocco was selling beer or hot dogs whatever Rocco could just you know he just had that natural gift and people would love to buy stuff from him and so Todd rickets has to sell all these hot dogs and basically he throws them in the garbage
But puts his own money so that it all equals out was so aggravated by that Cowley I mean I was incensed we I went on a rant on that on the air that was just an awful way of yeah I I did not like that at all I I hate throwing good
Food away number one and then trying to cover it up with you know a millionaire times FES money to cover the uh the the the cost so that he didn’t have to finish the job yeah well you weren’t gonna get that past Rocco is what I
Would tell you you you wer gonna get that past Rocco and Roco just took a ton of pride in his work and just you know this was a picture I took with me and Rocco This was um right after opening day not too long it was and and you know
Uh you know he just looked great and and I I heard his health had kind of taken a turn for the worst uh after the offseason and during the offseason so you know it’s it’s he’s just when you go to Wrigley long enough and this is the thing Roco followed in his dad’s
Footsteps and I know other beer vendors that I’ve been going to since I was you know 21 years old you know buying beers and and and their kids are now beer vendors and all that stuff there’s a there’s a camaraderie there’s there’s a closeit feeling amongst everybody that
Works at Wrigley field and you talked about it earlier when you went to winterland is is that these people whether it’s security whether it’s uh you the the vendors whatever these are the people that make Wrigley the friendly confines every time they’re just they’re they’re just such amazing
People and they become like family and so rqo would a lot of times head over uh to Arizona to Mesa and and a lot of the vendors will go do that they’ll they’ll go head over for a month and work in Mesa and and it’s it’s just a family and
And they’re just wonderful people and you know to lose someone like Rocco is a tremendous loss and it’s just it gets tough Dustin when you know over the last few years I feel like we’ve lost a lot of people at Wrigley you know part of
That family and I guess it kind of comes with time you know Father Time’s undefeated and I think you know there’s new people working there but you know for some of us that have been around a while it’s hard to kind of lose these guys and and Rocco was one in a million
He even got to go on after the whole Undercover boss thing he actually had Steven Kar came out uh you know Steven Kar from the the late show and uh you know he was a guy that would come around to Wrigley a lot when he was younger and
And he came out and sold hot dogs with Roco so Rago kind of became like this you know celebrity at Wrigley Field Bender that that people recognized him from either Undercover Boss or from uh The Late Show with Steven colar and and you know he just took all in stride and
And if people asked for photographs or people asked for autographs or whatever he wouldn’t turn anybody down and he you know and and he was just a great guy and he will truly truly be missed um somebody that uh you know Larger than Life figure and and and condolences to
His family and uh you know I’m sure the Cubs are going to do something a tribute to him come opening day condolences indeed I remember him from the show and then now seeing the pictures that you shared nice job doing that I definitely remember seeing him at Wrigley over the
Years uh we want to wish each and everyone one of you listeners a happy New Year it’s been another great uh season for Cowley and I I guess when we get back Cowley it’s going to be season number three right I mean this is season number two do we not kick off season
Three until actually we kick off opening day I foret we we’ll cross that bridge I forget how it exactly works but feels like it could be it’s episode number 100 though of season two pretty crazy and again hoping that you Crowley and everybody listening has a great new year
Yeah Dustin it it was a fun year I you know just for us this was our first season where the Cubs were in contention and and and just the excitement from the fans and and the and the great feedback and stuff that everybody gave us it’s a
Lot of fun and we got a lot planned for the new year so don’t go anywhere Cubs fans we’re we’re going to be here and when we come back again that free agency should start moving Cubs con is just around the corner and we got a lot of fun coming up so go
Cubs hey guys is Crawley thanks for watching if you enjoyed this video please don’t forget to give it a thumbs up and subscribe to our channel for more content like this if you want to see more of our videos be sure to check out our playlist
And let us know what you think in the comments below also don’t forget to follow us on social media to stay up toate with our latest episodes links are in the description thanks again for watching and we’ll see you in the next video Go Cubs
1 Comment
Randy was a great guy. A class act. I knew him when I was like 7 his son Todd was best friends with my little brother. I remember sleeping over at their house and it was a nice day playing outside, warm weather and waking up to an all out blizzard!