My old buddy and teammate from college, Nick Vincent, stops by to tell us about his career and what it's like playing Major League Baseball during the pandemic. He's a true San Diego guy and was lucky enough to not only get drafted by the Padres, but play in the big leagues for them as well. He had a meteoric rise in professional baseball and he's been one of the best relievers in MLB over the last 6-8 years.

How many people get the rare opportunity to speak with a Little League World Series legend?! Haha, well today we get the hear some great stories from the baseball career of Randall Shelley. He grew up in Long Beach, CA and his Little League team actually did win the LLWS twice, pretty remarkable. We dive into his high school and college career at UCLA. He played alongside Chase Utley for a few years and got to witness his work ethic up close and personal. The transition from college ball to pro ball brings out some great stories, including his random encounter with Borat on the Ali G Show. 

One of my favorite episodes we've done so for on the Too Tall Sports Podcast. If you want a true "from nothing to something" story in sports, this is it! My former teammate and friend of the show, Bo Schultz, stops by to discuss his baseball career and great stories from the last 15 years of his life. We find out that he played baseball at the same high school as Matthew Stafford and Clayton Kershaw. He explains the unlikely rollercoaster of his baseball career at Northwestern and how he ultimately became a professional baseball player. He's interacted with some great ESPN personalities like Stephen A., Max Kellerman and Michael Wilbon during his internships in college. From independent ball to the big leagues and everything in between, including some great stories from our time together in Mobile, AL. 

We get the opportunity to talk to a true student of the game today, Justin Ramsey. The Double-A pitching coach in the Baltimore Orioles organization opens up to us about his life and climb in the coaching ranks.

My guest today is a former big leaguer, Houston Astros Draft Pick in 1999 and proud Long Beach State Dirtbag. Mike is part of the illustrious group of major league players to come out of LB St. He explains his upbringing and how he came to be a pitcher in junior college. Then he goes through the process of becoming a Division 1 pitcher and eventually getting drafted by Houston. He has plenty of great stories for us and really dives deep into his somewhat unlikely rise to making it in the show. Make sure to stick around toward the end for some real insight into those great Astros teams in the mid 2000's including guys like: Biggio, Bagwell, Berkman, Clemens and Pettitte. That group made it to the World Series against the Chicago White Sox, and Mike got to pitch in the Fall Classic himself.

I was lucky enough to network and recently meet with Todd Blyleven. He is the son of Hall of Fame pitcher and Minnesota Twins broadcaster, Bert Blyleven.  Todd played professionally himself in the minor leagues and grew up in Orange County just like me, among other places.

Today's episode features former Major Leaguer, Xavier Scruggs. He and I played against each other in the minor leagues a few times and I saw him on ESPN lately doing some announcing for the Korean Baseball Organization, KBO. I had track him down and dive into his college career at UNLV and also his long road in the minors before getting called up by the St. Louis Cardinals. He also played for the Miami Marlins and we discuss his time with them including learning lessons from Barry Bonds and Ichiro.

We finally were able to get an NFL kicker on the show. We are joined today on the Too Tall Sports Podcast by Mike Hollis, the man who scored the first points with a field goal in Jacksonville Jaguars history. Mike and I discuss his often overlooked talent from high school in Eastern Washington, going the junior college route, to kicking at the University of Idaho. He finds himself undrafted and proves himself enough to get a chance with the then, San Diego Chargers but eventually became a mainstay with the expansion Jacksonville Jaguars in 1995. Lastly, Scott has become a consultant for a "clean crafted" wine company called Scout and Cellar

Joined by Abe Alvarez today on the Too Tall Sports Podcast. The Left-Handed pitcher was a 2nd round pick of the Boston Red Sox back in 2003 out of Long Beach State. He was in the big leagues in 2004, having the quickest jump from draft to the show, in franchise history! Abe shares some stories from his childhood including being diagnosed as legally blind in his left eye and having to deal with that socially as a kid and overcoming that athletically as well. It didn't stop his progress and dominance as he was a 2-time Big West conference pitcher of the year and 2-time All American during his college years at Long Beach State. 

I had the opportunity to sit down with San Diego Padres broadcaster and on-field reporter, Bob Scanlan. The former major leaguer joins me today to discuss his early days growing up in Los Angeles and being a high school draft pick in professional baseball. Bob was traded for the "Wild Thing" Mitch Williams from Philly to the Chicago Cubs, and  he explains what it was like to make it to the Big Leagues in the "Windy City".