All The Smoke

Matt Barnes & Nick Swisher sit down with legendary broadcaster and two-time All-Star Harold Reynolds live from MLB All-Star Weekend in Philly. Harold takes us all the way back to Corvallis, Oregon, where he grew up one of eight kids, snuck into the gym to watch Pistol Pete Maravich shoot around, and helped Dick Fosbury perfect the Fosbury Flop before it won Olympic gold. From there he breaks down what it was really like stepping into an 80s MLB clubhouse as a rookie, and the vets — Julio Cruz, Maury Wills, Frank White, Reggie Jackson, Jim Palmer — who took him under their wing and passed down lessons that don't show up in any box score.
The crew gets into the biggest shifts in the game: why Harold thinks the eye test still matters more than the analytics era wants to admit, how kids are getting priced out of baseball before they ever get a shot, and why coaching today looks nothing like it did when a manager like Dick Williams could put the fear of God in you. Harold also shares what it was like coming up alongside Ken Griffey Jr. and his dad in Seattle, watching Randy Johnson turn into a monster after one lunch with Nolan Ryan, and breaking Rickey Henderson's stolen base streak.
There's no shortage of Bo Jackson lore either, from throwing out Harold at home from the wall, hitting bombs from both sides of the plate, benching 400 pounds in street clothes just to prove a point. Cal Ripken Jr.'s streak, Kevin Mitchell showing up to games on his own terms, and Harold's jump from the field to Baseball Tonight and co-founding MLB Network round out one of the deepest baseball history conversations the show has done.
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Jimmy Rollins joins All The Smoke Baseball for one of the realest conversations we've had yet.
The 2007 NL MVP, World Series champion, and Phillies all-time hits leader takes us from the fields of Alameda all the way to Cooperstown's doorstep.
J-Roll holds nothing back. He tells the story of the minor league coach who said he'd never make it with that "big-a** swing," the rookie-year beef with Scott Rolen that ended with the angriest home run of his life, and the advice Ken Griffey Jr. gave him at 17 that carried his whole career.
He breaks down how Larry Bowa built him into a Gold Glove shortstop, what made the 2008 Phillies core special — Chase Utley's grit, Ryan Howard's confidence and Pat Burrell as the glue. Rollins also gets honest about his Hall of Fame wait.
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All The Smoke Baseball sits down with 17-year MLB veteran Royce Clayton.
Royce opens up about growing up in Inglewood, getting drafted in the first round by the Giants, and the pressure of replacing his childhood hero Ozzie Smith in St. Louis. He shares stories about Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey Jr., Mark McGwire's legendary batting practice, playing clean through the steroid era, and winning it all with the 2007 Red Sox.
Plus: coaching his sons to a CIF championship, playing Miguel Tejada in Moneyball, and the real story behind the infamous clubhouse fight with Chad Tracy.
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Kevin Hart warned us. Will Ferrell is one of the funniest people alive and he confirmed it on ALL THE SMOKE. Matt & Stak got into all of it with Will: Anchorman, Old School, Talladega Nights, Semi-Pro, plus his new series "The Hawk," where he plays Lonnie Hawkins, a pro golfer chasing his magic late in his career. And because Will is a diehard Lakers fan, he told us about the time he "ejected" Shaq from a game. We could try to explain the rest, but we were laughing too hard to take notes. Just watch or listen. After years of calling Stak "Ron Burgundy" for reading anything that hits the screen, this one has been a long time coming.
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You don't find many as talented as the hilarious Deon Cole between acting, directing, and comedy. We got up with the Chicago comedy legend to talk about his role as Don King in the Michael movie and the current state of comedy. Deon had us rolling with stories about getting security called on him at the Roots Picnic, the time Idris Elba pistol whipped him on the set of The Harder They Fall, and watching DeRay Davis's evolution up close. Few guests had us laughing quite like Deon.
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