Hour 2: WNBA Draft Reactions, plus NBC Sports’ MLB Analyst Anthony Rizzo

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1:00Rich Eisen:This is the Rich Eisen Show. Hey, everybody. Can't get enough of the Rich Eisen Show? You're in luck. You can find us everywhere. Watch us weekdays on Disney Plus from noon to 3 Eastern. Miss the show? We've got a podcast so you can listen anytime. But here's the best part. Our YouTube channel. Subscribe at youtube.com slash richeisenshow and you'll never miss a moment. Now, on with the show. Coming back to do SportsCenter after 23 years, part of me thought I'd feel like a fish out of water. Live from New York City. Rich, we're ready for you in the studio. Studio is the other way, Rich. It's the Rich Eisen Show.

1:42Rich Eisen:Earlier on the show, Emmy Award winning actor Tony Shalhoub. Coming up, NBC Sports MLB analyst Anthony Rizzo. Actor Andrew McCarthy. WWE superstar Cody Rhodes. And now, it's Rich Eisen. hour number two of the program we're in downtown manhattan we're in the getup studios appreciate greenie letting us uh yeah no doubt the place out for uh another day we've been here uh for our two day stay the actor andrew mccarthy in studio hour three same thing with cody roads is going to be joining us here as we ran into him in the green room hey cody you want to come on out to play uh we're here in um in new york mike del tufo and uh also tj jefferson uh in his spots or in their respective spots in the Los Angeles studios.

2:32Rich Eisen:And Mike Del Tufo, I'm going to give you a heads up. Get your silly, stupid, two-logoed hat ready, because I want you to eventually show it to our next guest at some point in time. Okay. Don't reveal it yet. I won't. Don't reveal it yet. I won't. So I'm glad we're seeing you here first, because we're going to bring in Anthony Rizzo in a second, seeing you, a longtime Jersey guy and longtime New York Yankee fan wearing a Dodger hat. But we'll get to that in a second. And for the moment, let's kick off our number two and bring in the three-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glover and also World Series champion from back in the day with the Chicago Cubs.

3:08Rich Eisen:Now part of NBC Sports coverage of Major League Baseball, including Sunday night in Philadelphia when the Braves and Phillies take on one another. Anthony Rizzo joining the program. Good to see you, Anthony. How are you? I'm doing great, guys. How are you doing? Doing better for seeing you on the screen here. Yeah, buddy. um when was the last time that i'm gonna start this way when was the last time you bought a meal in the city of chicago with your own money it's been a while it's been a while they they take care of you there uh pretty much everywhere we go my go-to chicago cut my guys there always are taking care of me okay so that's that's your usual spot when you go to chicago yeah for sure that's usually it's right on the wall it's right on the river we sit outside on the patio summertime there it's it's beautiful what was that like a per that parade that so many people were dreaming of for a century to actually happen what was that like man it was anthony it was everything we you could think of what it was going to be like and i had high expectations and it blew me away i mean five plus million people from wrigley field down to grant park it was just aligned and it went back as far as 40 50 people just a sea of blue they they dyed the river blue all of it it was incredible the whole day winning 10 years later it's just as amazing now as it was then and i'm sure you've you know uh over the years had people approach you and tell you what your and the rest of your teammates accomplishments meant to them um what's the wildest story you heard from a Cubs fan talking about how they either they can now die happy or what they did for somebody who's since passed to let them know from the great beyond that the Cubs had won the World Series what's the wildest story man it's it's every day it's the stories of you just hearing them people listening or watching the game sorry I my my dog's going crazy here I have a wiener go like he's going but the story we don't hear we don't hear i don't hear it i don't hear it's all good the sitting at the hospitals with their their grandparents or their parents and how much it meant to them or hearing the actual story you see the pictures but hearing the people tell you how they were at the cemetery listening to the radio listening to pat use and ron coomer on the radio.

5:36It's just, you, it's, it literally every single time I am in an airport or I'm anywhere and a Cubs fan comes and tells me that, it's the coolest thing to be, to hear and be a part of because we lived it and now hearing their side of it and the fan side is, is pretty special.

5:55Rich Eisen:What's your dog's name, Anthony? He's a wiener dog named Kevin. Yeah. Kevin. Okay. I'll bite. Why Kevin? You know what? My wife always wanted a wiener dog in the name of Kevin. I guess someone's out of the house. The baby's sleeping too, so he's going to get a handful. Oh, no. Somebody's ringing the bell. Kevin, the wiener dog, is barking. Rizzo's doing a Zoom with the Rich Eisen show. Oh, holy heck. It's breaking loose in the Rizzo household. Yeah, it's been true to me well. Kevin the wiener dog. Wow. Fantastic. All right. So let's jump into the here and now, Anthony. So just up in the Bronx last night, Trout hits two, Judge hits two.

6:47Rich Eisen:You know, some all-time greats are going at it. You spent, obviously, some time with Judge in New York City. What's your favorite Aaron Judge story that you can tell about his greatness or about his oversized nature of his game? Yeah, I mean, his leadership is everything. But as far as the story, man, it's just he treats everyone with such class and such respect. And to be that level of a star, to be where he's at and to be able to really literally treat everyone like they're his best friend is such a special superpower for him. I mean, the way he goes about his business every single day. I wish I could just give you one story, but it's it's every single day he's relentless of who he is and his routine.

7:42So you see why he puts up the results he does, because he's never satisfied. He always wants to get better. And when it's not going the best for him, you can never tell because, I mean, his slumps are a lot less than guys like me. When I went through it, it took me about three weeks to get out of it. It takes him about three at-bats.

8:02Rich Eisen:What was it like watching him go for history? Yeah, I mean, that year he got off to a slow start. I mean, some people I think are saying he's off to a slow start now, which is crazy. He's got six or seven homers, but it was just a homer every other day. And he would come to the ballpark, and you're on the top step, not wanting to miss it. We had a front row seat, and it was just homerun, homerun, homerun. We get to August, and it's like, real, he could beat this record. Is he going to beat it? Is he not going to beat it? So the end of that season was so special to see him break 62, catch Maris, have his family there, all of it.

8:41And then we're all in Texas celebrating with him and his family. It was awesome to be a part of.

8:47Rich Eisen:So he never showed any pressure to you, teammates? He was just the same guy as he was going through that Marist-like chase, Anthony? You know, as his teammate, as us on the inside, we knew what he was going through. I feel like we felt the pressure more than he did. So it was on us to go through our normal days and routines with him. It was on us to make it not feel so much of a pressure cooker that I'm sure it was for him. So, I mean, there'd be times where we'd be talking it externally, be talking to it with our wives and background, just saying, hey, like, you know, when we do this type thing.

9:29But it was status quo every single day. The night before, we were all in Texas. Him and I were hanging out. Our wives were hanging out. The dogs were hanging out. So just as business as usual, but you know, the last couple of games of the year, we need this home run, right? We have the presence in place. We got the nice watch. We have all the champagne on ice, but just got to go about it as business as usual.

9:54Rich Eisen:So you're friends with Judge. Your wives are friends. Who's Kevin the Wiener dog friends with? Judge's dog? Yeah, they have two Dachshunds. They're tied to? The Dachshunds, take a walk in New York, Rich, if you can. The Dachshunds are taking over the city right now. So they have two Dachshunds as well. No, I saw that. Penny and Gus. Okay. Yeah, and Judge Strikes Me is a guy who definitely picks up after his dog. You know what I mean? Like he does everything right. Okay. Yeah, but I saw the dog on the field. He brings the dog out on the field with him while he's warming up there in Yankee Stadium.

10:29Rich Eisen:It's awesome. I'm so glad Kevin's got a friend, Anthony. I'll be very honest with you. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. Now that I get to know the Dodgers. He's got some real personality. So let's get into the analysis of it, Anthony. Who beats the Dodgers this year? Is that a fair question? Or this is, you know, baseball, anything can happen. I think it's as fair as you. I mean, they're the powerhouse. They're the beast. They've created this formula now with their starting pitchers of really just getting healthy in October. And I think the playoff format now with teams getting in, You don't have to win the division as much anymore.

11:06You can still really limp in as long as you're healthy. Any team can get hot. But the Dodgers are proven winners, man. They're going to be tough to beat. The one thing I would say that you can put against them is just fatigue. What it takes to play at that level so high all the time is not easy. And if they do make another deep run, it'll be three years in a row. I mean, every year they're making a deep run. But the World Series runs are a lot more pressure, a lot more mental, the mental side that goes into it. So that's really the one thing that is not with them, but they're deep. What's it like facing Otani?

11:50He's a presence, man. It's fun. I always say whenever you get to face the superstars of the game, those are the funnest moments. Those are where you really are like a little kid out there. So when you face all the aces, when he's pitching, it's fun. When he's hitting, it's fun because these are the guys you're going to look back at and tell your kids about, hey, I played with them. So I really enjoy the times you get to play against superstars, watching how they go out the business. I mean, what he does from both sides, there's a language barrier, but what he does here in the States is amazing.

12:25and we have a whole other country now that's already been massive baseball fans even tuned in more to our game.

12:32Rich Eisen:Now, listen, I'm a Yankee fan, so I understand this is a very small violin that I'm playing right now, but, you know, is it fair that players can defer their salaries so deep into the future that the Dodgers can then go ahead and get Kyle Tucker, right, and then keep adding and keep adding and keep adding? I guess that's one way to ask it, or what other players think? Do players think it's fair what the Dodgers are doing? Yeah, I mean, I think, look, the more the merrier. The game's in a great spot. The game, the momentum of the game, the young superstars. If you want to defer your money, as baseball players, we make a lot of money, fortunately, and it's very life-changing right away.

13:14So there's only so much you can do with that up front, and teams are doing it. The beauty is every single team can do it. But the Dodgers have really figured out a niche right now that is working for them. And it's, you know, championships speak for themselves. And everyone hated the Yankees back in the day when they were buying everyone. Right. But they kept winning. And no one. Someone told me once when we won the World Series, when people in the whole world, the whole country starts to hate you. That's when you know you're doing it right. So until then, one championship is cute.

13:48Rich Eisen:I guess that's I like that, Anthony. Anthony Rizzo here on the Rich Eisen Show. You just mentioned young stars and how the game is great. If you could start a team with a young star, somebody who has been in the league less than five years, who would you choose? Oh, wow. I think you've got to start with starting pitching, right? So Paul Skeens is number one. And then from the position player side, I've got to go with Roman Anthony. I'm very biased towards him. He's a Stoneman Douglas alumni where I went to high school. But I'm a huge fan of his game early on. Okay. I thought you were going to go Bobby Witt Jr.

14:24Rich Eisen:since obviously he and Skeens have something going on with each other. Yeah, he's got to have five years now, right, Bobby? I mean, he's a star. Does he have five years? Does Witt have five years? Okay. All right. Interesting. You're looking that up. He's another one. He's another one. There's a lot of guys you can pick and surround yourself with a great team now. Right. All right. So what do you think of ABS? What do you think the balls and strikes, automated balls and strikes challenge system? I love it. I think early on watching, you see the umpires are a lot more locked in now. There's not a lot of these kind of courteous calls that guys get anymore.

15:04If it's 2-0 to get the guy back in the counter, if it's 3-0, there's no more automatic strikes, which I like as a hitter, right? As hitters, I think we're so used to getting kind of the other way where a ball is called a strike, not a strike called a ball. So now you see a lot of these counts getting flipped to instead of 1-1 or 1-2, it's 2-1 or 3-1. And you're in a hitter's count and not battling for your life with two strikes.

15:32Rich Eisen:Interesting. You bring up a point that I don't think we've mentioned here on the program. The accountability that it brings to the umpires. So the get right pitch, the sort of courtesy strike on 2-0 or 3-0, those are gone because of this. They're gone, and it's really – everyone likes to pinpoint sometimes that one pitch decided the game. Well, those 2-0 to 3-0 is a huge difference, right? And sometimes there's many a times where I was 2-0 or 3-0, the umpire calls a strike the next pitch is a great pitch that i missed and now i'm three two battling for my life when i walked to the dugout saying that was ball four i should have been on base so not only does that affect you right then and there but affects you down later in the game where you're maybe at the plate with your your two for two with a walk or your one for three with a walk and it's just the long term that affects it has as well as is a lot bigger than people realize all right last one for you anthony when you were here in the new york city metropolitan area you probably met a lot of people like my audio executive he likes to be referred to his name is mike deltufo he's from livingston new jersey say hi to say hi to anthony anthony how you doing anthony mike i'm good mike how are you okay it's a nice hat you have on right see i mean i'm a dodger fan now after 30 years of living here I would imagine 30 years ago you had a Yankees hat on all the time, right?

17:04More than 30 years ago? Three years ago.

17:07Rich Eisen:Three years ago. Three years ago, Anthony. Three years ago. All right? Three years ago is when he had it on and then the Dodgers start winning and then beating the Yankees. Now put the hat on that you've been wearing. Put the hat on, Mike, and show it to Anthony Rizzo and you tell me, Anthony, if this is okay with you or not. Please put the hat on and show it to him. Oh, no.

17:34That response is great. Oh, man. That response is great. As someone who grew up in South Florida, I am a true Fairweather fan. The teams are good down here. That's when I am a fan. But growing up with all my family in New Jersey and being diehard Yankee fans, it took, I mean, that's a tough look. It's tough with Mike. But I've been 30 years in New Jersey. You're being too nice, Anthony.

18:00Rich Eisen:Very nice. See, no, that's fine. I've been 30 years in New Jersey, 31 in California. I like both teams. I can like both teams when they play each other. I hear you. No doubt. At different leagues, up until now, everyone plays each other. Different leagues. Yeah. I would love to know who you're rooting for in the World Series. It doesn't matter because we lost. I was going for the Yankees, 100%. But you were a master. The Dodgers won. But just what I'm saying, Anthony, okay? Honestly, I was in the stadium that night of game one with my son, Cooper, who's now 15. We were right down the right field line, and Freeman's home run went right across my eyesight line all the way into the right field seats, and I turned to my son.

18:48Rich Eisen:I did curse. And then I said, let's use this as an opportunity to get out of the parking lot before you're 20. so we got the hell out of there but i would never anthony ever sit there and go oh the dodgers have won let me you know i like this business of them doing this every single time that they get a double or a single or a triple i'm fine with it i'm fine with it let me now go now let me go and put this hat on no thank you you know what i'm saying like no thank you i was just literally at a music festival down here tortuga music festival in fort laurel beach and ice cube was performing and Ice Cube performed game one of the World Series for us and blew it out of the water.

19:28He rolls in in his, I think, Chevy or whatever it was, does this great performance for the game. I'm not kidding. We started walking over to watch him, and I go, guys, I can't do this. I had to turn around because I was still getting flashbacks. That was incredible.

19:44Rich Eisen:I was there too in the stadium. Exactly. All right, Mike. Anthony, you're too nice, Anthony. All right. Do we have a picture to show Anthony before going? Apparently, I haven't seen him. We've heard him throughout this Zoom on occasion. You want to pop that up there for Anthony to see? There he is. Okay, that's Kevin. Is that Kevin? That's Kevin. Okay. Hold on. That's Kevin on the photograph. And what's that thing? He destroyed that ball on the left side? Is it a toy that's history? Toys hate to see him coming. He destroys them all. and he's turning seven soon and he plays like he's a puppy. So he's great.

20:28Everyone who comes in contact. That's Kevin just being Kevin. Yep, that's it. It's a great name, right? He looks like Kevin. Okay. He does.

20:37Rich Eisen:I just love it. All right. Thank you for joining us, Anthony. This is a blast and we'll do this as much as you're up for it and enjoy your time with NBC Sports and starting your career as a broadcaster. I look forward to chatting with you more. Thanks. Awesome. Thank you, guys. Thank you very much. Thanks for having me on. You bet. That's Anthony Rizzo. Everybody check out Anthony coming up on Sunday night on NBC, Braves and Phillies. He's giving that inside batter's perspective from the field as part of the broadcast in Philadelphia on Sunday night. There he goes. Okay. I love how you said McAllister because I thought the only – Chicago.

21:14Rich Eisen:Right. And Kevin, it's like – That makes sense. But you'll never leave that dog home alone, ever. No, he won't let you. I just think that was so great. I mean, this is, you know, he is one of the most charitable and community-minded players of the 21st century. Just look it up. You can Google what he's done, and he's won awards for that sort of thing. So he's a nice enough fella. But the bottom line is, even he, Mike Del Tufo, seeing your hat goes, oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Dislike is fine, Rich. Secondhand embarrassment. But I can like both teams. I can like both teams. He said it. He said it.

21:53Yes, you can.

21:54Rich Eisen:You shouldn't, but you can. And we can call you a phone. I can do whatever I want. Very good. We can. We can do whatever we want. Like, go to break. 844-204-RICH. Number to dial. What a night for UCLA at the WNBA. We'll touch upon some of that. Take your phone calls. 844-204-RICH. We're in New York. Where are you? Rich Eisen here. Every time I travel for a major sports moment, whether it's a playoff run or a huge primetime matchup, I see firsthand what happens to a city. Hotels fill up fast. Energy builds. Everyone wants to be part of it. Now imagine that on a global scale. The FIFA World Cup is coming this summer, people, and with it, thousands of fans traveling to host cities across the country.

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