Andy Hnilo and John Baker from the Chicago Cubs Part 1

Boom, here we are. John. I just want to sound like I. That was my attempt at starting off like Joe Rogan right there. How'd I do?

I mean, you have to work on your radio voice, man. It's like a skill.

Yeah, radio work.

Have I done radio work? Yes, Andy, I've done a lot of radio work at, I don't know, 690 the score and 95.7 the game. All day here, four hours at once by yourself. It's not that big of a deal. You have to talk in a. You have to certain way. You have to talk like this and you have to enunciate and say certain things louder at certain times to make sure that you really get your point across, even though you're not saying anything and you're just talking to fill up space because that's what people want to hear while they drive their car in the morning. Drive, Andy, you know what I mean?

It's all.

I don't know, I like the podcast form there where people can have real conversation. You don't feel like you need to listen to that madness to get you going in the morning or the evening. I like, I like measured. Speaking personally now.

I hear you, man. Well, you got that down to a T, by the way. And I thought you were messing with me, but it turns out you are well versed. But yeah. To everyone who is just now joining us, this is. My God, man, how do I. You're not a friend, you're a brother. I mean, start family. Yeah, we really are. I mean, for the longest time, I swear. I know I've told you this, but some people out there that don't know, I took so much pride in being in your wedding. That was like my thing for so long. I still do.

Thank you.

No, but like when you were, you know, in the show, I was like, oh, yeah. I mean I was, I was one of his best men. I'm not going to lie. Every now in the United States, best man, definitely.

You once did, you once pretended to be World Series champion Jeff Devanan to get into, to get into a nightclub in Vegas when we were kids. So. Yeah, that's, that's not a surprise to me, Andy.

I, I definitely did. Hey, but that worked and it's, it's interesting because, man, those, it's, you know, now, you know, now we wait in lines if we ever go out or whatever. Back in the day when you're so hard headed, you know, 19, 20, 21, 22 years old. All right, let's be honest. 23, 24.

But 27, 28.

Were you just. Sorry, total pride, ego thing. You're around your buddies, kind of want to challenge yourself and see if you can kind of play mind games and trick your way into getting into those establishments. But then I. Then I started working security, and I became a door guy, and I was like, oh, man, how tacky is that? So I just haven't done it since. But, yeah. So to introduce you to my following, I don't know if you have any of your friends watching, but this is John Baker. He's former teammate of mine at UC Berkeley. We became roommates my second year there, and then I had transferred by the time that he was into his third year, and. Well, no, the second year was when you got drafted. Okay, that would have been your third year. So.

Yeah, my third year was your second year.

Right, My second year in your third year. And that's when that was a big transformation for you and for me. I was going through, you know. What's that? Uh. Oh, what happened? You guys hear me? All right? Bae, can you hear me?

I can hear you fine.

Okay, there's a little bit of lag right here. Let me turn this off. But I. Yeah, so I was actually. Remember, I was leaving Berkeley, and I was. I was. Yeah, I was leaving Berkeley. And then you. You know, that was a huge year for you when you got drafted and then ultimately moved on and started your professional career. But I. You know, I was kind of in a little bit of panic because I was there. I was on baseball scholarship at a PAC 10 university, redshirt freshman. And you would think that I would kind of wait it out and wait for my term, but I just became. I was a little stubborn. Remember that? I don't know if you remember what type of. I was just kind of just irritated, frustrated, and stubborn, but I didn't ride it out. And I'm very happy where I am right now. But just. It's interesting. That was a big transforming time of both of our lives. So if you. If you want to talk about a little bit, introduce yourself where you are.

So, I mean, I think that you bring up a good point. You know, I come from the baseball world, you know, kind of by choice. I played professionally for 14 years, and when I was a kid, you know, my parents kind of taught me to like baseball. My dad loved baseball, played baseball at Stanford, played professional baseball as well. So I grew up playing baseball, but I wasn't ever necessarily the best player on any of the teams that I was on. But one thing that I really enjoyed, and as I reflect back on my career now, and I think that this is probably what turned you on to the sport, too. Is that, like, you know, hitting. Hitting a baseball.

There?

Dude, what happened? You just went. You went dark. You went dark. Can you hear me? Yo, you got it. You got to. So can you hear me? All right, Andy or no, all that's on.

Baker.

Yo, I can hear you. I can hear you. Can you hear me? I'm texting you.