- 4 days ago
Former Braves manager Brian Snitker joined The Steakhouse and shared some stories from the days after Atlanta's 2021 World Series win, and then got detailed on the upcoming series with the Phillies and the Braves postseason run.
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00:00Sports Radio 92.9, the game.
00:05Brian Snicker live in studio.
00:07I think we don't have to go too much deeper in the World Series run.
00:11Other than, was there, does winning a World Championship feel like it's supposed to feel?
00:22Probably sitting there wondering what it's supposed to feel like.
00:24And I've heard a lot of managers and coaches say, listen, the losses stick with you forever.
00:28You wish the championships, and maybe you need more time in between it.
00:31But do you remember immediate emotions?
00:34I mean, you guys were up big in that game.
00:36When Saleh hits the home run, you pretty much know we're going to win this game.
00:39I didn't feel that way.
00:41When that last ball went, I don't know.
00:43I think somebody lined out before the last ground ball out, and I was in my chair kind of doing
00:50this.
00:51And we didn't even have anybody on base.
00:54Yeah, it was an 8-0 game or something.
00:56Six or seven, maybe.
00:57So do you have that moment you remember of literally euphoria, or does it not feel the way that, like,
01:04in the same way?
01:05Oh, no, it felt great.
01:07What's that night like?
01:09When do you get out of the ballpark?
01:11Ronnie's there.
01:11The kid's there.
01:12Yeah.
01:12Take us through all that.
01:13We went to the hotel.
01:14They had an after party.
01:15I didn't even hardly remember.
01:16I was so tired when that thing was over.
01:19I'm not so sure we all didn't have COVID.
01:21Right.
01:21You know?
01:22Yeah, Alex was in there because he had COVID.
01:24He had COVID.
01:26Because he got tested.
01:28Nobody else would get tested.
01:29Yeah, no, don't want to be tested.
01:30I felt bad for him.
01:31I think he was by himself.
01:33Not even with his family.
01:34Yeah.
01:34He had to be in another room.
01:35But he got to come to the parade, which is good, because it was outside and everything.
01:38Yeah.
01:39But yeah, you know what?
01:40I do remember.
01:41I remember the ninth inning.
01:42I'm sitting there, and I looked over to the Astros dugout to see what Troy was doing.
01:47And he was sitting there looking over to our dugout to see what I was doing.
01:50Yeah.
01:51So that was a pretty special moment right there.
01:53Because I did feel like, well, here we are.
01:55Well, it's a culmination of an entire career.
01:57People don't get to have those moments.
01:59No.
02:00Right?
02:00I don't know that anybody will ever experience that again.
02:03So you're so tired that it's not the greatest party of your life.
02:07I just honestly, I got to that party, and all I wanted to do was leave.
02:11Right.
02:11You know, there are people there wanting to take pictures with everybody.
02:14They have one of the trophies.
02:16And yeah, I wasn't ready to do that.
02:19Like I say, I just wanted to go up and take my-
02:22And then you're leaving.
02:23How soon the next day?
02:24That morning.
02:25The next morning, we get up, and buses are out.
02:28You know, we probably left at 10 or 11 o'clock.
02:30Yeah, not that glamorous that next day.
02:32And then the parade.
02:33Describe what that parade-
02:34The parade was cool.
02:35You know, it was really neat.
02:36The morning of the parade, my phone rang on about 8.30 or 9 o'clock, and I was still
02:41in bed.
02:43And it was Tony La Russa.
02:44And he said, I just wanted to tell you, I said, I want you to enjoy this parade and
02:48look at the joy that you brought to a lot of people.
02:51And he hit it right on the head, you know, as we rode through the town in the back of
02:56that
02:56pickup.
02:56Yeah, I love that it was two-tiered also, right?
02:58That it was Atlanta, and it was, as it should be, right?
03:03Like, you know, it's the Atlanta Braves.
03:04Talk about the relationship you have with Kirby Smart, who is a huge, I know, huge Braves
03:10fan.
03:11Yeah.
03:12And, you know, one of the first things I said to Matt Ryan when he got that job, I
03:15said, you want to talk to a guy that understands leadership, sports, setting a tone?
03:20Like, Kirby Smart's as impressive as anybody I've been around.
03:23I know you've built a relationship with him as well.
03:25Yeah, no, it's great.
03:26You know, we would text a lot, and he'd bring his kids to a game, and they'd let him go
03:29out and shag in the outfield.
03:31Yeah.
03:32You know, we'd sit there and talk during batting practice, and most times he's talking about,
03:35you know, a mess he had to clean up, one of the players screwed up, or something like
03:40that.
03:41Yeah.
03:41All that kind of stuff.
03:42And then we'd text back and forth during the season.
03:45And you'd become a Georgia fan.
03:47Yeah.
03:48You know, we've been here since December of 84.
03:51We moved here.
03:52And once you go over there...
03:53I was going to say, have you been to Athens?
03:54Yeah.
03:55Oh, yeah.
03:55Yeah.
03:55We used to go a lot, a couple times a year.
03:58Okay.
03:58I took my grandkids...
03:59With the grandkids.
03:59...two years ago, because they'd never been...
04:02Actually, they're going to the game Saturday.
04:04Yeah.
04:04They're a friend of theirs.
04:05Okay.
04:05And I've gotten to know Josh, and he's really accommodating, and...
04:10I loved seeing Kevin Stefanski.
04:12Not surprised that he reached out to say, do you mind if we come see...
04:17...what you have going on there?
04:18Because he was on the sideline there, I guarantee you, probably...
04:20Well, unless he recruited...
04:22I don't know if he's looking at guys, but...
04:24Yeah.
04:24You know, a lot can be learned the way they run their program over there.
04:27And you know what?
04:28Those guys, I didn't realize it.
04:31You know, I've gotten to know Dabo Sweetie really well over the years.
04:34And those...
04:35The football coaches are a different breed.
04:36And it's like, I don't know how the older guys do it.
04:39Because those guys, like Kirby, Dabo, they are on fire.
04:43I mean, they're on the go all the time.
04:46There's always something going on.
04:47But you have to have...
04:48You just said it.
04:49You have to have a level of energy.
04:52Oh, it's unbelievable.
04:53I mean, you've got to keep them up all week.
04:55And you've got to know when to lean in.
04:57And it's built on a certain level.
05:00You know, I don't know how many, you know, come to Jesus, Brian Snicker, you know, managing
05:07moments.
05:07But baseball ain't like that.
05:09No.
05:10And you know what?
05:11You even pick your spot.
05:12You have to pick your spot.
05:13You know what I took for Bobby?
05:15We used to have, like...
05:16And they have them now.
05:18But it's meetings before a series.
05:20And we would have one.
05:21It'd be in the clubhouse.
05:23And it was like, womp, womp, womp.
05:25It was the same thing.
05:26You pitch everybody the same.
05:27You do this.
05:28And then every now and then, Bobby would kind of beat on the table and have, you know,
05:33a minute or two to get something off his chest.
05:35And then I was like, I remember I told Glenn Hubbard this, I think, one time.
05:38I was like, now I know why we have these meetings.
05:40Right.
05:41So he didn't have to put it on the chalkboard.
05:43We got a clubhouse meeting at 4.30 or whatever.
05:46It's like our Vance meetings at 4.30.
05:49And he used that.
05:50Right.
05:50So nobody ever knew that he was having a meeting to get something off his chest or any,
05:55whether it was good or it was just kind of a little eye-opener for the guys.
05:59Something he's seen around the team I just want to address.
06:02Yeah, because most of the time, and I used to tell players, I'd say, this meeting's not
06:06for you, it's for me, because I'm rolling around in bed and I got a laundry list of
06:10stuff that I want to talk to you about.
06:11And most of the time, it's for me, not you.
06:14Yeah.
06:14But I got to get that off my chest.
06:16And I'm sure some good came out of it every now and then.
06:19But different, 100% different energy than a football coach.
06:23Oh, God, no.
06:24And even just, you know, look at preseason football, trying to coach your guys for the
06:28season, what you guys are doing, all due respect, down at spring training.
06:31No, yeah.
06:31A lot of the time.
06:32You have that one meeting.
06:33Well, you can't live that, or you'd never, you'd burn, you know, you'd burn out anyway.
06:37Yeah, managers like that, they're just.
06:39No, you can't.
06:41And I've been around some guys like that.
06:42And you've got veterans looking at them like, dude, this guy's serious.
06:45It's just like enough.
06:46You know what I mean?
06:47It's enough.
06:48I look at guys that, even man, you know, and Bobby got thrown out a lot.
06:54I don't know how, you know, what his top was.
06:56He managed so long, he accumulated a whole bunch of them.
07:00And it was, and it's a different area now, or the guys aren't getting thrown out as
07:06much.
07:06But you look at the guys that do get thrown out a lot, and I'm sure a lot of their
07:09players
07:09are like, would you get off the field so we can keep playing?
07:12How often would you just tell the guy, you got to throw me here?
07:14Yeah, we got to, would you ask sometimes, let's get this over with?
07:18No, I mean, I just kind of knew what button to push if I was going to do that without
07:22I talked to an NBA, a couple NBA guys were just like, some nights you have to show your
07:26superstar that you care.
07:28So you're just like, let's make this quick here.
07:30And I've had guys, especially from other teams, that would come and say, I've never
07:34had a manager do that for me before.
07:36And you know, I remember when the guy threw Matt Olson out a couple years ago, and the
07:40biggest thing was, you got to be kidding me, do you realize who you just threw out?
07:44Let me ask you a question about, and I apologize for lack of research, but the umpire that
07:49threw Chris Sale out the day after the ball call, right?
07:53Yeah.
07:53So he's behind the plate today.
07:55Would that worry you?
07:56No, no, because that guy.
07:57Because all the fans are flipping out.
07:59Yeah, no.
07:59That guy's got it out.
08:00This guy's not going to, he knows that, and he knows, he's not going to go out there,
08:04and I guarantee you, he's going to hope that when that game's over today, that nobody
08:08remembers who he is.
08:10You're saying the umpire?
08:11Yes, absolutely.
08:13Dan Merzel.
08:14Yeah.
08:15You know him?
08:16Yeah.
08:16Yeah.
08:17He's a young guy, and he threw him out the next day before the game.
08:21Yeah, well, and I'm sure when Chris, I'm sure Chris had that, you know, he slept on
08:26that.
08:26He was so professional in that whole, you know, in that exchange right there that he didn't
08:31get thrown out because he knew he couldn't.
08:33Right.
08:34You know, I mean, that's just, speak testament to him.
08:36And he must have just said, I'll deal with this tomorrow.
08:39Yeah, exactly.
08:40And you know what?
08:41I love it that he did.
08:43Ronald Acuna's opportunity, and he talked about it, it was gut-wrenching to not be a
08:48part of the World Series team.
08:49I mean, you really feel out of it.
08:51I mean, let's be honest.
08:52No, absolutely.
08:53I know you're getting a ring, but...
08:55He was hurting the next morning.
08:56I remember we all, there was a bunch of us, Ronald included, you know, we were in a conference
09:02room in Miami, kind of talking about things and, you know, and it was, the poor kid was
09:08devastated by this whole thing.
09:09Yeah, and think how many more he's had since then.
09:11Yeah.
09:11Moments.
09:12Right?
09:13Yeah.
09:13So, it feels like, you know, although we were freaking out the other day when he had
09:19the, goes out of the game, gets a upper shin or whatever it was, and I don't want to put
09:24words in your mouth, but who do you think could get hot?
09:28But who is the, who are the guys you go, these guys need to be there for us if we're
09:32going
09:32to make a run?
09:32Because it would be Phillies, Dodgers, maybe the Brewers.
09:36So, you need, listen, you need what you had.
09:39Yeah.
09:39But yours were a little more unlikely.
09:41What do you think about Ronald coming into this series, or in general, who are going to
09:45be in?
09:45I think Ronald's coming in at probably about as good a position as he could be in.
09:48I mean, he's been swinging the bat really well.
09:50He's been playing great.
09:51And I think he, I said last night, I said he's probably the one guy that's glad they're
09:55playing it too.
09:56So, cause he, I guarantee you, he didn't sleep last night.
09:58He's so excited about getting this thing going and, and performing that, you know what, he
10:04could go off and do something special.
10:06There's a lot, you know what, there's a bunch of guys right there.
10:08A guy, you know, I look at Austin, right.
10:10I said, Austin Riley's done nothing but play, play off baseball his entire major league career.
10:16And he hung in there this year.
10:17It wasn't great.
10:18I know a lot of people were on him.
10:19I'm proud of him, how he, how he respond, how he kept it together and just kept working.
10:24And now, you know, and he ended the year pretty good.
10:27What do you think Mauricio Dubon brings to the table that could be unique?
10:30He just, you know what, he's some, he's that guy we hadn't had here in a long time, you
10:34know, just put the ball in play, 10 pitch at bat.
10:37The other day he walks it off with, you know, I think a chopper or something to the pitcher,
10:41just things like that.
10:42I mean, and he is so excited.
10:44I guarantee you about right in this situation, I mean, this is for him, this is, and he's
10:47been a part of, but he's in the middle of everything for the Braves.
10:51It feels like, you know, and you talk about that Swiss army knife.
10:54I said, that's easier said than fine.
10:56How much do you love that as a manager?
10:58I love it.
10:58I love having a guy like that.
11:00It loves to, it doesn't matter where you put him.
11:02I think it's kind of, I think it's cool.
11:04I love the fact that, you know, they could not just wear Drake Baldwin out catching and
11:09cause you know, arguably he's one of your, you know, your best hitter maybe.
11:13And also Sean Murphy, you don't have a high expectation.
11:16Braves fans.
11:16And now you're like, that could be one of those names.
11:19He could be one of them names.
11:20Absolutely.
11:21Late game, eighth inning, two run homer.
11:24This guy's a bull, man.
11:25He's a three-one homer, you know, waiting to happen.
11:28Right.
11:28And does a great job behind the plate.
11:30He's still throwing really good.
11:32What makes him great with pitchers?
11:36He is really good.
11:38I think game preparation and study, even when he was hurt, he was involved with it and probably
11:44learned a lot by that, by just being in that room and being a part of that.
11:49Even when he wasn't playing.
11:51If there's going to be a guy who's going to have a moment, Brian Snickers saying over
11:55this, just give me a couple of guys.
11:57Yeah.
11:58I'm going to have a moment.
11:59But, you know, there's so many.
12:02Honestly, on this team, I think there's so many.
12:04Drake Baldwin, Matt Olson, Michael Harris.
12:07This is a good place for him to show everybody in baseball.
12:10It doesn't matter.
12:11It's not left.
12:12It's not right.
12:13There's not a matchup for him coming out of that bullpen.
12:15Well, you're throwing out the first pitch today.
12:17Yep.
12:18Huge honor, by the way.
12:19Huge honor.
12:20How's the arm feel?
12:21I'm throwing a baseball in 10 years.
12:22No, for real.
12:23I'm for real.
12:24I've got nine anchors in my shoulder.
12:26Right.
12:27I don't know.
12:27You're not Matt Ryan out there just warming guys up there.
12:30No, I know.
12:31I said if the catcher's any farther than that chair over there, I might be in trouble.
12:36Yeah.
12:36So, well, congratulations on that.
12:38Yeah.
12:38No, thank you.
12:39That's fine.
12:39It'll be cool.
12:39Ron, he's pretty good at the radio thing, too.
12:42We'll see, right?
12:43You know, he doesn't need a part-time job either.
12:47But every so often, if you don't mind coming in here.
12:49I don't mind.
12:49That's kind of fun.
12:50I love seeing you guys.
12:51Yeah, well, we appreciate Sandra.
12:53Sorry that she missed you.
12:54She'll heal up.
12:56Headed down to the ballpark.
12:57Brian Snicker throwing our first pitch.
12:59World champion.
13:01Braves Hall of Famer.
13:02And one of the great guys around baseball.
13:04You and your whole family.
13:05I know you're happy to have your son back around town, right?
13:08Yeah.
13:08He'll be home this evening.
13:09So, that's always nice to, you know, the grandkids are probably more happy than we are.
13:14Than Grandma and Grandpa are.
13:15Well, keep doing what you're doing.
13:17I said to you the other day, you look refreshed.
13:20Yeah.
13:20Feel good.
13:21Is that what I should look forward to?
13:22About 10 years retirement?
13:23Yeah.
13:24No, you look great.
13:24Get it together?
13:25Yeah.
13:25I appreciate it.
13:27Brian Snicker, thank you so much for being here.
13:29We're back tomorrow with Sandy.
13:31Much more to get to.
13:32Two o'clock today.
13:32Chris Sale and company.
13:34Remember, post-game Braves the entire week as well.
13:38Slaughter, thanks so much for all the help.
13:40Andy and Randy up next.
13:42Thanks for making the Steakhouse part of your day.
13:43Bye.