- The Wyoming Cowboys don't field an NCAA Division One baseball team anymore, but when they did, our guest this week on "Wyoming Chronicle" was one of the best players they ever had.

It's Jeff Huson, who had a 12 year major league baseball career, and now is the Lead Analyst on Colorado Rockies Big League Baseball telecast.

I'm Steve Peck of Wyoming PBS.

This is "Wyoming Chronicle."

- [Announcer] Funding for this program is made possible in part by the Wyoming Humanities Council, helping Wyoming take a closer look at life through the humanities.

Think wy.org, and by the members of the Wyoming PBS Foundation.

Thank you for your support.

- Jeff Huson, thanks for being with us today on "Wyoming Chronicle," glad to have you here.

I've been looking forward to this for a long time, so I much appreciate the opportunity.

We're in Laramie, where you are later tonight, as we're here on the 1st of September, are gonna be hosting the Wyoming Athletics Hall of Fame induction ceremonies.

- Yes.

- [Steve] You're a member of that, aren't you?

- I am, in 2015, I remember getting the call to tell me that I had been inducted, and it was one of those calls that to me I was in shock, because I didn't even know I was up for it.

And then too, it was really cool to think about my time here in Laramie and playing for UW Baseball, that they would honor me with such a great honor.

- Well, the reason you're a member of the Hall of Fame at the University of Wyoming is because you played Cowboy baseball, as you mentioned.

I'm not sure how many of our viewers remember or realize that UW fielded a Division One NCAA baseball team for a long time, and I know went to the College World Series once in the '40s, I believe it was, played up into the early 2000s.

What were your years here?

- I was here in 1983 through 1985.

So I grew up in Arizona, and I was playing at a junior college in the Phoenix area, and Wyoming came down to scrimmage some teams because the weather's challenging here at times.

And so they came down to play us, and we played 'em in a double header.

The scores counted and everything, but it didn't go on anybody's record.

I ended up going six for eight against them that day and made some great plays in the field.

Immediately after that, they asked me if I'd like to come on a recruiting visit, and so I said, "Sure, why not come up here?"

And I came up here, had a great recruiting visit.

It was about 75 degrees, no wind, and it was a great day in May.

And so, it was really neat that they thought that much of me that they would invite me on a recruiting trip.

- What were your aspirations about playing at another level of baseball at that time?

Did this offer, I mean, you were in the right place at the right time, performed the right way at the right time, were you hoping something like this might happen?

- Well, yes and no, because I had to walk onto the junior college.

I was kind of a late bloomer, so there's only two schools that were really recruiting me, and only one that gave me a full ride.

So I was like, "Hey, I'm comin' here to help my parents out," but also I just loved the vibe up here and the players, and yeah, so my aspirations were just to be able to play Division One baseball, and then hopefully, we'll see where it goes from there.

- You recalling when you came to Laramie, that first winter that you were here, you said, among other things, you're an Arizona boy, you didn't even have a winter coat.

- Nope, and I remember as I was driving up here with my Rand McNally map next to me, coming up the back way from Fort Collins, driving into Laramie.

I had left Arizona the day before, looking over to the left and seeing this mountain range.

I didn't know it was The Snowies at the time with snow on it, and I thought to myself, what the heck did I get myself into?

And we go through fall ball, I fly home at Thanksgiving, and I didn't wanna get on the plane to come back.

And my parents were like, "No, you committed to this, you're goin' back."

So I get back on the plane, come back for the last three weeks of school, go through finals, go home at Christmas, and after about five days at home at Christmas, I was like, "I miss Laramie, I need to get back.

"I need to see my buddies, I need to see my friends."

And from that point forward, I never looked back.

I always say to people, "Sometimes you choose Wyoming, "and other times, Wyoming chooses you."

And for me, Wyoming chose me, and it was the best decision I ever made.

- What was the brand of baseball that was played at Wyoming?

How would you characterize it at that time?

- I would think a little bit of old school baseball, in the fact that if we got somebody on, you're probably gonna bunt 'em over.

There's a lotta hit and runs.

- This was sort of your specialty.

- Yeah, it really was, and so, it fit right into my game, because I had some speed and was able to do that.

I didn't have much power.

I just think it fit my style.

- Yeah, who was the manager then?

- Jim Jones.

- [Steve] Jim Jones, sure.

A long, long.

- Long time manager.

Yeah, he came in after Bud Daniels and before Bill Kinneberg took over here at UW.

- [Steve] Good baseball man.

- Yeah, exactly.

- You talked about the weather and why the Cowboys would be coming down to scrimmage against the junior college team in Arizona.

What's the typical, how many games would the Cowboys play in your seasons here on first?

- Well, we would hope to get 55 to 60 in, and the first 40 usually were out on the road.

We either went down to Arizona or we went down into Texas.

- What month does the college baseball season typically start in?

- March.

- March, so March in Laramie.

There's really no question of ever having a home game for it.

- No, and even going into mid-April, you could get some great days and it could be snowing.

I remember my senior year, we were playing the Air Force Academy on Mother's Day, and it was snowing.

But I always tell people, to me, we call it Cowboy character, in the fact that, as a team, it didn't matter how bad the weather was.

It didn't bother us.

We actually used it to our advantage, and I really think it helped me in pro ball, because you play in so many different climates, so much uncertainty as far as weather goes.

So for me, it was a place where I could go, "Hey, I've played in some worse weather, so this is fine."

- You were a heck of a player at UW.

I went and looked at your stats, effectively, you hit 400 essentially for two seasons, right?

- Yes.

- [Steve] Or just right at.

- About 399, but who's counting?

- Let's round up.

(Jeff laughs) - That's what I like to do.

- That's good.

How did pro baseball first expose itself to you, so to speak, as a potential player?

- Well, so after my junior year at UW, I got a call to go play in a semi-pro league in the Jayhawk League in Beatrice, Nebraska, which is about 40 miles south of.

- My grandmother's hometown.

- Okay, so I pronounced it right, Beatrice.

- [Steve] You did.

- I played there, had a really good summer, that helped me get on the radar.

Well, we go to play in a tournament in Wichita, Kansas, the NBC tournament, National Baseball Congress, and had a couple teams wanna sign me, Philadelphia Phillies, Texas Rangers, and the Montreal Expos.

And just after talkin' to the various scouts or whatever, I ended up deciding to sign with Montreal.

- And how old at this time?

- 21.

- [Steve] 21 years old.

You didn't have an agent?

- I didn't have an agent, it's me, but all three teams were offering me $1,500 and a plane ticket, basically, to spring training.

So, I got no money, but an opportunity.

In the meantime, I had gotten engaged to my wife Wendy.

- Who's from Cheyenne, Wyoming.

- She's from Cheyenne.

We've been married 36 years, and so she's been with me every step of the way through the minor leagues and through no money and the whole thing.

But that first summer, I just needed to find out what I could do on my own.

So I went and played in Burlington, Iowa, and she was workin' in Denver.

And so, it's wild how things work out, but being able to sign with Montreal really helped me because we had so many great players.

You had to play well or you were gonna get released.

- You're not, when you go to the pro baseball for the first time, a lotta things are just so different, a place you've probably never been, you're not playin' with your buddies, you're playing with older guys.

It's a.

- It's a weird dynamic.

You come from college baseball where you use an aluminum bat.

- Oh yeah.

- And then you go into the pros where everything is a wood bat.

And I just remember my first spring training, walking out into the field with Montreal, and there's 150 guys walking out there, and I'm thinkin' to myself, oh man, what have I gotten myself into?

There's all these great players, how am I gonna stack up?

The very first guy I faced in batting practice, where the pitchers throw against the hitters, even in the minor leagues, first guy I faced was Randy Johnson.

And I'm thinkin' to myself, well then, I'm done after today.

If this guy is in the minor leagues, what does the big leagues look like?

Well, of course, we know what happened with Randy, but still that was an interesting one.

I ended up doing pretty well in spring training, and I ended up makin' a low A ball team outta spring training when Larry Walker was also on that team.

- No kidding, so A ball, for example, compared say to NCAA baseball, similar caliber of play, would you say, or what are the similarities, differences?

- Yeah, I think it's similar.

The difference is in college baseball is, if you have a rough weekend, you go O for eight or one for 11, you have two days, three days before your next game sometime to maybe iron out whatever's wrong with your swing, whatever's wrong with the pitcher.

- Or just get over it.

- Or get over it mentally.

In minor league baseball, you do not have that chance, and that's the biggest lesson I learned, because I went from college baseball to minor league baseball where we play 142 games, and trying to figure out mentally how to get through that grind.

And I remember distinctly, we were on the road, it was game 90 and I'm wiped out, because it was just so much more baseball than I'd ever played in my life.

And now, I've gotta figure out how to get through the next 52 games.

- 50 Games left.

- Yeah.

- And those games are played in a shorter window than Major League Baseball.

- Yes, exactly, exactly.

- Major League Baseball's almost every day for six months, but this is 150 games in what, five months?

- Five months, yes, so you don't get many days off.

There's different rules for the minor leagues than there are for the big leagues.

- And when you're talkin' about bein' on the road, you're not sittin' in a jet, you're in the back of a bus somewhere, right?

- Yeah, it's funny, I mean, just think of "Bull Durham."

Okay, "Bull Durham," guys riding on the bus.

Some guys are singin' a song, some guys are sleepin', some guys are playing cards, all of that.

'Cause "Bull Durham" came out in my third year in the minor leagues, it was AA.

I was playing in Jacksonville, Florida, and we got a free preview of that movie, and I walked outta there, my wife and I walked out of there, we were like, "Oh my God, that's our life."

- They nailed it.

- They nailed it.

- A term that I hear brought up again, when you're on television, and I'm a Rockies fan and watch the games, and I hear other people, people that you interview talk about it.

I've heard you say it, and the term is, "We're built for baseball."

Now, I heard Todd Helton in the booth just a few days ago for the 30th anniversary, and he works with the Rockies again, and he's talking about one of the first things I look for is a particular body type and what that person's gonna grow into.

But I have a feeling that built for baseball is, that's part of what it is.

- Yes.

- But based on what you've said, a lot of it's there too.

- You know, it really is.

I played with so many guys that had so much more talent than I did, but I don't believe anybody outworked me.

It's the hardest game in that fact.

Football's tough for the physical aspect, basketball has their challenges, but baseball, it's both physically and mentally.

Once you start spring training in February, that's the best you're ever gonna feel.

And now you play 162 games in 182 days, and the mental grind of going into a big slump, you're O for 14, people want you to get fired, cut, released, whatever it may be.

You hear all the white noise, but you gotta be able to block it out.

And I think that's what separates a lot of the great players from guys that got a cup of coffee and then we're out of the game quickly, because the mental grind, it sounds weird, but you have to be selfish too.

You have to make sure that you take care of yourself and you're ready to play each and every night, and there's times that I was probably too selfish, because all you can focus on is what's in front of you and what's gonna happen in that game that night.

So I always look back at times and think to myself, I wish I could've enjoyed the game more, but to get to that pinnacle, I'm not sure that was an option.

- Related to that, talking about how fans get on you when you're in a slump and so forth, I just wanna do a little bit of math.

I subscribe to the US Census Bureau newsletter as part of my job, and one of the things I saw recently was that since 1900, there have been 10 billion Americans born.

And I think there've been 25,000 Major League Baseball players.

Now, that's still a big.

- It's actually lower than that.

- [Steve] Not even that many.

- It's a little over 23,000.

- [Steve] 23,000.

- Yeah.

- And 23,000, well, in Wyoming, that's bigger than most towns are, it's still kind of a big number.

But let's look at I think the population of the United States today, about 330 million, and I think 30 major league teams and active roster of what, 20?

- 26.

- 26, so that's about 800.

- Yes.

- Major League Baseball players.

So the thing that you did, even if you were in an O for eight, just so incredibly rare, and particularly meaningful because so many people dream about doing it.

- Yes.

- And here's someone who did it.

When you were a little kid, you played youth baseball I presume.

Everybody thinks, man, I'm gonna be a big league player someday.

You had those thoughts, I'm sure.

- Yeah, absolutely.

- You must've been a heck of a Little Leaguer.

- Yeah, I was, and I just kept getting better and better and better the older I got.

And yeah, I think growing up, I grew up in a sports family, and we went to baseball games, and I played basketball, I played football.

I did it, you could do that then.

You could play all the sports.

So yeah, I dreamt of playing in the big leagues, but I was too naive to know how hard it was.

- The math I just did, you didn't do.

- I didn't do, I wasn't smart enough to do all that math, so I was too naive not to think I wasn't gonna make it, and that really helped me.

- What happened when you got the call?

- Well actually, it happened.

I ended up goin' to camp with Montreal.

They sent me to AA, spent the whole year there in AA, and I got called to the big leagues.

- From AA?

- From AA.

The really cool story about that is I was 15 hours short of getting my degree.

So I had five classes, so I had enrolled in school, and my wife, who was pregnant at the time with our first, and our dog and my parents, they took off from Jacksonville, Florida.

And they were driving back, and they ended up stopping in Illinois at my grandmother's house, and then my parents were gonna stay there, and Wendy was gonna drive the rest of the way back here to Laramie, start classes for me, and do everything for the first couple weeks, talk to the professors.

She gets to Illinois and my grandma's, and my manager tells me that I'm goin' to the big leagues the next day.

- Wow.

- So I called her up, I said, "Hey, you're not going to school for me, stay there.

"I'm gettin' called to the big leagues tomorrow."

And so happened that I fly to Montreal, we play there a couple games.

We go to Pittsburgh, and then we're gonna go to St. Louis, so I meet up with her.

She's in basically Springfield, Illinois, so she drives down to St. Louis.

This is the first time we see each other since I got called to the big leagues.

I got big league meal money.

It was like a scene out of a movie.

We're throwing money up in the, 'cause honestly, that summer I had to borrow some money from my parents to pay rent, because I wasn't makin' any money and she wasn't able to get a job.

- What is the AA, what?

- At that time, I think I was makin' $1,200 a month.

- [Steve] Wow.

- Yeah, my first year in the minor league, $700, my next year, 850, so yeah.

- It's a long time ago, but that's not very much money even then.

- No, but when I got to the big leagues, big league minimum at that time was $62,500.

And I thought I'd.

- It's a big step up.

Do you mind telling us what that is now?

- It's a little over 700,000, yeah, now.

My second year I made 68,000.

- [Steve] You got a raise?

- Yes, I did.

And then the next year we go to camp, and I got traded to the Texas Rangers with about five days left in camp.

- [Steve] And that's the team you played with the longest?

- Yeah, that's really where I got my big break in my career and was able to, that's where I established myself as a Big Leaguer.

- And among your teammates, there was Nolan Ryan, and I've heard you talk about being on the field when he extended one of the great records in baseball, that I think, of course, we always talk about which baseball record will never be broken.

That'll bring me to another question about Cal Ripkin, but hard to believe another pitcher's gonna throw seven no hitters.

- No, I don't think so.

What was really interesting, quick story, backstory to those two no hitters, and I also played in his 300th win.

Was, as I mentioned, I got traded to Texas.

I go to camp, there's only four or five days left.

They had me stay behind to play against Nolan in a simulated game with about three or four other big leaguers, and they put minor leaguer guys out in the field so he could get his work in.

So, I get a lotta at bats against, so my first time up, I hit a double.

Next time up, he walks me.

Next time up, I hit a triple.

Next time up, he walks me.

So finally, the fifth time, I'm getting ready to.

- He's glaring down at you.

- Absolutely.

- And nobody can glare.

- No, you could not look back at him, and this is, we're teammates now.

And he kind of pulls his hat down and he said, "Okay, how many hits you got off me today?"

And I said, "None."

And he goes, "Good answer."

And now I think he's gonna hit me 'cause that's.

- Which you would not want.

- No, but that's kind of what you hear of Nolan.

Well, he didn't, and I ended up breakin' my bat and kind of flared one over the second baseman's head for another hit.

So afterwards, I'd never met him before.

This is the first, I mean, we're teammates, but I'd never met him.

So I go up to him, I said, "Hey, Mr. Ryan," I said, "Would you sign this bat for me?"

And he said, "Sure, but don't ever call me that again, "just call me Tex."

And so yeah, to get to the no hitters, the first one in Oakland, the sixth no hitter, he'd just come off the IL with a bad back.

And started off a little slow, and as the game starts going, you go like, okay, he's starting to feel it now.

And we get to one out in the ninth inning, and Ricky Henderson's up to the plate, kind of checks his swing.

It's a slow roller to me, I get it.

As soon as I catch it, let go of it.

I know I've got him at first.

And so I end up by the mound as the ball comes around, I get it, I toss it back to him and he goes, "Nice play, Huey."

I was like, "Thanks, Tex."

And as I was going back to shortstop, I was like, oh gosh, do not let them hit a ball to me again.

- [Steve] I've done my thing here.

- I've done my thing.

So luckily, Willie Randolph flew out to Ruben Sierra in right field.

The seventh no hitter against Toronto, it was really unfair.

'Cause he was just so dominating, and that's when they had the good team, that was in.

- [Steve] And let's just say, he's what, 44 years old?

- 44 years old at that time.

That was when Toronto was goin' to the World Series and stuff.

They had a team, but it wasn't even fair that night.

He was just that good.

- One of the records, that was talked about, even at that time that was untouchable, was Lou Gehrig's record.

It's one of the famous numbers in all of sports.

He went 16 years and never missed a game, and you found yourself on the Orioles then when Ripkin was gonna break that.

- Yeah.

- And you were there that night that he did.

And there's a picture, that I think you've shown on TV before, showing you, he's facing, looking up like this, and you're from the rear clapping for him.

- [Jeff] Yeah, yeah, exactly.

- [Steve] What was that night?

- We knew this was gonna happen starting in spring training.

It was weird because, for me anyway, I was platooning with a guy named Jeff Manto, and we were playing the Angels, the California Angels at the time.

And the Angels had four left-handed pitchers in their rotation and one righty, so we're sitting around this desk in the middle of the clubhouse about 10 days out.

And so we're counting and figuring out who's pitchin' when, and we're lookin' at it.

Finally, I was like, Shawn Boskie's pitchin' that night, and Jeff Manto gets up and pushes me and goes, "You lucky bleep, bleep, bleep."

- 'Cause that meant you were playing.

- That meant I was playing.

- Because he's a lefty.

- Shawn Boskie was a righty, I hit lefty.

- [Steve] You hit lefty, okay.

- Yes, and so, that's how, the dynamics of it.

Going out for the national anthem that night and realizing the significance of it was quite remarkable.

And for him to hit a home run.

- [Steve] That's what I recall.

- And Disney couldn't have drawn it up.

People would be like, "Come on, nah, that's not, "that's no way."

- Well, there's always talk occasionally.

Well, did somebody serve one up to him?

- [Jeff] No, no.

- But I never buy that.

Even if it happened, they've still got hit.

- You still have to hit it.

- [Steve] Outta the ballpark.

- Yeah, exactly.

And so, after it became an official game, we were leading at the time, so after 4.5 innings, that's when they decided to, hey, Cal, you've gotta get outta here, and you gotta make a lap.

And guys in the the dugout are crying 'cause they know the significance of it.

- The other team, the Angels, came out for him.

- They came out of their dugout.

They're all giving him a high five, and then when they unfurled the numbers on the warehouse, I mean.

- Great moments in sports.

- [Jeff] Yeah, I'm gettin' chills.

- [Steve] Great moments in history, I dare say.

- Yeah, I'm, like I said, I've been so blessed to be in some of those moments, it is just, from a little kid from Sedona, Arizona, to be in these moments.

- What happens in a player's mid-30s, in your case, when thoughts of not playing anymore enter your mind, and when did that happen for you and why?

- So I ended up signing with the Cubs and playing for the legendary Don Baylor, and it was just such a great experience.

And I knew I had to get a full year in to get my 10 years in the big leagues, and it's a big number for our pension, as I mentioned, but also somethin' that's a lot of pride in that number.

So I end up playing the whole year, but I could tell my body just wasn't allowing me to do things that I used to be able to do.

- Just because you weren't 21 anymore.

- I'm 36 now, and balls that I used to be able to beat out, or I used to be able to go first or third, I couldn't do it anymore.

The throws were longer.

So, we go to Pittsburgh, final game of the year.

Mind you, Pittsburgh is also the place I got my first big league hit against Doug Drabek in old Three Rivers Stadium.

And we're playing in old Three Rivers Stadium, and I start the Sunday, final game of the season.

They're going to blow the stadium up the next day, so they could build Heinz Field.

But I had kinda known that this was it, but I saw that as a sign, a full circle moment for me, to know I got my first hit there, and I also led off that game and I got a hit my very first at bat.

So I remember after the game, sitting in the dugout, and realizing that it was over.

- Yeah.

- It's really hard.

- And it felt, there was some symmetry there that you could live with.

- Oh yeah, absolutely, just because I knew I couldn't do it anymore.

So, it was finality, but also kinda hard.

- Luckily by then, you had a second career all wound up in TV broadcasting, or I don't have that quite right.

- Maybe not quite right.

After that, I didn't know what I wanted to do.

I knew I wanted to get into coaching.

I knew I wanted to try to manage in the big leagues, and so the Cubs offered me a position to be able to be a infield coordinator, roving, so I could go out, come back home.

I did that for five years.

I'm in Arizona.

We're at our organizational meetings, and I get a call from Tracy Ringolsby.

And Tracy had covered me when he was down in Fort Worth, Dallas area, when I was playing for the Rangers.

- Why don't just stop for a moment and explain who he is.

- Well, Tracy is a hall, he's in the Hall of Fame for Writers, and still lives in Cheyenne.

And Cowboy says, "Hey, I've given the people," at that time, it was Fox Sports Rocky Mountain, "Your name."

I said, "Sure, okay, I'll talk to 'em."

So they called me, they said, "Hey, we want you to come to do a interview, "or a screening or whatever it was."

So our screening was Drew Goodman and myself, standing up in front of a TV talking about an inning of a baseball game.

I had no idea who it was.

I was just supposed to react off of that.

So another two or three weeks go by, and finally, about the second week of January, they call me and said, "Hey, we wanna offer you the job."

- I drive around for my job here a lot.

I've got Sirius satellite radio, and listen to lots of different games 'cause I like hearing the different broadcasters, and they have different approaches.

- Oh yeah, absolutely.

- On your broadcast with the current team, you bring, you talk a lot about the methodology, the technique sort of, here's, "He needed to take a step back to let that ball come."

"He should have charged that because there was," "He didn't get the grip he wanted."

You tell people what it's like to be an infielder, and I find it very interesting.

- Well, and that's what I try to do.

I look at it is, Drew and I are sitting at a table just like this, and we're talking about the game that's in front of us and what we're thinking and what we're seeing.

It kinda goes back to my coaching.

I love coaching, and so what I'm trying to do is coach our audience on how I would coach the player.

- Jeff Huson, it's been a great pleasure talking to you.

- Thank you.

- I appreciate your continuing connection to Wyoming.

Good luck with your career.

- Thank you.

- Hope you keep doin' it for a long time.

- I do too, I enjoy what I'm doin', but thank you.

- Thanks for bein' with us on "Wyoming Chronicle."

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