 thing stuff coming from the camp of the Houston Astros as they they tried to apologize for the cheating scandal from 2017 and I'm excited that Peter Rosenberg was able to arrange for last year's American League batting titles hit 335 last year Tim Anderson the shortstop for the White Sox to join us now Tim is certainly not shy about giving his opinions about things and he joins us now alive from spring training Tim it's Michael Don and Peter how are you today now we're doing I'm doing good we're doing great so what's your take on this did the Astros cheat or not no I mean that's the word out right that's the word out so you know if it if that's the word out then yeah now if you knew what pitch was coming I mean Jim Crane the owner of the Astros said I don't think it helped us if you know what pitch was coming would it help you yeah I have a better chance of getting hit somebody brought me a fastball right down the middle you know I know I have a chance at squaring something up to be honest so Tim how do you think you'd feel if you were a Yankee or a Dodger and you might miss out on at least going to the World Series or a possible championship because of this cheating man of course I'll be upset you know why wouldn't you but you know man people make mistakes people make mistakes and you know they'd be scared to admit it but you know we got a minute to move on because we all know what happened right so what you know we all human we all human at the end of the day do you get a sense Tim that you and your fellow ball players are people angry about it and offended by it do you think it's something that will last throughout the season are you guys ready to move on from it definitely I think it's gonna be something that definitely you know last throughout the season not just with them players but you know with them fans as well so now you know it's just you know you know things occur and and in life you know so they just gonna have to deal with it as it come and I think the biggest thing about it is just be honest I mean if you honest and you giving people your honest opinion about it and just being honest on what happened then that's there's really you're giving them room not to think anything else so you know it's just all about who's gonna be that who's gonna be that person Tim do you believe they use buzzers they said today they didn't I don't know I don't have proof so I can't really say I'm interested though when you played against them in 17 your team did as well an 18 did you guys suspect that they were stealing signs at home I mean to be honest I didn't know I mean I wouldn't know if anybody had buzzes I mean I'm not out there just rubbing on guys I would know so you know man you know it's some things that's allowed in the game as far as you know picking signs and stealing signs there's some things that allow but if the buzzer thing occurred as only you know it's only so far you can go with it and it's only certain things that acceptable so but you know I can't really say they did the buzzer like I wasn't out there just you know mother checker you know it bothers me Tim about like major league baseball in the handling of it is the players didn't get suspended they didn't get fined it was just hint she was loon now it was crane and baseball feels that the players didn't get the proper guidance you're not children right I mean this isn't these aren't high school kids these are these are men that do you feel that these players should have been punished more and that more their responsibility should fall on their shoulders not their manager general manager and owner now Tim we've spent a lot of time this week talking about the new rules that are proposed for major league baseball and the the playoff changes and there's been a lot of back and forth between us about whether this is actually an effective measure to to make the game more popular mainstream create more money for TV etc what do you think about these new proposed rule changes I don't really know the rules because I haven't really you know heard about them I guess about the playoffs I mean I ain't really never been to the playoffs so I can't really tell you how they work so I'm trying that something that I'm working towards so I don't really I haven't really heard them I mean do you mind going over with me well they're gonna expand the playoffs to include 10 teams the teams with the best record in each league gets a buy the second best record Tim gets to choose who they're gonna play in the first round they get to choose their opponent so I think that I think that's the best part of it because you could really get another team angry if you choose to play them because you think you could beat them the best yeah I mean that's not fair I don't think you know having a team to pick because like you said there's gonna be some teams that know they can beat 13 so I don't really think that's fair and that's not really you know it's not really giving teams to match up with teams that's really winning in certain brackets yeah but you know Tim you could play the worst team in baseball and still lose so you you could say okay we better with this team and you pick them and they end up beating you you look bad it adds another level of intrigue right right you're right now adding more teams Tim could mean that there might be years in which a team under 500 makes the playoffs would you be okay with that I mean I don't think it never been that way so no I wouldn't be okay with it you know we all not okay with our new changes so I don't really think I'll be okay with with a team that's you know not under I mean that's team that's under 500 making it I don't think that's fair either now last year you you were quoted saying that you thought baseball was boring yeah did did people in baseball get upset you with you for saying that you still feel the same way people felt about you know what I said a lot of really care about what people really had to say about it I mean I think it you know I think I think it's kind of moving in a different way just a tad bit not much but we'll see how this year go to see if it's if it's still boring but I know I'm gonna be able to you know add a little for intuitive you know to my audience you know it's interesting though Tim because I mean you play the game with flair and even Rob Manford the the commissioner baseball said let the guys have fun but then you know we always talk about this on the show if you toss the bat at whatever the other team gets mad at you and the pitcher might throw at you so I mean it's like all the players are on the same page Tim right and at that point for me man when I'm in between the line man I'm a totally different person I'm not out there to try to you know please the other team I'm not there to compete I'm not there to you know to show you what I got and and and also I'm there to bring energy to my team so you know with the batsman that was that was something in the moment that's excitement you know you when you go through a lot of things to get to a certain point in life man it's okay to celebrate those things and not everybody can hit a home run in the big league that's just the way it is and you think about how many good players are out out there that don't really make the big leagues so for me man I made a big league and I'm and I hit a home run of course I'm gonna be excited and I'm when I hear no gonna be excited again so nobody's gonna take that from me that's just something that I earned and I think it's okay to show what what do you think major league baseball could do to make the game less boring do you have any thoughts on that let guys beat themselves you know stop trying to program us stop trying to put all these rules on us let us have some fun let us be us let us do us the more the more that we show that we are sales you know the more fans gonna accept us you know just being authentic I agree with you Tim but the the other picture doesn't allow it so you could be yourself and then the other picture gets ticked off and then you get thrown out the next time you come up so it's like every player is not on the same page so you're right the commissioner said have fun but when you guys have fun I remember you flipped the bat people go nuts people baseball players were going nuts that's that's within the picture that's something that he needs to work on he didn't work on his feelings I control his feelings but you know man we don't really care about other people feel is nowadays if everybody was on the same page the world would be a better place a better place to live and there won't be we would be having this discussion so therefore like I said man you can't make everybody happy you gotta you know make do what make you happy so that's how that's how I go about I do what make me happy and I worry about the next person or definitely not the next player that's on a different team for me I'm gonna worry about the guys that I'm out here to compete with that I put my life on the line each and every day for so forget the other guys I ain't worry about them are there any rules within the framework of the game do you think they can make it more entertaining I mean I don't I don't really know or I guess I don't really want to give it to all I guess I can just kind of you know I do think that you know that try to interest fans you know through social media or whatever it is and if you're coming to the games to watch me I just try to play at an exciting level and give you the best game that I have because you paid your hard-earned money to come see me play right so this is my job so of course I'm gonna try to be great at my job day in and day out so I just go about my business man and continue to try to get better and you know continue to try to be somebody that someone wants to come watch you know we we were talking about this yesterday Tim and you're one of you know it's there's a shrinking group of African-American players that play in Major League Baseball it seems like African-American kids go and play basketball or football all right but you're one that went to you obviously play baseball and you should very successful you won the batting title why do you think that baseball is not attractive although baseball is trying with the RBI initiative why do you think baseball is not attractive to African-American kids I mean that's what I'm here for that's what I'm here for that's why I'm here to be an example I'm here to show you to show these kids that it's okay to play baseball that baseball is cool so that's why I'm here so I only could show you and and hopefully hopefully we have some great results at the end of the day but I'm gonna continue to you know keep trying to push that way but you're a great athlete you probably had choices to play other sports how come you chose baseball man I feel like you know like I said I play back I play basketball and it comes down to let's be on which I said that'd be real chill so man I'm I'm nowhere near six four six five that's average height for point guard NBA right right but I can run somebody hit a ball not a catch ball but I just got to learn how to do it the right way I'm already fast and guys in this sport you know so so why not let's choose baseball you already got advantage on some guys so all you got to do is my I do things the correct way and that's why I chose baseball because I feel like I already had advantage do you feel a cultural disconnect like one of the things I always talk about Tim you know coming from the the hip hop world is my my first day job I feel like in baseball they're working on it but there's this cultural disconnect and we all know that from a pop culture standpoint black culture is really what moves the needle it's it's right you know that's why it's such a big deal right when Drake is sitting at the US Open or courtside at NBA games do you think there's a disconnect and MLB understands how important that is yeah but who's gonna break that that's why I'm here I'm here to try to move that that way you know I had guys like G Herb will come out there the first pitch or connecting with guys through social media or you know trying to get those guys into baseball let them know like hey it's cool it's cool it's cool baseball cool another sport so let's you know that's why I kind of been cross collabing with guys you have seen me out with Khalil Mack and different guys so just connecting with different guys and in different lanes and Shawn you know that you could be cool a cool baseball player and it's okay to be yourself as well we're in the middle of the night okay so spring training report brought you by to buy London the engagement shop at London Jewelers we're talking with the White Sox Tim Anderson who won the batting title last year Tim pressure this year a lot of people say the White Sox had one of the best off seasons they say that you should make the playoffs this year your feelings I mean we got the lineup to do it when we say goals right you know every team going to to the season a let's let's make the playoffs that's when the championship right there's every season so you know that's how we're going about it good stuff Tim we thank you for joining us man we appreciate it I thank you all right