BURBANK, Calif., Oct. 28 — A day after defeating the San Francisco Giants to win the first World Series in the team’s 42-year history, Anaheim Angels players went on the late-night TV talk show circuit.
SEVERAL EXCHANGED QUIPS with Jay Leno on “The Tonight Show.” One of them, first baseman Scott Spiezio, also was tapped to read the Top 10 List on David Letterman’s “The Late Show.”
On the list of the top 10 things he reportedly overheard in the Angels’ locker room after Sunday’s night’s Game 7: “Now that we’ve won, I’m sure that we’ll be invited to appear on ‘The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.”’
That “Tonight Show” appearance began with a prerecorded skit in which outfielder Tim Salmon and closer Troy Percival told Leno they were angry about jokes he had made about their shortstop David Eckstein’s height.
When Leno denied it, Percival responded, “You didn’t say that when we won we could not go to Disneyland because he couldn’t get on the rides?”
As Leno continued to feign innocence, a midget actor walked in and said, “I’m here for that David Eckstein skit.”
The shortstop himself said later he stands “between 5-6 and 5-7”, although the Angels program lists him as 5-8.
“They’re fudging the numbers a little,” Leno joked.
“They always do,” Eckstein replied.
Salmon, who looks as if he’s sitting in an imaginary chair when at home plate, told Leno when he is hitting well his rear-end sticks out. After some prodding by the host, he demonstrated.
Spiezio recounted how from age 3 he would practice hitting in the back yard with his father, who would give him imaginary situations such as Game 7 of the World Series.
“I’d faced that pressure every day in my head. I didn’t do so great in Game 7, but it worked in Game 6,” said Spiezio, who hit a three-run homer when the Angels were behind 5-0. They went on to win that game 6-5 and Sunday’s game 4-1, on the day that daylight savings time ended.
“Did y’all remember to turn your clocks back,” Leno asked the audience. “The Giants would like to turn back the clocks one week.”
