Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins discuss ‘the best cheesesteak in Philly’ — and why Joe Girardi banned it — on new podcast
Does the visiting clubhouse at Citizens Bank Park make the best in the city? CC Sabathia weighed in on the first episode of ‘The 6-1-1 Podcast.’
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Phillies legends Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins joined the ever-growing wave of athlete podcasters on Tuesday, launching a new podcast with MLB, The 6-1-1 Podcast. The two 2008 World Series champions joined up with New York Yankees legend CC Sabathia for their first episode of the new show.
Rollins has been featured on multiple podcasts in the past, including the Unwritten podcast with Mets broadcaster Ron Darling in 2022 and Two Equals One with his wife in 2023. Now, he and Howard are taking the wheel, hosting MLB’s second player podcast.
“We want to give these guys, former players, current players, people who have nothing to do with baseball, the opportunity to express themselves and share their stories, maybe in a different way than they have before,” Rollins said on the first episode of the show.
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“We’re going to have a lot of fun, because that’s all we know how to do,” Howard added. “We’re just going to be ourselves, we’re going to be Jimmy from the Bay and Ryan from the STL, because that’s what we do. We’re going to get on here and have a lot of fun, we’re going to have some great, interesting guests for you guys, to allow them to come out and share their stories, and we’re going to have fun doing it.”
On the inaugural episode, Sabathia shared his cheesesteak story.
“The visiting clubhouse has the best cheesesteak in Philly,” Sabathia said. “Hands down, that’s the best cheesesteak in the city.”
But it’s potentially the best cheesesteak in the city for nefarious purposes.
“We couldn’t get them on the home side, because we knew what they did,” Rollins said.
During the 2008 National League division series with the Milwaukee Brewers, over the course of just three games in Philly, Sabathia combined with Prince Fielder and Corey Hart to eat 28 cheesesteaks. Unsurprisingly, they lost the series in four games.
“You can’t move when you’re eating those things,” Sabathia said.
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So during the 2009 World Series against Philadelphia, Yankees manager Joe Girardi banned them.
“Joe took them out of the clubhouse,” he recalled. “I learned from my experience the year before.”
They also shared a moment that none of the three of them recalled from that 2009 Series.
The podcast’s name combines Howard’s number 6 and Rollins’ number 11. Episodes will drop every two weeks on Tuesdays, and Chase Utley will be their guest for second episode.