In 1989 David Iery was a top prep baseball player. Then one bad decision on the field put him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Iery shares his journey, from thoughts of suicide in the beginning to now using his injury as a way to help others. He also discovers his faith, and the unlikely angel God sent to spur him on - former MLB star Al Oliver.
The Dan Scott Show Podcast
Dan Scott Show, Radio Episode 92 - David Iery (10-13-24)
The following program is a presentation of Grand Slam Ministries Hi again everybody and welcome to the Dan Scott show as you just heard and as always presented by our 501c3 nonprofit organization Grand Slam Ministries I am Dan this is episode 92 of what I still consider to be a new venture here I believe that we are just getting our footing and man if that's the case what God has already done can you imagine what He has in store for this program and for Grand Slam Ministries as we move into the future I've got faith that He is going to just completely blow this thing out of the water and do things with it that we never imagined He already has quite honestly to be sitting here 92 episodes in which means that we're coming up on two full years of doing the show and thinking back to week one when we started on two radio stations one of which we lost in October of last year it's just amazing our longest serving station now is WZLA and Abbeville and Abbeville South Carolina and my buddy Benji down there doing just incredible work that he continues to do and I thank him for his friendship and his loyalty and all of the other stations that have come along the life FM now our flagship to get us on now 39 over the air radio stations and eight internet stations two of which are international Paisley Scotland Cape Town South Africa it's just something I never would have imagined when we began this in week one and I believe that this is just a tip of the proverbial iceberg so we're gonna keep it in God's hands and see where he takes this thing if you have been with us from the very beginning you know that my single biggest guardrail that I have put up on this thing is don't get ahead of God because when I do that it always goes wrong and I'm sure that I'm the only one right nobody else out there has ever had that issue anyway as I said it's great to have you with us whether you're listening to us on Saturday on Sunday or catching the podcast archive of the show thank you for tuning in continue to ask you to share it and help us grow and today we've got a pretty interesting interview with a guy named David Iery who has spent the last three and a half decades in a wheelchair and it's all because of one fateful decision that he made on the baseball field as a 17 year old we'll tell you about that and get you into this week's interview when we come back but first a word about Grand Slam Ministries this is the dance gotcha every day there are children who leave school on Friday and eat little and sometimes nothing until they come back to school on Monday it happens in every community including yours many of these children live in circumstances that deprived them of basic needs necessary for a quality life at Grand Slam Ministries we want to change that we want to invest in our children giving them hope for the future that investment includes necessities such as food clothing school supplies and a safe environment to play to study to live please visit our 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the archives are there some bonus SoundCloud material it's all there for you go check it out and there's also a place for you to donate if you'd like to help us on our mission to keep spreading these amazing stories of God working in people's lives yeah I don't hammer on the mainstream media as much as some people do but the fact is that media at large is poisoning our society and particularly our children so we need to be looking for good news any place that we can get it and from the very beginning with this show that's what we have been providing through guests that God continues to bring to us week after week people with amazing stories of his redemptive power and glory and and the grace that's offered through Jesus Christ and my hope is that more people will start looking for stories like this whether it's through us or not but start seeking stories of Jesus still being on the throne still doing what he does and those are the kind of stories that we try to tell here on a weekly basis so danscottshow.org is your jumping off point and if you'd like to help us on our mission to continue to do that plus our other core core mission items please by all means hit that donate tab or shoot me a message at Dan at danscottshow.org and we'll help you out David Iery was a hot shot high school baseball player in Kentucky and in 1989 on a Saturday afternoon he made a fateful decision to slide headfirst into home plate to try and score a run in a big game and it ended up paralyzing him from the chest down his story and some unlikely support he got from a former major leaguer is all encapsulated into what we're talking about here and of course how his faith has played a role in his life since his accident here is our conversation with David Iery we're gonna get into obviously your full story but just tell us who you are where you are and what your life is like right now yes my name is David Iery I am in Lewis County Kentucky I am a quadriplegic I suffered just a fun accord injury playing baseball my senior year of high school sliding headfirst into home plate crushed my C4 C5 vertebrae it left me paralyzed from the chest down and you know I've started the foundation here a couple years ago to spread awareness about spinal cord injuries and also you know talk to a lot of the youth and educate them about the dangers of you know everyday life and how you get a prevent spinal cord injuries because there's no cure for a spinal cord injury you know when you and I were setting up this interview I was not aware of this until you told me but it's appropriate that we're doing this in the month of September because September is spinal cord injury awareness month yes you're exactly right and you know we just had the diamond dinner here in Lexington of this past weekend and that's the reason I set it up for Lexington in September is because of spinal cord injury awareness month and you know I do things all year round but you know September is the big month forward and just pray awareness I try to make an an event in September that people will enjoy and go to and learn a little bit about spinal cord injuries and you had a couple of folks at that dinner that just wrapped up as we're recording this in Lexington, Kentucky that have been guests on my radio show inside the past year plus Daryl Cheney was your key note speaker and Doug Flynn who was a teammate of his on the big red machine was there as well so there that's you know in the Lexington, Kentucky area those are a couple of really familiar names and heavy hitters yes they are and which Doug and Daryl they really work well together and you know Daryl was there talking about some of the the stories of him and Doug when they played baseball and it was really cool and then we brought in you know there were eight altogether you know Jose Rio or I'm winning him Johnny LaMaster you know Mack Ginter, Ron Oster, Oliver which is a big part of my life you know we brought bring these guys in and you know the people that come will get to hear their stories and also it raises money for spinal cord injury research so it's a win-win. Yeah Johnny LaMaster has also been a guest on this program getting a chance to talk about his career and share his testimony which is a phenomenal one so we've been running in kind of the same circles and didn't even know it but but the the common theme that got all of this started is our mutual friendship with another guy who's been on this program Randy Lurch. Yeah you know Randy is a great guy I've done some interviews back during COVID you know a lot of people there wasn't any baseball and a lot of people were like you know sitting at the house not doing anything so I started doing these interviews on my foundation page and Randy was one of the guys we interviewed and great guy great story you know these players have played you know years ago people forget about and and then I like to bring that back because I like the history of the baseball and you know people like Randy Lurch you know they have some great stories and some great testament. Well I have an ask you how old you are but I'm 57 so I was an eight-year-old in 1975 growing up in southern West Virginia we were three and a half or so hours from Cincinnati so my radio station was a Reds affiliate the you know one game or so maybe you got during the week was a Reds game that's the team that I grew up and boy what a team to fall in love with in 75 which happened to have Daryl Cheney and Doug Flynn on the roster and it's been a lifelong love affair as frustrating as it has been at times to be a Reds fan but so that that's something else that you and I share in common that I had no idea about when Randy reached out to me. Yeah you know you know being here in Lewis County Kentucky growing up you know you have your three channels and that's about all you can see on the antenna so you know we watched a lot of since many channels and back then you didn't have your sports channels so WWT on channel five that's how we would watch baseball and 70s 80s which I'm 53 years old so you know we got to see some of that and you know in this area you know northeastern Kentucky that's not far from you know your own place down in southern West Virginia but you know that's what we watched growing up so you know we became Reds fans and you know it's in your blood and and you know you you don't really get away from that visiting with David Irey this week's guest on the Dan Scott show so let's let's go back and start constructing this story first of all when did you fall in love with the game of baseball you know it's something that I can't you know even say when I fell in love with it because it's been you know my whole life growing up I had several uncles and that you know love baseball I would go to my grandmother's house and of course it would be on there so everywhere I went that's all I saw was baseball and you know the softball part of it growing up was big for us but because you know we had a softball team here cook quicker and softball and they won the state in 79 class A and softball's been a part of my life and baseball so you know I don't really remember anything growing up besides softball or baseball when did you start playing the game I played a little leg I played everything I could possibly play so probably six seven eight years ago so it was part of your fabric part of your being and as you got older did you begin to realize that maybe you had a little bit of talent yeah and you know when I was growing up and you know I'm going back to the softball part of the quick-shroom softball you know I was like 13 years old playing with the guys that were in their 20s so when you do that you know you learn a lot you grow quick you know your abilities and your skills gets a lot better playing against more you know mature and older guys so you know I grew into it fast and you know that's been my whole life and then you know my accident happens and then my world's changes yeah yeah and we're gonna get to that as we continue on I got a just kind of laughing if you're a 13 year old playing with 20 year olds whether it's baseball or softball or really anything you better develop your reflexes really fast because guys are that much older than you hit the ball a lot harder than than you're accustomed to you especially you know always played third base yeah so these guys hit it on the third base and you know if you reflexes weren't where they need to be or you didn't develop them quick then you would probably be eating the ball right so by the time you got to high school how would you describe yourself as a player you know every year that you play baseball or any sport you know your skills develop more you get better and you know being in high school and playing against kids my own age was really nothing compared to you know my whole life playing against people a lot older than me so it was really just you know like everyday life I didn't think much about it what would you have been considered a collegiate prospect probably you know I really didn't you know play the game to really even think about the next level I mean you know I look at the softball side of it you know one of 14 years old I was playing in the nationals in in Georgia you know been in Kentucky so we won the state you know as a 14 year old and you know that was just something I've done every weekend I played softball and Cincinnati every weekend then or you know anywhere around the state you know for several different teams so it was just something that you know I never really thought about where it's going to go I just figured you know I'd be playing every weekend or leaks of the week and it was just a part of my life just just just a love of the sport yeah I mean that's that was the main thing and you know I really didn't you know think about anything beside you know further than this weekend I mean it was just an every weekend thing and I just went with it visiting with David Irey on this week's edition of the Dan Scott show so let's move to the day that changed your life I would imagine and had to start off as just any other typical day of of playing high school baseball you know it was it was you know April Fool's Day and it wasn't much of a joke but yeah it was April Fool's Day April 1st 1989 I was a senior in high school I was playing with Lisk you know for Lisk any high school university baseball we were playing against East Jordan Grayson it was a rainy day I remember that because I didn't think we'd be able to play but they played anyway and just a normal day and it was a double-header and just looking forward to going over there playing some baseball and you know being a 17 year old you don't think about much of anything else and you know that's the day that everything's changed so I saw the television piece that you shared with me and and we'll maybe get into some of that in just a minute but take me through the play take me through the moment and what you remember from it and just as best you can share with our listeners what happened and and we'll talk about the after effects okay yeah we were playing East Carter which they were number one in the region and you know I was having you know a decent day I had three heads this was my last hit and and you know I stole a second guy hit a ball to the outfield where you know I went to third and and then the next guy hit a slope rounder to the shortstop which it was slow and I you know had decent speed so I broke and went home because I knew I could beat the throw which I did but when I was coming in I slid to go around him head first which I preach against today because you don't get there any faster especially at home play but I slid and I actually wasn't going to slide I was just gonna you know kind of hit him if I had to to move him and you know that everybody was I want to get down get down and it was gonna be close so I got down and went to the left or try to go to the left and actually when he caught the ball back then you know you could block the play they changed some of that today not in high school but in you know MLB but now he blocked a plate I went down I hit his shin guard and it crushed no C4 C5 in a vertebrae and paralyzed me from the chest down instantly when did you know something was wrong instantly I mean as soon as I hit him everything went numb but then you know you've been a 17 year old you're thinking you know this ain't good but you know you're gonna bounce back it might take you a few days but you're gonna be up normal you're gonna be still playing baseball and then you know you go to the hospital and they tell you know that never gonna happen again that you're never gonna walk again and you know you're 17 years old and you're thinking yeah you know I'm going to it doesn't matter what you say you know I'm at that age that I want to bounce right back but it never happened yeah we like to talk about young people being 10 foot tall and bulletproof sometimes or at least that's how they they conceive themselves the TV clip you sent me you talked about that conversation with the doctor share that with our our listeners because that was obviously of all the difficult moments one of the most difficult that you had to face it was and I didn't read you know well one of the hospitals in King's daughter in Ashland for about three months and then they sent me flew me to Chicago to do rehab because it's one of your better facilities at the time and they dealt with spinal cord injuries and you know the whole time was in Ashland which we didn't talk too much about anything besides you know progressing walking you know getting back to where you are even though the doctor said it is only one percent chance that was ever gonna happen and you know been 17 years old you think you know one percent's not that big of a deal you can still do it but then I get to Chicago and I get counseling up there and they look at you and you know kind of evaluate your situation and you know the doctor came in and said you know what is your go what do you want to do you know what what do you think's gonna happen from here on out what do we need to work on and I said you know just to get up and walk again I said you know what do we need to get to do to get to that point and he looked at me and he said you know you might as well forget about that that's never going to happen so you know I was dealing with my life you know you keep saying what you want to say but you know when they keep telling you that of course you know it eventually sets in and you know it's not going to happen but it's really difficult because you're fighting to get back to where you were why everybody's telling you you're not you're not going to ever be there and when they say you know what is your go what do you expect you know to do they're thinking about you know brushing your teeth or coming your hair they think that's a big step and that wasn't anything to me because I wanted a lot more than that so how long did it take for reality to set in with you pretty quickly when I was in Chicago you know I went up there it was towards my birthday I turned 18 I was in Chicago and I remember during when I was there during my birthday you know the nurses and staff try to get me come out they're gonna have a surprise birthday party for me and I remember you know laying in bed thinking you know I can't do this so you know I never really got out of bed and they try to get me out of bed and you know it sunk in pretty quick especially when you're in Chicago and they tell you can't do it where did your where did your mind go where did your mood go as that reality started to set in yeah you hit rock bottom I mean you know your mentality and everything kind of changes pretty quick and and you know there's nothing you can really do about it so you're helpless and you're thinking you know I was this 17 year old boy playing baseball live in your life your dream that you wanted to do and then the next thing you know you can't even take care of yourself and you have to have people take care of you so you know that it starts crossing your mind it's like I can't do this I can't go any further and the only thing you really think about is you know how can I get out of this life you know how can I stop it because this isn't the life I want so suicide was something that came into your mind oh yeah that's all you think about them especially the first two years I would say once reality hits until you know you get to the mindset where you can get past that but not everybody does there's a lot of people that never progress to where I'm at today because they never make it through the first two years they don't have the support they you know they hit that depression they hit that wall and you know it doesn't get any better so they give up and you know if they don't commit suicide then they let their bodies go they don't take care of their self and they you know they end up dying anyway so you know I found out it's a lot of harder to live than it is to die because you know when you're in this situation it doesn't take much to let yourself die what's really hard is to live and push on continue visiting with David Iery and we're gonna talk about your faith journey to Christ in just a bit but God even though it may not have seemed like it at the time David was looking out for you and he sent you while you were in the hospital an unlikely angel in the person of Al Oliver yes he sent out to the hospital to see me and you know I don't I wish we're still friends today and it's been 35 years and you know Al says today it was divine intervention it was something that he can't explain today what happened he can't explain why he was there he doesn't know how he heard about me he just felt that poor and he went into my room and you know we became friends and he was my positivity he was what pushed me to get to where I am today and you know Al been a minister and what to say being a you know Pittsburgh Pirates baseball player wouldn't matter what team you played for but you know been an MLB professional player that played 18 years and 303 batting average when you have somebody that to come to your hospital room and visit you and and really focus on me and my well-being and you know that that really transported me into being a better person and and you know pushing myself to be better how how much time did he invest in you and in those early days what is it you cut out a little bit I said how much time did he invest in you in those early days well see when I you know that was that happened a little bit after my injury so but a week after my injury I'll showed up and you know we kind of really connected there kind of lost touch with him a little bit and then you know that different event to go on a few years later a couple years later and you know Al never could really get back with me because of course I went to Chicago and and different rehab facilities but you know once we reconnected after a couple years I mean Al he comes to all my fans he helps you know fundraise whatever we need to do and he's been there more or less the whole 35 years what is it about his personality what is it about just the person that he is that allowed the two of you to connect well mainly baseball of course you know Ben they would both love the game and you know I was just not your regular baseball player I mean you know you're lucky if you make it to the MLB to get a cup of coffee but Al Ben there for 18 years is a veteran I mean he's one of the best players should be in Hall of Fame in baseball but you know what really connected us more than anything was the baseball side of it and then Al Ben a minister you know he helped push me and see things differently and you know not really saying you know this happened to you for a reason but by this happening to you you can really make a lot a difference in other people's lives like he did mine and try to keep this going and show people that you know no matter what your situation if it's spinal cord injury or any kind of illness or disease you can still push forward and not give up on your stuff so let's talk about you you mentioned him being a minister did he have any sway and you eventually coming to Christ what what's what's that piece of your puzzle like share your the testimonial piece of your life with us I think more than anything you know not just now but you know being raised in this part of the country it may not be considered the Bible Bell but when you're in you know North It's for Kentucky or anywhere in Kentucky you know that's a you know religious part of the state you're in the country you go to church been a church my whole life used to ride my bicycle to church when I was a kid a few miles down the road just to get to church or have some somebody pick you up so it's actually been part of my life and then when you get to the age you get a little older you know 17 and that area kind of get away from a little bit not everybody but some people do and but I think it's eventually just coming back to your roots knowing that that's been a part of your life and you know I tell people it's better to believe there is a God and finding out there isn't them believing there isn't a God and finding out there is so it's just a part of your life you grow up and it's in your blood and you may get away from it but you eventually eventually get back to it so you talked about it's in your situation that it's it's easier to die than it is to to live and to not just survive but thrive as much as possible what does that entail for someone with a serious spinal cord injury as you said you're paralyzed from from the chest down your quadriplegic so what does taking care of yourself what does pushing yourself what does all of that look like for those of us who obviously have no idea what you've gone through you know the main thing is that you know your strap to wheelchair for the rest of your lives you know you can't walk you can't go places you want to go you can't take a walk in the woods if you want to go and do different things like that and even everyday life you know I'm a quadriplegic I can't move my fingers you know I can't give myself a drink of water I've got to have somebody with me all the time there's a lot of things you can't do but I wake up every morning thinking about one positive thing and that really is what gets me through it just like you know my wake up a thing is gonna be setting five and sunny today you know it's perfect so you know I always try to look for positivity no matter if it's one thing I've got 10 negativities or 20 or 30 or 100 that I can look at but I always try to focus on one positivity every day something positive to keep me you know going and and you know with what I do with the foundation and and everything it keeps me going I push myself you know make it happen to reach a lot of kids you know it's just the main thing is just to have something in your life to do have the support system that you need help you know that that's there to help you because you can't do it on your own so there's a lot that goes into it but without everything working you know together then it'll be hard to do what I do so how long did it take you then to discover this new purpose mm-hmm not real quick I will tell you this little story is you know after I had my accident you know of course I felt like you know how could I be so stupid you know sliding in that headfirst that I don't play taking you know the catcher out you know but you're 17 years old so not only do you think you're invincible but you're not aware of water spinal cord injuries so you don't even think about that that's not something that ever crossed my mind so all that when I happen it's like how can I be so stupid so you stay away from the game you feel guilty and it took me until 2012 to really get back into the game and the only reason I did is because Keith Prater which was the high school coach here in Lewis County was the bat boy for Lewis County when the accident happened and he called me up and he said you know Dave he said I think you need to get back in a baseball that was your love let's work something out here let's get up here and he actually talked me into coming up because he just got the job of Lewis County and talking to his you know the players there about my injury about my life and then it wasn't a few weeks later he said he called me back up and he said let's do a tournament and we'll do it against East Carter and call it the David Irish Classic which East Carter was a school that I had an accident against Annan Grayson so he asked East Carter to be a part of it which they did and the head coach for East Carter was actually the bat boy for East Carter Wow when I had my accident so you had the two bat boys and that what that's what really got me into it was Keith Prater and then a few years later at 37 years old he died with leukemia and at that time they had coached at Round County but you know it was just meant I think for Keith to get me back in the game and that was one of the things I think God really wanted him to do and you know before he left this world and that's actually what got me back into baseball and then after that you know started doing things with the Reds in 2013 the next year I was honored captain for the Cincinnati Reds bring the lineup chord out and then a few years later after that you know I done it for several years but then it's like let's make something more of this when if you came in from Oklahoma and said let's start a foundation we talked about it a few times let's put it spread awareness let's educate the youth about this and that's kind of how it got started visiting with David Iury on this week's edition of the Dan Scott show you know it's interesting you and and I'm glad to hear you're trying to educate young baseball players about the dangers of sliding head first I broadcast minor league baseball just wrapped up the my sixth year doing the Greenville Drive which is the high-class affiliate for the Boston Red Sox and we're talking about 19 to 22 sometimes as maybe as as old as 24 depending on on how far they progressed or if they came out of college or whatever and almost without exception they all slide head first into every base including the plate and and even before you got on my radar even before the idea of this conversation came up every time I see someone slide head first a home plate I cringe because it is absolutely the wrong thing to do it is dangerous as we have been talking about and yet I'm seeing it all the time in major league baseball I see it again all the time in minor league baseball and I'm glad at least you're talking about it because the dangers of it apparently are not being taught at the professional level they really not it's really not and you know it's a cardinal stand they say that's why they had first known plate but you know the kids today the high school kids they look at different ball players and you know I'm not picking on this one guy but you know when you look at Ella De La Cruz or some of these guys they're you know the big names of baseball that do this slide head first then you know the high school kids look at that and I understand you know that's the only way to do it just like when we're growing up we looked at Pete Rose because that's the way he done it so they're not really taught to do it any differently and I have even talked to like a little league teams when they have their get together and talked to several teams that you know the same time and some of the coaches there is like or you know they're thinking like I've never heard of this before I never thought about this can that really can happen so actually you're probably better off to talk to the younger ones before they would get to high school because once they do get to high school it's a hard sale they don't want to slide any other way because this was the way they've done it all their whole life but I also tell them that you know MLB is really changing some of the rules where you can't block home plate anymore you can't block second or third anymore you've got to get you know give the runner time or space to slide in because they don't want somebody get hurt when you're paying somebody seven hundred seventy million dollars for a contract and they're hurt then you're not going to bring in revenue because if that guy's not playing people's not going to come to your stadium or by merchandise especially you know as a spinal cord injury Lord help us that never happens but if you never in the game again then you've lost that so they've got to prevent injuries they will not tell the players not to slide head first but they're trying to keep them from getting hurt when they do slide head first so do you find that your message resonates when you talk especially to the younger kids it does to a certain point not everybody because I know some of the players that I talk to you know you go to these tournaments which I'm doing five tournaments next year I have 20 different high schools across the state I'll talk to over 500 kids about this but you have some schools some some kids that don't listen they don't think you know it's ever going to happen to them but you have others kids that will say you know you just talk to them I can't believe you just slid in head first ever you just had the conversation so some lessons some don't but you know if you can save a couple people from going through what I you know went through or am going through then you know I think it's a success what is it meant to you to have not just out of Oliver do what he did going all the way back to when this first happened but to have this other litany of major league baseball players a lot of them connected with the red some of them not but to rally behind you and take part in helping spread the word and doing these dinners and doing the other things that you do what how how does that how does that make you feel it it has to be it has to be just fantastic I would think yeah it's pretty amazing I mean you know you look at your phone and you're getting a call from Jose Rio or Poked Reese or some of these guys you know you grew up watching Ron Oster you know you talk to these guys all the time and you know being this guy that grew up in Lewis County on this one late road you know in the wilderness as I call it back in the woods to watch you know these guys growing up on Channel 5 and then all of a sudden you know I'm your friends with him they call you kind of surreal it's you know nothing I ever expected but you know the great part about it is just like this weekend when we've done the diamond dinner of course some of these players the kids high school kids don't know but they get to reconnect with these players or see these players and they'll do the little look at them up look them up and see who they are and I think it kind of resonates with these high school kids because you know we're doing this about spinal cord injury awareness and prevention and and they're like well you know if these guys believe in it and they're professional players and they're coming to these events that David's having then maybe I should you know think more about it and and you know try to follow some of the things David saying so I think that helps so what's next where do you see yourself as far as the future goes I mean are you on the track that you think God has you on for the rest of your life yeah I think so I mean I think as long as I'm here I want to leave the world a better place than it was once you know came here I think my life is you know showing people that you know no matter how far you are down or you know what's happened to you that you know there's still one I felt there and you know you can't give up you got to keep pushing and you know if I can inspire somebody to keep going because I know of too many people that has suffered spinal cord injuries that became reclusive that won't get out you know they don't want people to see them anymore and they think their lives over and they just give up and you never see them so I just want people to know that you know just because you have a spinal cord injury any kind of injury or illness and you know life is different than it was but it still doesn't mean you have to give up you guys do push and you know educate people that this is in the end of the world and you know just because you can't walk doesn't make you any less than somebody that can and and you know that's my message and it doesn't matter if it's spinal cord injury I've had people with cancer come up to me and say you know the reason I'm fighting this is because you inspire me so I feel my purpose in life is try to inspire people to keep fighting and to enjoy every day of their life and you know to not to give up and you know just enjoy what we have who's the best storyteller of all the big league ball players that you've met whoo that's a good one there's a lot of good storytellers Doug Flynn's really good when you talk about Doug Flynn he has a lot of great stories about the big red machine and you know the reason he's with his wife is because Pete Rose introduced him so I mean just hearing those kind of stories it's really cool you know of course Al has the big stories that because he played between willy storage runner Alberto Clemente and you know Jose Rio great stories her and winning him was there this weekend was some good stories so a lot of these players have really good stories and that's what I love most about getting these players together because you watched them and growing up but you didn't really know the stories behind some of the stuff they done because of course you didn't see that but to hear that and some of the things he does like why I didn't know that happened yeah when when we had Doug Flynn on the program Darryl Cheney told me to make sure I ask him about why they call him the glue and I'll just have people go back and check our archives out and get that story from Doug Flynn but yeah you're right he was he was fantastic when I had him on and I think it's before we wrap it up it's appropriate for us for us to circle back to Randy Lurch because Randy started off as just a guest on my show and he's become a friend he's a brother in Christ and and you're a rolling miracle he's a walking miracle and I can see why the there's a connection between you two yeah I love Randy he's a good guy I mean you know go get out of the blue and you know I researched Randy when I was doing my podcast on the foundation's Facebook back in 2020 and ran across to him and asked him if he would care to come on he said no and and you know there's another good storyteller that you know he had some great stories on there about his life and his career we connected it's just nice when you know I can call Randy and Randy call me this weekend we were at the diamond dinner and how Oliver was there done Doug Flynn was there these guys Johnny a master they all knew Randy because he all played on the team one of the teams with Randy to expose giants or whatever so I called Randy up when I was decided all over and I said they ran up got all over all over here so they started talking and Randy takes me and said he loved that but actually when I did the podcast was randy with Randy or got him on my podcast and then Oliver on my podcast they I got each other number they wanted each other's number and it's like I asked to Alice and you know you guys play together this was in 2020 I said when's the last time you talked to Randy he said well when we played for the expos I guess 1983 so it's like wow these guys don't stay connected so I like that part of it too it's like I can get these guys connected and they can you know become you know connected and friends again and I think that's a cool part of it too yeah I mean we never know what God's purpose force is or or in total you obviously have the the track that he's placed you on in your life but he may be using you in other ways to connect people like that you never know David I have really enjoyed this conversation is there anything about the foundation anything else that we need to talk about before we wrap it up I mean how can people find out more about your foundation and what you do okay my foundation you can go to the website which is dif35.org but actually I tell people to go to the foundation page on Facebook at team irie because I keep that updated every day and it's probably the best way to do it is just go to my foundation base on Facebook at the David irie foundation and just keep in touch with me there I hope you'll do that I hope you will reach out to David on his Facebook page and let him know that you heard his story here on the program and I just can't help but think that it serves as a great reminder for all of us we all have hardships in our lives we all have things that that happen to us that are unexpected and and can bring those hardships can bring grief can bring pain but I just can't help but think when I start to feel sorry for myself over something for instance about somebody like David who's been in a wheelchair since basically the age of 17 or 18 and has not allowed that to completely cost him all quality of life and is using his disability now his injury as a way to help others and and try to keep others from going through what he's gone through it's just one of those reminders for me anyway that when you think things are bad somebody out there has it worse and then you see how they are using that and it can be at the same time both convicting and inspiring so David Irie thank you again for sharing your your story with us we'll take a break come back and get into wrap up mode on this week's edition of the dance got you here at grandslam ministry our goal is to share the love of Jesus Christ through multiple platforms while at the same time executing our core missions of mentorship and helping children in need the primary way we can effectively do all of those things is through the Dan Scott show our weekly Christian radio show that airs in multiple markets around the nation and the world we are asking you to partner with us to not only sustain what we are currently doing but to grow both our on air online presence and our ability to fund those core missions can you spare as little as twenty five dollars per month how about ten dollars per month if we can get two hundred partners to join us at each of those small sustainable levels we can begin to 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Final segment of this week's show episode 92 our thanks again to David Iry for sharing his story with us and just a reminder if you missed it want to hear it again share it with somebody the archive available at danscottshow.org the affiliates and archives page I would ask as we hit the home stretch here that you continue to be in prayer for the people of western north carolina i mean there's a lot of damage from hurricane helene everywhere that the path affected but particularly in western north carolina we talked about it a bit last week on the show shortly after it happened and you know a week ten days removed unfortunately they're finding dead bodies they are trying to find a way around roads that have been completely washed out there been entire communities that have been virtually destroyed by the effects of hurricane helene so continue to keep them in your prayers and there are a lot of different organizations out there who are providing relief i know a lot of churches in our region here among other organizations are are taking truckloads of relief supplies up on a daily basis if you'd like to help you can just google hurricane helene support or hurricane helene help and you'll find many different ways and organizations that you can donate to to help with the hurricane relief effort and then for the the folks down in the atampa region and and really a good swath of florida by the time this airs hurricane milton may have already come through and if that's the case as i'm recording this it is out in the ocean right now is a category five with winds over a hundred and seventy five miles an hour so if it stays at that level or or even if it happens to drop a couple of categories even down to a two or three it's still going to do significant damage to a place that just had similar issues two or three weeks ago so keep those folks in your prayers as well and we'll just pray that that the damage and and hopefully there's no loss of life but the damage will be minimal at best listen thank you so much for continuing to tune in and support the program again if you go to dance got show.org you can find ways to help us do what we do we're coming into a critical time maybe talk about that more in the next couple of weeks but we just really appreciate you prayerfully considering how you can support our nonprofit organization and this radio show and in the process help us tell these wonderful stories that god drops in our laps on a weekly basis we'll have another one for you next week thank you again have a great week and until then i'm Dan scott god bless you and so long everybody thank you for listening to this week's dan scott show to hear it again catch up on past shows or find out more about grand slam ministries please visit our website dan scott show dot org and while they're perfectly consider making a gift to help us in our mission to share the love of jesus christ that's the dan scott show dot org at sprott's farmers market we're all about fresh healthy and delicious that's why you'll find the season's best organic produce handpicked and waiting for you in the center of our store we bring in local farm fresh fruits and veggies bursting with flavor come on in to discover everyday favorites like juicy berries and crisp greens but also unique peak season varieties like moon drop or cotton candy grapes visit your neighborhood sprouts farmers market today where fresh produce is always in season gamers and watch lovers stay frosty we've got covert intel movement the official timekeeper of the highly anticipated call of duty black ops six is releasing a special edition black ops six watch and accessory collaboration bring the aesthetics of the black ops six story straight to your wrist and wardrobe it even arrives with custom packaging and a free gift shop the exclusive special edition collaboration at mvm t dot com slash b o six that's mvm t dot com slash b o six