Sadly for Miami and Rachel Phelps, the Guardians nee Indians are still in Cleveland, thanks in large part to the rise of Ricky “Wild Thing” Vaughn, who simply needed some corrective lenses to get on track and become one of the best hurlers in the American League.
If you don’t get that reference, well…that’s too bad, because the man who played Wild Thing in the Major League movies, the one and only Charlie Sheen, joined The Afternoon Drive on Tuesday to chat about his upcoming Evening with Charlie Sheen and screening of “Major League” Friday night – and he revealed that instead of The Eliminator or The Humiliator, you should call his fastball “The Injector?”
“I actually told this years ago in Sports Illustrated, but I decided I needed to add some juice on my fastball – so I decided to inorganically enhance my strength with steroids,” Sheen re-told. “I was a pitcher in high school that relied on location and a great knuckle ball, so I was topping out around 78 or 79, which wasn’t impressive – and in about a month, my fastball jumped from 78 to 85 or 86, and I knew David Ward could make that look like it was mid-to-upper-90s.”
Sheen didn’t want to share too many more secrets from behind the scenes, hoping to save some for Friday’s event, but he did reveal one in discussing how the steroids affected him: Martin Kove, best known as John Kreese from The Karate Kid and Cobra Kai, was going to play Roger Dorn before Corbin Bernsen signed on.
“I didn’t really do enough research on how that stuff affects you emotionally and mentally, so there were some moments there,” Sheen said. “We were in Arizona before we started shooting the spring training stuff, and Martin was there meeting people. He and I went out a couple nights…he’s a terrific guy, but he’s a little on edge, I’m on steroids and have the haircut, and we’re in bars getting in dust-ups with people, so I kind of knew we needed to dial it down a few notches.”
Sheen’s baseball days “are deep in my rearview,” although he has been working with his sons, Bob and Max, a little bit with the game…and finding out just how expensive it can be!
“It’s interesting going online, trying to buy the stuff I used in my youth; I used to buy baseballs and they were like $6, now they’re $35, what the hell?” Sheen laughed. “But just introducing them to the right equipment and headspace – baseball is all about balance and footwork, kind of like life, and it encompasses a lot of things that can’t be taught. People that play the game at that level understand the game in ways that many don’t.”
Listen to Sheen’s entire appearance above, including his thoughts on why the Major League movies still resonate more than three decades later, and if you're ready to win the whole freakin' thing, check out 'An Evening with Charlie Sheen & Screening of "Major League"' on Friday, April 26 at 7:30 p.m. at MGM Northfield Park!