What really happens in a moment that becomes baseball history?
In this episode of Plot Twist Radio, former MLB infielder Geoff Blum takes us inside one of the most unforgettable moments in baseball—the 14th inning of Game 3 of the 2005 World Series.
From stepping into the batter’s box after hours of tension… to the swing that helped secure a championship for the Chicago White Sox… Blum shares what was really going through his mind in that iconic at-bat.
But this conversation goes far beyond one home run.
We talk about:
âšľ The reality of life as a utility player in Major League Baseball
âšľ Adapting to multiple teams and clubhouses
âšľ The mindset behind clutch moments
âšľ His transition from MLB player to broadcaster with the Houston Astros
âšľ And why the love of the game never really leaves you
Whether you’re a lifelong baseball fan or just love a great underdog story, this episode is about more than sports—it’s about the unexpected moments that define a career.
🎧 New to the show? Plot Twist Radio is all about the moments that change everything—the ones you never see coming.
—
🔥 Season 2 is here… with even bigger guests, deeper stories, and more unforgettable plot twists.
—
📲 Follow & connect:
Instagram: @hauntingsaroundamerica
YouTube: @ErinEgnatz
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October baseball is where legends aren't just remembered,
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they're made. For the Chicago White Sox, 2005
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wasn't just a season, it was destiny.
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Game three of the 2005 World Series. 14 innings, every pitch
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heavier than the last. And then a name not everyone
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expected. Jeff Bum stepped into the box. 1
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swing. One moment, one line drive into
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history, a home run that didn't just win a game, it helped to
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find a championship. But behind that moment is a
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career built on resilience, adaptability and a love for the
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game that started long before the spotlight.
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Welcome to Plot Twist Radio, the show where creativity,
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storytelling and the unpredictable path of the
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creative life all collide. I'm your host, Aaron Egnatz.
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Hi, Jeff. Welcome to Plot Twist Radio.
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Good to. Be on with you.
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Thank you. Yeah.
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Any time to talk about 2005 is always a good day.
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It's one of my favorites. I, I'm dating myself a little
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bit, but I was there. So it, it's a big deal for me.
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I, I know a lot of my followers are like, what are you doing?
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Because I'm, I'm known as a Dodger fan, but back in the day
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I was a White Sox fan. So you went from the University
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of California, Berkeley right to the big How did your time there
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prepare you for pro baseball? I was very, very fortunate
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because in high school I had a little bit of a growth spurt.
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I always knew I was athletic, played a lot of sports as a kid,
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but I had a little bit of a growth spurt going into my high
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school career and kind of dialed it down to basketball and
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baseball. But I think once I got to about
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6364, I knew that that was going to be the the Max height I was
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going to get. So basketball kind of went by
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the wayside. I said I'm going to play some
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baseball and it wasn't until my junior year that I actually
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realized that I might have an opportunity to play past high
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school. And I started to get recruited
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Scouts, MLB scouts started to show up at games.
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But I was never a guy that had that that put on a lot of weight
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as a as a young athlete. I was about 6 foot.
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Like if you look at my license, I was 6 foot three, about 160
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lbs and that's not very big as far as competing on an everyday
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basis. So going to school was the best
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thing for me. And what it did for me was it
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taught me how to live on my own. It taught me how to be a student
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athlete, time management, being self motivated.
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And then it also taught me to compete at a very high level.
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It was a it was a great situation for me.
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Going to school is probably the best thing that ever happened.
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That's a great so your high school actually retired your
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number? What did that moment mean to you
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personally? It's amazing.
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It means a lot. And I literally, you know, and
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this came up in the ceremony when they did retire the numbers
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and I pulled my head coach off to the side and I said, hey,
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man, I'm going to make it to the big leagues.
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You're going to retire my number someday.
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And it took a little while to get that done, but it was kind
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of fun to see, you know, everything come to fruition.
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And it was a lot of fun to share that with people out there at
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Chino High School. And I think to this day, I'm not
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sure, but I think to this day that might be the only member
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that's been retired athletically at Chino High School.
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So it was a great honor. It's a lot of fun and it's
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always good to be able to use that in conversations that I
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might not be winning. Absolutely, because you know
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what? I'm, I'm from Crown Point IN and
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we had Dan Plesac, who was a former pitcher and I'm telling
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you, he is still a living legend in Crown Point IN his numbers
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retired. Maybe a lot of people don't
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remember him from the MLB, but I'm going to tell you he is a
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superstar in Crown Point IN. So that's a big deal.
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High school numbers being retired is a huge.
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Deal. No, I, I, I, I, I really enjoyed
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that. It's, you know, I made you.
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Everybody has really good friends from high school, but to
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actually be honored in that way and kind of be hanging up there
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and giving hope. Maybe there's some other young
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athlete that they're someday they can have their number hung
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up there. Absolutely.
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So when the big leagues came calling, what was that like for
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you? It, it was crazy because I, I
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got drafted in 1994, moved through the minor leagues at A,
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at a pretty good rate until I kind of stalled out maybe my
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third or fourth year in, in AAA, had an injury, was battling back
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from that. And in 1999, I actually was
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speaking to counselors at Berkeley about going back and
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trying to complete my, my school, my education and get my
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degree and move on into, you know, you know, just the
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workforce and figure out what was going to go on.
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And lo and behold, that season, 1999, I made a couple of swing
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adjustments and I started to drive the ball a little bit more
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and hit some home runs and got invited to big league champion.
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The recognition was there. And then August 9th of 1999, an
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injury at the big league level opened up a door for me to go in
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there and play. And I got at the end of 99, I
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got 60 games I think in the big leagues and the rest is history.
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And it was amazing. You know, even if that was the
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only time I had to play in the big leagues, I was pretty happy
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that I got that opportunity. So how did you played for
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several teams? We we mentioned the White Sox
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and of course, the Astros. How did you adapt so well to the
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changing environment? That's actually a really good
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question. And I'm not sure you know how
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that's developed. You know, there's always going
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to be an overarching theme of I want to compete at this level, I
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want to play at this level, how do I maintain it?
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And unfortunately and unfortunately for me, it was,
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you know, it was a lot of adaptability.
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You know, white first year in the big leagues, I played
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primarily shortstop and then I turned into a utility guy.
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And I think that adaptability on the field did me a lot of good
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in the clubhouse too. It allowed me the opportunity to
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mix into a lot of different clubhouses.
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I was never the superstar. I was never the the big money
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guy on on a ball club. And I always had to be the guy
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that was willing to take on the role of being a utility guy,
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being in that support group. And I think that's what allowed
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me to move from clubhouse to clubhouse was that lack of ego
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and being willing to kind of push in the same direction as
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all the other 24 guys in that clubhouse.
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And it made it very appealing. And you know, being traded 3
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times, that's not something you choose to do, but it's also nice
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knowing that another team is choosing to put you on their
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team. So that's kind of encouraging.
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But at the same time, you get fired a couple times and you're
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searching for jobs and you got to move into a new clubhouse and
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you got to impress a whole new group of people.
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It's always kind of interesting. Yeah, I can imagine.
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So as you said, changing atmospheres and the 2005 team,
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they had quite the atmosphere that had.
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I just, I, I remember it very well.
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Of course. I, you know, you guys were such
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a unit compared to a lot of teams.
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I mean, even, you know, like I said, I'm a doctor fan now.
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They're a great team, but they don't have what you guys had
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this electric feeling. Was it just, was it just the
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guys minus, you know, the big egos?
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Because there wasn't really, I mean, yeah, there was like Frank
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Thomas and Paul that they never really had the egos.
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Was that maybe what it was? No, I think that's exactly what
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it was. You know, Paul Konerko, I
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couldn't have been a better leader on that ball club.
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Frank Thomas was around. So you had Hall of Fame statue
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type guys and you had proven big leaguers on that, on that team.
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And it's kind of funny every, you know, every 5 to 10 years we
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get together and reminisce about that 2005 season.
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And it's kind of, you know, it's, it's very unique that I
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was that I was able to show up at the trade deadline.
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So I've only had two or three months with that ball club and
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they took me in with open arms, You know, talking about being
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able to adapt to ball clubs, You've got to have a ball club
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that's willing to take you in as well.
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And that's how the Chicago White Sox were.
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But I think our mentality and the more we talked about it over
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the years is, is that we kind of became that misfit island of, of
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big leaguers and we kind of took offence that nobody else really
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wanted us and we wanted to go out there and prove the world
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wrong kind of thing. And as soon as the bell rang or
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we got in between the white lines and it was game time, but
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you couldn't have picked 25 more 25 guys that were going to go
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out there and play harder for each other than that ball club.
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That's what I think made that team so unique, is that
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everybody did put their Eagles aside and kind of pushed each
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other to go out there and win, and we didn't want to do
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anything else other than go out there and embarrass the other
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team. And you guys did.
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I, I remember I went to one of the playoff games.
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It was the one with the drop ball third strike with AJ.
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Oh, yeah. AJ just it was so creative.
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It's like you guys found ways to win that just weren't the
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average, you know, the status quo.
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It was, it was so unique. I I really missed those and I
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didn't even. You're exactly right.
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Yeah, No, it was we were going to, that's that, that is
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basically encapsulated that team.
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It's just we were going to find any way to go out there and do
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it. We were going to wreak havoc.
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We were going to, we were going to cause issues.
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We were going to, we're going to scratch, claw, you know, punch
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you in the neck, whatever it took to go out there and win
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ball games. And that was really a really
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good indication of it right there, the creativity of AJ just
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to force the issue and create havoc out there.
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And it worked out for us. It really did So take me to game
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three of the World Series. Inside that at bat, what did you
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see from the pitcher and when did you know you got it?
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Well, I mean, leading up to that at bat was kind of crazy because
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if you go back and knowing that I, I eventually got into the
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game the inning before and it was a 5 hour game.
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It's taken forever. There's no pitch clocks, there's
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no, there's nothing. It's just pure, unadulterated
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Major League Baseball at its finest.
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And it was at the elite level in the World Series.
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Eyeball game, two teams, two teams getting after it.
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And we started to, you know, get later in the game, you start to
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get down to the bottom of the rosters.
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And I vividly remember in the 13th inning, I've been swinging
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a bat since the 5th inning because in a National League
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park, pitchers hitting, there's the opportunity for pinch hits,
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there's double switches, there's all kinds of opportunities.
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So I wanted to make sure I was ready if Ozzy called my name.
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But the deeper we got into that game, the less guys we had.
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And I knew it was coming down to me or Pablo Ozuna.
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And Ozzy pulled us off the side and said, Pablo, if the Gucci
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makes the last out, you're going to double switch into second
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base bloomer. If if it gets to the pitcher's
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spot, which I think was maybe 6 fifth or sixth that inning, and
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you're going to pinch it. And I said, OK, you got it.
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The Gucci makes the last out, he strikes out and he comes back
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into the dugout. Ozzy Guillen looks at me, looks
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at Pablo, looks at me and looks back at Pablo and then looks at
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me and goes, you're going to second base.
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And I was like, what? Like I don't even know where
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that glove is. So it kind of surprised me and
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shocked me and I went searching, took off all my elbow pads, my
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batting gloves and grabbed my I found my glove, ran out to
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second base. I think it kind of popped fly.
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You know, we get out of the inning and I'm hitting third in
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the top of the 14th inning. Now in front of me is the World
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Series MVP Jermaine Dye, the what could have been the Co MVP
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and Paul Konerko. And I'm hitting third.
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So in my mind I'm going MVP All Star than me and I'm going OK,
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I'm going to I'm going to bond. I'm going to move them over.
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I'm going to do something productive to put them in
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scoring position and give somebody else the opportunity to
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win. And as it happened, Jermaine Dye
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gets another base hit. He's on first base.
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I'm standing in the on deck circle and I in my mind, I'm
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going, Oh dear God, Paul Konerko's going to get on first
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base. It's going to be first and
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second. Nobody out.
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I'm going to dig in. Look at Joey Cora down at third
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base. He's going to give me the bunt
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sign. And I was like, Oh no, I can't
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remember the last time I bonded. And I wasn't too ecstatic about
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that situation because of the magnitude of the situation.
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And I'm on deck watching how things unfold.
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And Paul Konerko hits a rocket to third base.
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Morgan Enzburg makes a great backhanded play, throws it to
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this guy. You know, they turn to double
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play. And as crazy as it sounds, I was
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probably the happiest guy in the ballpark because it took the
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butt off off the the situation for me.
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So I was like, I can go up, have it at bat and we'll see what
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happens. And with two outs, I dug in and
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Ozzy gave us a pretty good scouting report, you know, with
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Ezekiel Ostasio said sinker slider.
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And I also had an idea of what the Astros wanted to do to me
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because I played with them in 2002, 2003.
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And I knew they weren't going to throw me a fastball anywhere
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near me that I can get to because they knew I crushed
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fastballs. And I dig in and I say I'm not
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going to, I'm not going to swing until they get a strike.
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First pitch, you know, off the outside corner.
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Next pitch, off the outside corner.
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So I'm two and O and I say, OK, get a pitch that I can handle,
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go up the middle the other way. And if you watch the replay,
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Ezekiel Ostasio pulls that fastball to the down and in
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corner. And I I probably the hardest
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ball I've ever hit in my life that was right in my go zone.
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I dropped the barrel, got all of it.
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And to be brutally honest, I didn't.
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I knew I got a good, but I didn't know if I got a good
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enough or high enough to get it out of the ballpark.
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So my first two steps, if you watch the replay, I put my head
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down and I'm trucking. I'm like get to second base and
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I put my head down. I look up and the next thing I
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see is Tim Raines, both arms in the in the air jumping.
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And that's when I kind of realized that the ball got out
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of the ballpark. And to this day I still do not
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remember touching any of the bases until I got to home plate.
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That's epic. Did you realize right away how
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historic that home run would be for the White Sox, or did it hit
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late? No, not, no, not at all.
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Because in the moment you're just thinking, I, you know, it
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wasn't until I got back inside the dugout.
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There's a, there's a great video on the, the DVD that they did.
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And there was a camera isolated on me and I'm taking off my
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batting gloves and you kind of see me in a daze looking
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straight ahead. But I just went, wow.
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Like, I can't believe that just happened because you know, I, I
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was a kid in LA watching the Dodgers and I vividly remember
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in 1988 when Kurt Gibson hit his home run, I was like, dude,
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would that not be incredible to be able to do something like
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that? And now at that moment I did.
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And even, you know, 2025 years later, I, I did that.
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And it's, it's still astonishing to think about.
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But at the moment you're thinking now, let's just close
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this game out and win this ball game and get the game four and
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let's get our rings. But yeah, it was, it was a short
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time after that, but I think I kind of everything kind of
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kicked in and was like, yeah, that's something that has
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really, it is really rare to be done at the World Series.
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Yes. And you have like a statue there
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now. It's amazing.
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I was there last week and I was like, hey, I didn't even realize
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that I'm going to be interviewing.
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It's crazy to think, yeah, yeah, anytime, anytime my kids look at
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me sideways, like, Dad, you're crazy.
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I'm like, yeah, but God has a statue.
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No, I'm just kidding. Hey, that's leverage.
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Yeah. So how different is it now as a
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broadcaster versus a player? If you know, is it much
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different to view the game through the lens of a
00:15:45
broadcaster versus a player? Yeah, it is.
00:15:48
You know, there, there's a, towards the end of your career,
00:15:51
if you play long enough, you know, you're, you're lucky
00:15:54
enough to play long enough to where it becomes a business.
00:15:56
And but you, you, you become jaded a little bit towards the
00:16:01
end of it because your body's hurting and there's other guys
00:16:03
take trying to take your job and you're just kind of like, man,
00:16:06
this is, this is all coming to an end.
00:16:08
And then I get the job with the Astros and sit in a booth and I
00:16:11
get to watch baseball. And I remember the 2013 season
00:16:15
was terrible for the team. It was terrible for me because I
00:16:17
was learning the ropes of, of broadcasting.
00:16:20
But I remember in 2014, I, I got a text from an ex teammate that
00:16:24
kind of said, Hey, you're doing a great job.
00:16:26
I'm listening. I said thanks, appreciate it.
00:16:29
And like too many later he goes, are you enjoying it?
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I was kind of like, that's a great question because you're
00:16:36
kind of, you know, I think you're taking it for granted,
00:16:38
but you're like, dude, this is I'm not playing, so it's not as
00:16:41
cool. But I was like, yeah, you know
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what? I actually do like it.
00:16:45
And I'm actually finding and love for the game again in a
00:16:48
different way because from 2013 to now, the game has gotten so
00:16:55
in so different, so incredible. But I love watching guys,
00:16:58
they're bigger, better, stronger, faster.
00:17:02
Their their ability to to throw 100 miles an hour, their ability
00:17:05
to hit the ball that is coming at them in 100 miles an hour.
00:17:08
You know, I have a true appreciation for what they're
00:17:10
doing. And then obviously the run the
00:17:12
Astros have been on with winning all these baseball games, going
00:17:14
to the World Series, it's really been electric and a, a golden
00:17:19
opportunity for me to, to promote and talk about the game
00:17:24
that I I truly love. And it's it's been a blessing
00:17:26
and I love every night of it. But do you ever catch yourself
00:17:31
analyzing a play and thinking I would have did that a little
00:17:34
differently? Oh, really?
00:17:36
Of course, You know, I mean, I, I, I try not to be the guy that
00:17:39
goes back in my day, you know, bringing that old crotchety guy.
00:17:43
But, you know, there's moments that replicate situations that
00:17:47
I've been in the past and I've been like, I didn't do that, you
00:17:50
know, and I don't think I would have done what that guy did.
00:17:52
But I've got to be very diplomatic and how I handle that
00:17:55
because I've got to be around these guys, you know, for 180
00:17:58
days throughout the course of the season.
00:17:59
I'm, I'm, I'm on the field, I'm in the airplane, you know, I'm
00:18:03
around these guys and I, I don't want to disrespect them.
00:18:06
And that's one thing. When I got in the booth, there
00:18:08
were there were a couple of things that that I wanted to do
00:18:12
in the Boost 1 was just be me. Second one was never forget how
00:18:16
hard this game is and I, I've got to respect these guys and
00:18:20
what they're going out there and doing when it's great and I've
00:18:22
got to respect them when it's going bad.
00:18:24
So I always try to remember that this game is one of the hardest
00:18:28
games in the world to play. And I hope that comes across in
00:18:31
the in the broadcast where I can explain it well enough to where
00:18:33
I'm explaining why they did what they did, but not they're rating
00:18:37
them or saying that they're terrible ball players because
00:18:40
they're not. Right.
00:18:42
And it it is a very, very difficult game.
00:18:44
I I like that way of broadcasting, but I also like
00:18:49
the way of, you know, Hawk Harrelson.
00:18:50
I miss him. He would just straight up.
00:18:54
Put you on blast Yeah, no. And Hawk, he developed that
00:18:57
reputation. I don't know if I'll ever get
00:18:59
there, but that's part of you know, that's part of the being
00:19:02
who you are in the booth. And I think with ex players, you
00:19:06
know, this is something I found early on in my career, in my
00:19:09
broadcast career was I was very reactionary and I had to pull
00:19:13
back on that because I would be like, what the hell is he doing?
00:19:15
You know, and I'd have to be like, can't do that.
00:19:18
Got to kind of sit back and say, OK, let's watch the game and
00:19:20
understand a little bit better what's going on.
00:19:24
So these are just some rapid fire questions and then we're
00:19:27
good. What is your favorite ball play
00:19:30
or ballpark that you've ever played in?
00:19:34
Favorite ballpark I ever played in?
00:19:35
It's easy for me to say, you know, Dyken Park and Petco Park,
00:19:39
you know, those were two of the most fun to play in.
00:19:41
The fans were great, the stadiums and services, the views
00:19:45
were great. But if I had to put one at the
00:19:48
top, believe it or not, it would be PNC Park in Pittsburgh.
00:19:52
Love that place, really it's. Very pretty there.
00:19:56
I love the bridge. Gorgeous.
00:19:57
And I had no idea. You know, what's funny is you
00:19:59
play the game and you're like, OK, sight lines are great.
00:20:01
I see the baseball good. The surface is fun.
00:20:03
It's a short porch in right field.
00:20:06
And then I get in the booth and you get to you, you're kind of
00:20:09
hovering above everything. And you'd like you said, you get
00:20:12
to see out past center field. The Clementi Bridge is lit up,
00:20:16
the Alleghenies blown. I mean, it's it's incredible.
00:20:18
It's it's much prettier than you would assume for Pittsburgh,
00:20:22
yes. Absolutely.
00:20:24
What was the toughest pitcher you ever faced?
00:20:27
Oh, easy. I mean, it's everybody expects
00:20:29
me to say Randy Johnson, who was very tough, but Kevin Brown,
00:20:33
Kevin Brown, I had to face him in his prime.
00:20:35
I also face Pedro Martinez in his prime.
00:20:37
But Kevin Brown for whatever reason, scared the bejitus out
00:20:41
of me. It seemed like he was always
00:20:43
sweat, like in a perpetual sweat.
00:20:46
And he was jacked out of his mind and he would wear these
00:20:48
small uniforms and he's just puffing and puffing.
00:20:51
And it looked like he was still mad at me when I was in the box.
00:20:54
And I just, I couldn't hit that guy.
00:20:57
Love that. So lastly, what's something you
00:20:59
hope fans take away when they hear you call a game today?
00:21:03
Tom, I hope they. I hope they hear the joy, I hope
00:21:06
they hear the respect and the joy that I have for this game
00:21:09
and the guys that are playing it.
00:21:10
Now. There's something that I wrote.
00:21:12
I, I had a notepad when I first started and you know, you always
00:21:16
have an idea. I don't know how long this was
00:21:18
going to last. You know, I'm grateful to be at
00:21:20
this is my 14th year in the booth and I played for 14 years.
00:21:25
So I've actually matched my career on the field with how
00:21:28
much time I've spent in the booth, which is is remarkable in
00:21:31
itself, but I haven't. I have a notepad that I started
00:21:35
broadcasting with and it was one of those, you know, dorky
00:21:38
composition books that are black and white, you know, that you
00:21:41
had in college. And I wrote on the inside of
00:21:44
that, you know what it what if I want to be as a broadcaster?
00:21:47
And I said I wanted to speak to that 12 year old athlete,
00:21:51
whether it be male, female, football player, basketball,
00:21:55
whatever sport it was. I wanted them to be encouraged
00:21:59
at a 12 year old level to be able to go out there and
00:22:02
compete, dream and, and enjoy the game.
00:22:06
But I also wanted to be, it also encouraged me to be able to
00:22:09
speak about the game at their level, which is, which is
00:22:13
something I try and do on a daily basis because this
00:22:15
baseball game is analytic, it's launch angles, it's spin rates
00:22:19
and it can get kind of, you know, kind of confusing at
00:22:21
times. But trying to break that down
00:22:24
for the 12 year old athlete, I want them to be inspired to go
00:22:27
play the game. That's something I hope I get
00:22:29
out of every broadcast. Love that.
00:22:31
Well, job, thank you so much. It's been great.
00:22:33
No, Yeah. Thank you.
00:22:34
I appreciate you putting up with me for a little while.
00:22:37
Someone would stay. With you long after the final
00:22:40
out. A swing in the 14th inning.
00:22:42
A game that felt like it would never end, and the story that
00:22:46
even now, still gives you chills.
00:22:48
But what I've learned is that those moments, they're just the
00:22:50
beginning. Because behind every highlight,
00:22:53
every career, every name you think you know, there's always
00:22:57
more to the story. And that's exactly what we're
00:22:59
diving into next. Season 2 of Plot Twist Radio is
00:23:02
here, with more stories you didn't see coming, more moments
00:23:05
that changed everything, and a lineup of guests that are going
00:23:08
to take the show to a whole new level.
00:23:10
Some are familiar names, some unexpected ones, and a few
00:23:14
conversations that, honestly, I still can't believe I get to
00:23:16
have. Coming up this week, we have
00:23:19
Kevin Pierce, former Snowboarder turned advocate, and we'll also
00:23:23
be recording an episode with Five for Fighting.
00:23:25
I'm sure a lot of you remember the song Superman in 100 years.
00:23:28
I know I do, and it's been in my head ever since.
00:23:31
We've hoped him, so be on the lookout for them and many, many
00:23:34
more. Until next time, I'm Aaron and
00:23:37
this is Plot Swiss radio.