We move now to the Baller Dream Foundation, which supports both children and young adults up to 29 years old who are battling cancer.

It's a cause near and dear to Las Vegas local and Hall of Fame Pitcher Greg Maddux, who's preparing to host the third annual Circa Celebrity Poker Tournament June 7 and 8.

We spoke with him about that and got his takes on some of Las Vegas' biggest baseball stories.

So Greg, the Baller Dream Foundation, why is this a cause that's important to you?

(Greg Maddux) It's a great charity.

Obviously, my daughter's been working there for about close to a decade now.

And, you know, they help kids--older kids, young adults--with cancer.

They do a lot of activities for them.

They-- you know, a kid's got cancer, doesn't have a lot of time left, and one kid might want to go sit courtside at a Laker game, one kid might want to go fishing in Alaska, another kid might need help paying his medical bills.

So, you know, it's a good charity.

It helps the older kids, and they seem to appreciate it very much, and we're happy to oblige.

-I wonder, do older kids kind of lack that, perhaps, that kind of help when they're dealing with cancer?

-Yeah, most of the money goes to the younger kids, you know, the preschoolers, the toddlers.

And it's nice to help out the older kids.

And, you know, they kind of specialize in 18 to 29 years old, as the kids get older and kind of time out of the, of all the younger stuff.

-Okay.

So, yeah, you mentioned your daughter, Paige.

She is the Chief Development Officer of the Baller Dream Foundation.

And I was reading on the website her bio, it says that she has a passion for philanthropy.

Do you know how that happened?

Were you a part in that?

-Well, I just think, you know, she's always been a pretty giving person, and it was something that she could do on her own, a lot of it on her own.

And she enjoys the work.

She works hard.

She-- I mean, she's working more than 40 hours a week on this stuff, and it's nice to see as a dad.

It's nice to see your kids going out there and actually doing something.

-You have a personal connection with poker, I believe, through your father?

-My father was a poker dealer, yes.

And, you know, on our flights traveling for 22 years, we always had a poker game.

Whatever city we were going to, we always had four or five guys in the back of the plane playing poker.

And, you know, it's just something we did to help kill time, make the flights go by faster, and we play a lot of poker.

We used to play at home, too, with the family, you know, holidays and all that.

We'd sit around and play poker together and have a lot of laughs, eat well and have a lot of laughs and play cards.

-How good are you at poker?

-I would say I'm about a 12 handicap, if you had to handicap it.

I mean, I realize I enjoy playing the game.

I'm by no means a pro or anywhere close to that, but it's kind of like golf, you find something you enjoy doing and you spend time with friends and you have a good time.

-And this is your third year doing it.

How much money are you hoping to raise?

-Well, hopefully we'll make over half a million.

You know, we did that last year, and we're hoping to achieve that and maybe do a little bit better this year.

-How closely do you follow Major League Baseball these days?

-Not too closely.

I retired when COVID hit, and, you know, I do watch the Rangers a little bit here and there, and occasionally it's kind of background noise when it's on right now.

But my brother's a pitching coach over there in Texas, and I usually put the Ranger games on.

-And so what do you think about the Athletics moving to Las Vegas?

-Yeah, I'm fired up about it.

You know, I think the Raiders have done well, the Knights have done well, WNBA has done well, so I'd love to see baseball come here and do well.

Just from a, from a selfish standpoint, it'd be nice to go to a Major League game without getting on a plane for a change.

-And how well do you think they'll be received?

Do you think locals will support the team?

-I think they'll be received pretty well.

I think if, you know, especially if they start winning.

You know, winning always helps, and they're kind of turning their season around this year.

They're playing respectable right now, and they're much improved over last year, and it'd be nice to see them improve up until the time they get here.

-From a player's perspective, will that be difficult to make that move?

-I mean, Vegas is pretty good.

I mean, I'm not knocking Oakland or anything like that, but it's hard to find many athletes that don't enjoy Las Vegas.

It's a great community.

It's a good place to live.

The weather is good.

I mean, there's all-- there's all types of things to do out here.

I mean, there are, there are golf courses and churches and schools and all that as well, and, you know, we also have the Strip.

But Vegas is a great place to live.

I can't see many players too upset with having to work in Las Vegas for a summer.

-What was the perception of Las Vegas when you were playing?

-Best road trip in the league.

I mean, that's the place, of all the places-- you know, everyone says, Hey, what's your favorite place to visit?

I mean, it was always Vegas.

I mean, you know, especially for the minor league players that were coming in here for the last, what, 30 years now, 40 years?

So, you know, it's always a good road trip.

-Very cool.

I'm surprised to hear you say that, because I thought maybe there would be a little bit of trepidation, like, Uh-oh, be careful in Vegas.

-Well, yeah.

It's sometimes a lot of fun to get into trouble, but it's also a good place to have fun.

And, you know, you're always looking for escapes from the ballpark.

I know when I was in Atlanta, we played a lot of golf.

We would always find a golf course to go to, and if we had an off night in Vegas, we were able to go have a nice dinner and see a show.

I mean, that would be a great, great way to spend an off day.

We had plenty off days in New York where we would, you know, play golf, see a show, and get ready to play the Mets the next day.

-What are your thoughts about Pete Rose?

A long-time Las Vegas resident, he is now off of the permanently ineligible list and could be inducted into the Hall of Fame alongside you.

Do you think he deserves that?

-Well, I mean, he's the all-time hit king.

I mean, nobody's got more hits than Pete Rose.

I think his career speaks for itself.

You know, I guess it's up to the writers now to vote on that.

I personally don't have a vote.

I would have to think about it for a while to make up my mind.

I know, you know, obviously you're not supposed to bet on the game.

That's something he did, unfortunately.

But, you know, I think it's kind of easy to forgive people sometimes.

I wish they would have done it while he was still alive.

It would have been nice to see him going to the Hall of Fame and actually give a speech.

I think that would be pretty cool.

Growing up as a kid, you know, my father was a huge Reds fan.

So growing up, you know, my brother and I, we were in the backyard playing, and, you know, we were, we were Pete Rose and Johnny Bench and Joe Morgan, and George Foster.

We were all the, all the Big Red Machine guys.

So for me personally, you know, he's always been the guy for me.

-And I didn't realize, but you share a birthday with him.

-Yeah, we do.

Yeah, pretty cool.

-Did you get to hang out with him here in Vegas?

-He actually came to our event last year, so I did get to spend some time and sit down with him that night.

And I've actually ran him-- ran into him at a few dinners, you know, around town, and it was always nice to say hi to him and kind of catch up a little bit.

-And so June 7 and 8 is when this charity event is going to be taking place at the Circa.

I understand that you have thrown out a pitch there to your son.

-Yeah, my son caught it this year.

That was kind of cool.

I'm glad he caught it because, you know, it's tough to see in those casinos with the lights and everything.

So-- -Yeah.

How fast do you think you threw it?

-I think I probably got it up over 50 would be my guess.

-In the casino.

[laughter] -Casino, no warmups, you know?

I got it on a line, but didn't hurt anything.

But, you know, it's pretty cool.

It's pretty cool.

It's a pretty cool event.

You can buy a seat for three-- for three grand, you can get a seat in the poker tournament, and it's 50,000 to the winner.

Everything's a tax write-off, all that.

You can get all the info at ballerdreampoker.org.

And you know, the more the merrier.

We'd love to have you and whoever wants to show up, and we'll have some celebrities out there.

And when you get knocked out, you can share a beer with them, and it'll be a good time.

-Greg Maddux, thank you so much for your time.

-Thank you.

Appreciate it.