Jake Reiner opened up about bonding with his late dad, Rob Reiner, over baseball as he returned to his podcast five months after his parents’ deaths.
“When it comes to the Dodgers, my first love, is something that I’ve always connected with my dad first and foremost, and it’s something that I will continue to connect with him for the rest of my life,” Jake said on Tuesday’s episode of “The Incline: Dodgers Podcast.”
Jake took a break from his podcast after dad Rob and mom Michele were tragically murdered at their Brentwood, Los Angeles home in December. They were 78 and 70, respectively.
The couple’s youngest son, Nick, 32, was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder. He is being held at LA’s Twin Towers Correctional Facility without bail while awaiting trial.
At the start of Tuesday’s episode, titled “Jake Reiner Returns!,” the 35-year-old said he was “honored” to be back on the podcast.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Jake said. “I just wanna thank everybody that I’ve heard from near and far since everything’s happened. Just know I’ve seen all the love and support out there.”
Jake told co-host Kevin Klein he didn’t want to return to the podcast until he wrote his heartbreaking essay about his parents that he published on Substack last month.
“With everything going on, I felt I wanted to put my words out there and let people into the kind of people they were at home,” Jake explained. “And for those that really knew and loved them, I felt it important to share that.”
Jake also said he wrote the essay to connect with other people dealing with grief.
Before the conversation shifted to baseball, Jake implored listeners to visit his Instagram and Substack to read his words about his parents.
Jake and Rob previously spoke about their mutual love for baseball when they attended a Dodgers game in 2023.
“We would go to at least 25 or 40 games a year,” Rob told People at the time, while Jake said the pair “talk daily about the Dodgers.”
In his April 24 Substack essay, Jake said he was “devastated” over losing both his parents “in the most violent way imaginable.”
He revealed he was at a celebration of life for a friend who passed away in New York City when his sister Romy, 28, called him and told him their parents were dead.
“It’s too devastating to comprehend,” he wrote. “I still wake up every morning having to convince myself that, no, it’s not a dream. This truly is my living nightmare.”
He referenced Nick only once by saying his brother is “at the center” of the tragedy.
Jake and Romy have been staying under the radar since the tragedy.
They did not attend Nick’s Feb. 23 court hearing, where the youngest Reiner son pleaded not guilty to the murders.
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