CC Sabathia: "Yankees retiring 52 means more than Hall of Fame"

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Welcome back all the Smoke Bay Area edition. Our second home. We got a second time around with our next guests. He's kicked up some hardware and some accolades. This is the last time we talked man. Welcome to the show. Ce see brother flying is all green, Jordan gear Man.

00:00:21
Speaker 2: I put the whole fit on, Man. I see you do it with the package I just put.

00:00:26
Speaker 3: Exactly, get all of it exactly.

00:00:28
Speaker 1: Let's get to You're coming off some surgery, some some knees and and and when he was rehabbing, I seen him walk down this hall and I g and I hit him, like, bro, get the old nigga, walk with your chest out and your ass stick it out. He's like, nah, Bro, I can't. But what's so, what's going on with what you just have done?

00:00:46
Speaker 4: I had knee replacement about eight weeks ago as we're sitting here now. Yeah, it's just something I knew I needed to do, Like in retirement, playing a lot of golf every day, walking up and down golf courses. Was it wearing tear from your career or was it care for my career? Okay, during my career I had nine scopes me. Yeah, and that wasn't need meniscus and cleaning it up and going back. I mean I was in a different body, you know what I'm saying. It was three hundred and thirty pounds landing on my leg. Like I knew I was gonna have to have something done at in retirement. So last summer I went to the doctor and I thought like, maybe I can go get a partial or whatever went in there.

00:01:22
Speaker 3: He was like, na, you need a full and need replacement.

00:01:24
Speaker 4: And I'm like, it ain't never a time that I'm like, got three months to just sit around. So I kind of pushed it back, pushed it back, and I had to get it this January just to it wasn't no time for golf, you know what I'm saying, And just just to just try to get myself straight.

00:01:38
Speaker 1: That's tough, though, because every time I see you on the golf course, Yeah, this is a real downtime for you. How long has it been so you got as how much down?

00:01:45
Speaker 4: How much long you got I got probably two more months. I probably got two more months before I can play golf. And I ain't played golf sin December. I'm itching like I'm crazy. But it's good though, Like I wasn't so much pain day to day and just complaining my kids. My wife got hard to hear me complain. So I feel like this is this is the right decision.

00:02:03
Speaker 3: What actually do they do, if you don't mind me asking, They take the take the whole thing, like the whole.

00:02:07
Speaker 4: I watched the five surgeries on YouTube before I went and got it, Like they take everything out, break the femur, break the the fibula, and then kind of like you put everything in there. Yeah, it's like a whole metal it's metal, old metal cap and all of that stuff. Like it's pretty crazy.

00:02:26
Speaker 1: So it'll return to normal though they say the walk and everything will it will always be a little lamp.

00:02:30
Speaker 4: I think like they're saying in like twelve months, Yeah, like twelve months, I should be like fully recovered and back to golf in four months. That's all I cared about, back to That's all I gave.

00:02:41
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame congratulations, bro, appreciate. Did you ever think growing up with an hour hour from here that you would be a Hall of Fame pitcher?

00:02:49
Speaker 4: No, hell no, that's I mean I wouldn't. I was never even pitching to I was never pitching to get into the Hall. I was pitching to survive, Like when it first started, I was pitching to get to make it out of lal be out of the Crest. And then it was just like to stay in the big leagues and like survive and just make sure that I'm making enough money and you know, to take care of my family, provide for my family. But it was never like that foreshadowing thought of like going to the Hall of Family. It was always just one day at a time, just trying to figure out how to, you know, stay in the big leagues and be the best I could be every day to try to win a game, like just kind of stacking days, you know what I'm saying. And when I looked up, it was like, oh shit, people consider my career be a Hall of Fame career and having three thousand strikeouts the same number of wins as Bob Gibson. Like it's weird when I hear people, you know what I'm saying. I mean, I'm just a kid from the Crest, So it's weird to hear people talk about me in the same light as these real legendary baseball players, you know what I'm saying. But to have a chance to go there Coopertown this year with my family, be inducted and like sit amongst the guys.

00:03:55
Speaker 3: It's a crazy feeling.

00:03:58
Speaker 1: You're getting your drudgy retired by the Yankees.

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Speaker 3: Yes, it's a big year, man.

00:04:03
Speaker 1: I mean that that's the franchise in baseball and to consider one of the obviously a Hall of Famer, but an all time Yankee grt on top of that, what does that mean to you?

00:04:12
Speaker 4: That means I feel like that's a little more than the Hall of Fame, you know, especially me coming as a free agent, because it's so hard to come there as a free agent and you know, make it or you know, be even as a Yeah, just to be considered as a true Yankee, you know what I mean? And like I feel like I accomplished that. If they would have never called and retired my jersey and none of that, it would have been fine, Like, no problem. It's the greatest franchise in sports probably, so when they called, I mean I was super surprised and super humble, but like felt more accomplished about that than I did about getting to a Hall of Fame because I feel like you put up Hall of Fame numbers anywhere. I could have stayed in Cleveland, probably would have had the same numbers, walk the same thing. But to be able to come to Broadway, New York and like do it in the Bronx, it meant a lot.

00:04:58
Speaker 1: What's it going to mean to see that fifty two out though in Yankees?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, No, it's crazy because I go to a lot of games, Like I'm at the stadium thirty forty times a year and like to be able to see my numbers sitting out there and in Monument Park, it I mean, it's it's just the ultimate feeling to think about my pops, you know what I'm saying, Like.

00:05:14
Speaker 5: My last time waring he's going in the frame. It up signed it, you're already signed.

00:05:19
Speaker 4: It was going in f But I just think about my pops and how much he wanted me to play in New York and everything that we went through, you know, coming you know, growing up in the Bay Area, and and and just how much he played a role and you know, me being a baseball player. And I feel like it's like the ultimate you know, compliment to him to have my number retired to Yankees.

00:05:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, opening days right on the corner. Shit is tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, and and you're calling the game for Netflix. It seems after WBC, which we'll get into, it seems like there's a different type of energy coming into this season.

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Speaker 3: Am I wrong?

00:05:53
Speaker 1: Nah?

00:05:53
Speaker 4: I mean, and I think even last year, like the playoffs, the playoffs from last year picked up watching the Dodgers and the World Series, it kind of made it international being in Toronto going seven games and the Dodgers needed every ounce of their roster to beat the Blue Jays, you know what I'm saying. So I just think it made for so much drama. And then we come back three months later the next Baseball we see as well Baseball Classic and everybody playing for so much passion and everybody playing for.

00:06:17
Speaker 2: The teammates, teammates and shaking hands like we're taking this series.

00:06:21
Speaker 4: So I feel like baseball is just in a great spot, Like the momentum is going, the pitch clock has been good, hopefully abs is good, Like fans are back at the ballpark. So it's exciting tomorrow to be a part of, you know what we got going forward. You know, hopefully we can get the CBA figured out. We don't mis no games next year because we do have so much momentum in the game, and we're in this place now we can market it back to our people. That's always been something that we talked about, how we how we got lost in the game, and how can we get you know, players from our community back into the game. This is how by having the ship hopping, by having the judges and Otani's and whoever else on TV every single day playing these big games. This is this is how we started watching baseball. So I feel like we're in the spot now where we can start, you know, gearing towards you know, getting the numbers back ups.

00:07:08
Speaker 1: I feel like you're a man of many hats when it comes to what you're kind of doing behind the scenes. What exactly is the title of your role? And for all those that don't know, what are you doing with the game still?

00:07:18
Speaker 2: Man?

00:07:19
Speaker 4: I mean you kind of hit the nail on the head. I mean, I'm an assistance to the commissioner, but I mean I just I just work at the office, you know what I'm saying. I'm kind of like in everything, whether it's the youth development, you know, stuff that we got going on the All Star Game, WBC stuff, you know, anything kind of that comes across robs, you know, desks is kind of you know, I'm you know, in there with them. So it's been it's been a lot of fun to be able to have that type of impact on the game. I thought when I retired, I'll be done. I'll go sit on the couch chill, never be around baseball. But I love the game, like and I'm a We're a baseball family. My wife's an agent, my kids play the game like we're in it. I live in New York, so it just made sense for me to go and work for the league. And you know, having a chance to have that cap program is so many you guys have seen so many guys that we're able to bring back into the game, whether it's Kenny Lofton or Garry Sheffield. All of that came through the League office and it started with you know, me working there. So it's been fun.

00:08:16
Speaker 1: This is me talking and kind of giving me your flowers. I feel like the turnaround has happened because part having people like you with the fresh look, the culture, where you're from, what you're about, what you still represent, how you move cavanat kind of like corporations don't normally have that type of energy inside of them and then allow you to kind of really spread your wings within that. And you're starting to see the league is starting to see, and I think everyone is starting to see the benefits of kind of having your type of energy and insight behind the scenes.

00:08:47
Speaker 3: Now now I appreciate that.

00:08:48
Speaker 4: And you know, I always say this, like, I got an office at the League Office, and it just represents to me baseball play. It don't have to be me, right, but it just represents players like there's never been players and that, like you said, there's never been players, and it's space to let people know, hey, don't make that hat, don't do this, don't you know what I'm saying from a marketing standpoint, And I just feel like like I represent with the next generation, whether it's Jason Hayward coming behind me, or Freddie Freeman or Mookie Batch or whoever else is going to take on that role and kind of like grow the game in that spot. I feel like, you know, my office is that for them.

00:09:23
Speaker 1: And by the way, you got a nice ass corner office for glass windows, And it's not just that's what I'm saying.

00:09:29
Speaker 3: We all got a.

00:09:30
Speaker 1: Real nice glass glass all his windows are all the walls are glass, like it's not. Yeah, from v LAJO to the Commissioner's office. That's congratulations man. As we kind of enter this space and again, thank you. Obviously you've opened some doors and there's some ongoing conversation now about potentially doing more work. We've we've got a chance to sit down with some of the guys like Eric Davis and Kenny Lofton alike, and just the energy or around their episodes.

00:10:01
Speaker 3: Chef we already did and guys we already did, but there's a.

00:10:04
Speaker 1: Different energy around their episodes and I kind of felt like talking to them like they didn't have these type of platforms to talk about, like what was written about them was the gospel, because there was no outlets for them when you see that type of stuff, and obviously this has kind of been your vision from the beginning with like what do you think about it?

00:10:21
Speaker 4: I think it's great and I think what you guys do, I mean, can only add to what we're trying to build.

00:10:28
Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying. Having the conversations with.

00:10:30
Speaker 4: The Eric Davis is the Daryl Strawberry's Gary sheffields like, yeah, there are a lot of It is a lot of energy around those episodes because those everybody's favorite players, right and nobody has heard from those guys in a long time. And like you said, back when they played, whatever you read about them, whether it's in the magazine or the paper, that was the gospel. So they hear all these stories now. Eric David sung about how you had to move his hands down, you know what I mean, change his batting stands because of Nolan Ryan, all these different things you learn about the player from y'all platform.

00:11:01
Speaker 3: And I saw that right away.

00:11:03
Speaker 4: I saw what you guys are doing, and I was just like, I feel like it could grow what we're trying to do and amp what we're trying to do, whether it's retired players, current players, you know, people in the league office. I mean, it's good to be able to tell these stories and hear the stories. And I just think all the Smoker is a great way to be able to partner with in a great way to be able to tell the story on.

00:11:24
Speaker 1: Behalf of the company. Man, we appreciate you. We definitely gonna make you look good.

00:11:28
Speaker 3: Bro.

00:11:32
Speaker 5: World Baseball ranked over ten million views on Fox Dominicans of Venezuela that that game was really exciting, the energy was crazy.

00:11:40
Speaker 3: Uh.

00:11:40
Speaker 5: It doubled the views then to a twenty twenty three. What what can the Major League learn from that?

00:11:47
Speaker 4: You know, I just I just feel like we can just keep building on it right the way I think. So, I think I think we need to find the perfect time to play that tournament. I think, you know, everybody's talked about playing preliminaries maybe and then you know, at the beginning of the year and then having the semi finals and the finals be during the All Star break, like a ten.

00:12:07
Speaker 3: Day break every three years.

00:12:09
Speaker 4: But I think we should play it after March Madness, have a shortened season started the Tuesday after March Madness, and just have a three week tournament like we do. I mean, it's such a big thing. It's grown globally. It's turned into our World Cup now. Like you said, I mean the Venezuelan dr game, the d r US game, the US Venezuela game at the end. I mean, those are all huge games, and like just being in that stadium, the energy the city is incredible. So I think if we're able to get it right and take the pitching restrictions off, I think you'll see an even better tournament. But like it's a different tournament. It's been twenty years we've been doing this, start in two thousand and six, and if you just look at the videos from then to now, it's completely different. It's completely different. Pride that the guys are playing with, the crowd's different, the energy is different, and I just liking it too. Like you look at that Dominican team. You just think about you're getting a chance to play with all your homeboys. Yeah, you know what I'm saying, Like, just think about if you was in the league and you got a chance to pick all your homeboys, were play an All Star.

00:13:11
Speaker 3: Game for three you know what I'm saying, Like, that shit would be so much that shit.

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Speaker 2: And that's why you see people coming out the dugout every home run, you see a jacket or doing whatever, because they playing with they.

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Speaker 4: This is my family, you know what I'm saying. So in a lot of ways, it is getting bigger than the World' here.

00:13:27
Speaker 1: Type of question, because obviously that's a big statement you just made. Baseball is filled with and respectfully white tradition and the unspoken rule. And I think the WBC showed obviously a whole nother side of that. Can that energy Do you ever see that energy being adopted in the major leagues, just that type of energy and celebration around stuff.

00:13:51
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I think I think you see it a little bit now where I mean when I first came up, you got guys couldn't if you had a home run, you had to put your head down a run. Now you see a I hit a home run, he bat flipping and doing all these different things. You see a guy like Jash isn't being able to come up and wear whatever kind of cleats, gloves, bat and gloves whatever. So the flair has changed. I don't ever think it'll get to what you see in the WBC because of what I just played. What I just said, like, you're playing for what's on the front of your jersey. A lot of designs when you're playing in WBC. A lot of times when you're playing in the MLB, you want to say you're playing with what's on the front of your jersey. When you're playing in that jersey, you're playing with what's on the front of your jersey, But a lot of times you're not, you know what I'm saying, And.

00:14:32
Speaker 1: The reality is you can have another one on any time, you.

00:14:36
Speaker 3: Know what I'm saying.

00:14:36
Speaker 4: So when you're playing, when you're playing that three weeks with the Dominican or Venezuela or Puerto Rico, that's for your country, that's for everything. So I don't think you'll ever it's a different from pride. It's a different pride. And that's why I say it's different. It's it's bigger than the World Series in that way because you're playing for your country.

00:14:55
Speaker 5: When someone says the MLB could do better and embracing Latin American Baseball Club, what would you say.

00:15:01
Speaker 4: I would say that, I think we do a great job of of of you know, of accepting the Latin you know.

00:15:10
Speaker 3: Is it possibility? Is just passing said that? No?

00:15:14
Speaker 4: I think I think we I mean, if you look in at dr every team's got an academy down there, you know what I'm saying. Like I mean, every every play, I mean every like I said, every team's got an academy down there. I mean, there's so many opportunities down there to to be able to play the game and get here. But no, I mean I think we do a good job of you know, I mean I think we we're trying to do whatever we can to get interpreters in there so you can hear actually what these guys are trying to tell and try to you know, relay. But I think we do a good job of accepting the lane culture.

00:15:44
Speaker 5: Two black duds on black dudes on the USA team out of thirty are you hopefully you can see more brothers on the.

00:15:49
Speaker 3: Team for sure? For sure?

00:15:50
Speaker 4: But I think like we, like I said earlier, is getting back to us having the stars.

00:15:57
Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying.

00:15:57
Speaker 4: I think if you just look around, I mean, the only person we probably missing was Mookie, and because Mookie had a baby. But it's you know, we gotta we gotta, we gotta get the stars. We gotta have the stars. We gotta you know, produce them. So, like I said, I think we're getting back to a spot where MLB develops and all the stuff that they're doing in the youth space. I see us in the next few years having a lot more because I can kind of see, like just like with basketball, like that was our way out. That's the only thing we had, Like a lot of those Latin kids, it's baseball. That's how Yeah, you know, and they playing like that. They're taking it serious.

00:16:34
Speaker 5: Like you see them with the little uh paper bags on their heads and gloves and ship like that.

00:16:38
Speaker 4: And they play at the battle and yeah in the broomsticks And I mean not for nothing. Like I got a twenty two year old now that's a senior in college, and when he was fifteen, I took him to the d R. But you want to go play, you want to play with the best. You gotta go play with the best, dad, you know what I'm saying. So I'll do the same thing with my fifteen year old now, Like I'll take them down to d R and like that's where they at, That's where that's where the best players is at.

00:17:00
Speaker 3: So you gotta go what it is. Yeah, figure out, Gita said.

00:17:06
Speaker 5: Anyone who says that the WBC is more important than the World Series hasn't been to the World Series before.

00:17:11
Speaker 3: Do you agree that what he played in eight fucking World Series?

00:17:15
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying, Like, most people ain't gonna playing that's like every year.

00:17:20
Speaker 3: So he didn't make that statement, you know what I'm saying. He can't like, of.

00:17:23
Speaker 2: Course he feels like that most people ain't playing in it. One, you know what I'm saying, So that is they world serious and they getting it again. They're getting to play for their country, so you know, you know it's some kids, you know playing for Kansas City, Cleveland, whatever, that ain't gonna play in as many World Series as g play. So I understand what he's saying. But you gotta understand.

00:17:45
Speaker 3: You can't understand, you know what I mean, You can't.

00:17:51
Speaker 1: When you enter the league in the early two thousands, what are some of the unwritten rules that you had to deal with that aren't necessarily standard anymore.

00:17:58
Speaker 4: I just think the way that we're he was treated when I first came up, whether it was like the hazing, you know. I mean I remember like my first my first year, I couldn't even sit on the couch like in the clubhouse for like the first two years I was in the big leagues, Like I had to sit in my locker or watch it, you know what I'm saying, Like it was just you're not really a part of the team.

00:18:17
Speaker 3: When you're a young guy.

00:18:18
Speaker 4: When I was coming up, you're apart, you know what I'm saying. Every fifth day when you're pitching. But other than that, like you're not getting treated the best. And I feel like, now you see guys come up right away and they're in a part of the team, and that's I mean, if you want guys to perform well, you want them to feel comfortable. And I feel like that's a big thing. As I got older and kind of in charge of clubhouses, I was like, whoever comes up that part of the team right away, We're not hazing, We're not doing none of that. And I feel like that's that's a big thing. Now, what does baseball hazing look like?

00:18:48
Speaker 5: Like throwing the ball baseball on the way in the center field, making them go run and get them something like that.

00:18:54
Speaker 3: It could be that.

00:18:55
Speaker 2: It could be the way people talk to you, the way like you make a sad watch people you put the you know, like crazy crazy shit.

00:19:04
Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying.

00:19:04
Speaker 2: That disrespectful ship because East Sports gotz. Yeah, baseball is like disrespectful ship. Where Like I remember one time I made a sandwich and one of the vets came through and like put his fingers like you know what I'm saying, Like I had on some white some white uh, I had on some white J's one time warming the in the in the uh in the dugout and one of the vets spent like a big chew like right, you know what I'm saying, Just like ship like that.

00:19:30
Speaker 3: You know that's fighting type ship.

00:19:31
Speaker 5: Though normally yeah, normally right, bust leading ten minutes and they kick all the balls to the top of the arena.

00:19:38
Speaker 3: You got to get them about how you get two balls?

00:19:43
Speaker 1: Speaking of you coming up, I mean you came in ninety eight. You came to a loaded Indians team, Manny, David Justice, k loft and no more of a scale. Jim Toe made the name a few. What was that like for you?

00:19:54
Speaker 3: It was cool to be eighteen.

00:19:56
Speaker 4: I was eighteen, I got drafted by Cleveland and to have a relationship with David Jessie so young. I mean, I I had grown up watching them, you know, those Braves.

00:20:04
Speaker 3: Years growing up out here. You become a great Braves fan.

00:20:08
Speaker 4: Because they own TBS every day right after school at four thirty, so every day I'm watching the Braves. So every day I'm watching David Justice, Kenny Lofton was on one of those teams, and just to be able to be around them, and then the way they treated me, Tim told me Robbie al Lamar, like all those dudes, like, they really taught me how to be a big leaguer. They taught me how to be a professional. And I'm super grateful that I got a chance to be on like a be around so many Hall of famers right away, Manny, you know what I'm saying. I had a relationship with Manny when I was seventeen years old, So it was just an incredible organization to get drafted. But I think, no way am I sitting here with the accolades that I have I get drafted by anybody else besides the Indian.

00:20:48
Speaker 3: What's Manny like? Just off the field, coolest dude ever.

00:20:51
Speaker 4: Coolist dude ever, I mean, and he'll do anything for you though, I mean still to this day. You know I see him. He's like man send little see down hit with him, all this different stuff. But the funny story I got about Manny, I don't know if I told you all this, but he was the first rounder I think in ninety three maybe ninety two, so he would he always had this tradition where the guys that picked in the first round, he would like come around spring train and take him out to eat. Do you know, hang out with him and stuff like that. So my first spring training he came, picked me up. We would go eat ox sales, hang out, do whatever, driving back off the hotel. Second year comes around, he picks me up. We go eat one time, we coming back and we're driving back to the hotel. He go and he looked at me. We had been hanging out maybe like five six times at the field whatever, going to dinner. He looked at me, Go, Poppy, why you never speaks Spanish? I was like, bro, I'm blind.

00:21:42
Speaker 3: He fucking Spanish.

00:21:48
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, that's two years of man he thinking on Spanish.

00:21:58
Speaker 1: Hey, do you know what's funny is I wasn't young when I came to Lakers. They thought I was the tallest in the first Mexican on the team, so I'll be so because they wanted to kill me because of the Kobe shit. And then I came there and they said, we got one of ours home, one of ours. Do you think obviously basketball had it for a while where you can go straight to the pros. Do you feel like we're going to get to a point where we can see a kid fresh out of high school or fresh out of college jump right to the big league team or they just won't.

00:22:32
Speaker 4: It's just not that type of s I think you'll see it. I definitely think you'll see some kids out of college. I mean, we've seen some kids go get drafted in June and then make it to the big leagues by September. I think the college game now because the way they shrunk up the minor leagues and the draft is only twenty rounds. Used to be fifty seventy rounds. Now it's only twenty rounds, and the minor leagues are shrunk up a little bit. College is where most kids develop, the kids that you know need to go and get bigger and stronger. Then they come out and they're ready, basically ready to go. There's a kid that's played a shortop at Alabama right now, justin Lebron. I don't know if anybody's seen him play, but he could probably come up and play shortstop right now. So you know, Christian Moore did the same thing a couple of years ago, went to Tennessee and he was in the Big League in September. So it's here high school. It would probably have to be a pitcher, but I think it could be done for sure. I mean Junior was almost Junior almost did it. Yeah, you know, he got drafted in the next year, he's in the big league. Let's talk about your run with the Brewers half of season. He was eleven and two. You have seven.

00:23:33
Speaker 5: Completed games, first playoff birth of twenty six years.

00:23:37
Speaker 3: What is that rank in your career? That run you had with the Bruers.

00:23:40
Speaker 4: That was the best I've ever pitched in my life, that two and a half three months.

00:23:44
Speaker 3: And I don't know.

00:23:46
Speaker 4: I mean, obviously both of y'all, you guys have been in the zone where you just you know every day. I've never in my life drove to the field knowing I was going in the baseball game. Every time I drove to the field when I was in Milwaukee, I felt like I knew I was going that game, or I knew I was gonna get my team a chance to win. You know what I'm saying.

00:24:03
Speaker 3: I never had that.

00:24:04
Speaker 4: You drive when I drive to the field in Yankee Stadium, thrive driving through the Bronx, you just uncertainty. You don't know what's gonna happen. In Milwaukee, I knew I was gonna go dominate, And I never felt like that before.

00:24:14
Speaker 1: What does again, Like you said, it's all mental. All that shit is mental. Where does that do you do you remember what you were doing during that time? Where did that mental confidence and strength come from during that period?

00:24:25
Speaker 4: I just feel like everything just kind of like like physically I was alone there, you know what I mean, Like I felt good, like like physically like my delivery, like I knew like what I needed to do to like throw strikes, you know what I'm saying, And it just all kind of came together, and like you said, it is all mental. Liked because I tried to get myself back there, and I had short spans like that in Cleveland and in New York, but never a prolonged two month period where I'm like dealing, Oh yeah, I'm about to go dominate, you know what I'm saying, Like it's about to get crazy tonight. And I never ever ever felt like that, even when I was having good games and you know, back to back nights in Milwaukee, I mean in New York, I never there was still that uncertainty in Milwaukee. There was never, never, never a doubt.

00:25:11
Speaker 5: Who recruited you Yankee free agency? Hundred and sixty million dollar a deal. Who recruited you to the Yankees.

00:25:17
Speaker 4: The first person that recruited me was ay Ride in the in the spring training in spring.

00:25:23
Speaker 3: Of Wait before I got traded. I pitched the game and when.

00:25:28
Speaker 4: I was still in Cleveland, I pitched the game against the Yankees and I was running the outfield and he was like, man, we would love to have you here next year. And I was like, hell no, I ain't never coming to New York. I'm glad going to the Dodgers. That's what I was thinking of my head. And then Johnny Damon throughout that throughout that season was hitting me up. And then it was really Brancasher. Cash was the one that really sold me. I had a meeting win him in Vegas during the winter meetings in that free agency and then I still wasn't After that meeting, I still wasn't one hundred percent and he I flew home to Cali. He flew from Vegas to California in my house that night and still the deal.

00:26:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's always could have, would have should us? And what would have happened? Are there any behind the scenes story, because you just mentioned you thought you would go to the Dodgers, did you ever at any point want to come back to the Bay on any of the team or the Dodgers with the Cali team you wanted to play for in your mind.

00:26:17
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I just knew that the Giants weren't gonna pay me because they had just paid Barry Zito.

00:26:23
Speaker 3: We know the A's or.

00:26:27
Speaker 4: So I just figured the Dodgers, you know what I mean, and story franchise. I'm like, I can go down there. I mean, I'm from California, you know, I want to be on the West coast.

00:26:35
Speaker 1: And you'll be wearing You'll be wearing the blue to say, cuz, but it just like it just didn't work out that way. And whether ever talks at any point.

00:26:51
Speaker 4: I talked to the Dodgers, I talked to Anaheim, I talked to the Cubs. But during that whole time, Amber kept saying, my wife, she kept saying, the Yankees are the team that want you. They offer your contract the very first day of free agency. This is the squad that wants you. Gotta go somewhere that want you. You can't keep trying to pick around and pick these different teams that don't want you to be there. They want you in the Bronx and The thing that convinced me so much was was Cashman was like, he was like, I know you're gonna love it here so much that I'll give you an opt out after three years if I know after you're gonna love it here that you're gonna want to stay. But if you don't, I'll let you leave after three years.

00:27:25
Speaker 3: Man.

00:27:25
Speaker 4: And that's why I was like, all right, perfect, we'll try it out. And been living the same place seventeen years.

00:27:31
Speaker 5: A lot of people crumble under the New York spotlight's growing up in the crist that's what gave you the goods to thrive under that New York spotlight.

00:27:41
Speaker 4: I think just growing up in Valale period. I think especially playing like where I played in North Filale. Like I always tell people, I feel like I've been pitching big games since I was ten years old, you know what I mean. So like pitching in Yankee Stadium was the same at pitching at North Filale. Y'all want to go see the Russellent's backyard right that field that's right now, every house that was our Yankee Stadium and on Saturdays, the old North valayl.

00:28:05
Speaker 3: Was out there.

00:28:06
Speaker 4: So if you got you gave a couple of home runs, people gonna laugh at you, and shit, you know what I'm saying, Like that's embarrassing. So I was always like pitching, you know, for pride and pitching for myself. And I mean I always put a lot of pressure on myself, even when I was super young. So yeah, I think one thousand percent north Vale and Valil prepared me for you know, whatever was to come. And you know, being a pitching yanktady.

00:28:28
Speaker 1: You and Gardner were kind of the bridges between the jeter a rod era to the Judge era. What was being in both those eras, like in the transition in and out of both.

00:28:39
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was uh, I mean that was perfectly put Yeah, me, me and guardy uh kind of ushu the franchise, I guess from the Jeter era into the Judge era, it was I mean it was always the same, right, the standards, the standard, like you know what you need to go out there and do you know what people expect from you? And you know, g was such a great leader that he left just such a great legacy that we did things the way he wants to do him.

00:29:07
Speaker 3: Even understand it.

00:29:08
Speaker 4: Yeah, And I think you know, as Judge came around and came up and he got a chance to be around Get and I think Guardy had made a big impression on Judge, and it was just the same thing, like like the standard is the standard with the Yankees. You know what you need to do and be ready to win the baseball game every day, and you know, go out and stand in front of your locker and be accountable and everything else really doesn't matter, you know what I'm saying. And that was something that Ge left with us and we were able to usher in. And I feel like there's the same thing that Judge kind of preaches.

00:29:39
Speaker 3: Now he has a lot of pressure on him.

00:29:43
Speaker 1: Aaron Judge, that is what kind of og conversations do you guys have a chance if you could share any just about what it's like and what he's going through.

00:29:52
Speaker 4: Obviously, to be honest, like I can't really talk to him about the pressure that he's that he's going through or what he's under. I feel like the person that knows closest to what he's going through is a ride, you know, being such a great player and people perceiving you not to be clutched, right and when all your teammates know that that's not the case, but outward looking in that seems to be the case. So I think he's going to have one of those Octobers where he goes out and hits ten homers in the October, they're gonna win the World Series and all this talk is gonna be over, just like a ride. But I think until he does that, then it's just giving people, you know, conversation to talk about, you know, him not being clutched. But I think the person that's closest that knows what he's going.

00:30:36
Speaker 3: Through is Alex You know how it is with the Yankees. Though, Yeah, one week, they love you and it don't matter.

00:30:43
Speaker 4: I mean, you got to put up in October and I feel like he have, but people, you know, other people feel like, I thought he had a great October last.

00:30:49
Speaker 3: Year, especially when you've had mister October.

00:30:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, but your point, But to your point, as good as the standards said, though, as good as an October he has, it does doesn't matter unless.

00:31:01
Speaker 3: Unless you win.

00:31:01
Speaker 1: And it's been it's been nearly twenty years since the franchise has brought home a ring. Obviously, there was a situation with the Astros that kind of derailed that momentum. When you look back during that way, what comes to mind now?

00:31:17
Speaker 4: I mean if you had asked me this three years ago, I'd been like we were the one of the worst series. Now when I look back, who knows what had happened? You know what I'm saying. In the in the moment though, like as everything was unfolding, all that stuff, I was pissed off about it, angry about it. I mean I pitched Game seven, you know, I remember, you know, being on the mound and thinking like something was weird, Like why are people not looking? You know what I'm saying, Like people are looking all over the place. It was it was a weird scenario to be in. But now, like you felt it, I kind of did, you know what I'm saying. But now nine years later, like who cares?

00:31:50
Speaker 3: You know what I mean?

00:31:50
Speaker 4: I mean, it don't matter. It happened, Yeah it happened. It happened, But who knows what would happened?

00:31:57
Speaker 1: Right?

00:31:58
Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying?

00:31:59
Speaker 4: Like you know, I mean we had we still had chances to win those games, do you know what I'm saying?

00:32:02
Speaker 3: So it kind of is what it is.

00:32:04
Speaker 4: I hate that Carlos Beltr and got the blame for that, and it took him so long to get into the Hall of Fame, like one of my favorite teammates, one of my favorite people on this planet, and he took the whole blame for that, Like he had this metch job took him taken away from him and all these different things that I just feel like, you know, so many people got past it and were able to go move on with their career.

00:32:22
Speaker 3: He kind of got stuck with that.

00:32:24
Speaker 4: But I mean I would have had a different answer if you ask me this three or four years ago, but now today it is we retired to say seventeen, right, yes, No, I retired in nineteen nineteen nineteen, Yeah, seventeen was a year that it happened and I wanted to retire.

00:32:37
Speaker 3: I told my wife. I was like, oh man, I ain't got.

00:32:40
Speaker 4: No more runs than me, Like that was it? Like that shit took it out of me, Like I ain't never cried like I cried before in my life. After Game seven twenty seventeen.

00:32:47
Speaker 1: Your last pitches of the Yankee, you dislocate your shoulder, and for someone who hasn't done that, it was one of the most painful things that could happen to you, but you dug that out. Take take us back to that time and what was going through your mind, you know, knowing things are coming to an end and you're out there just wheeling through it.

00:33:07
Speaker 4: Yeah, Man, that whole year I was. I was hurt, you know, I had like I was. My neck was messed up, my back was messed up, not knowing the whole time it was my shoulder. And you know, we played those games in London. I was on the I l and I just wanted to get back enough to be able to pitch in the playoffs. And I was able to do that. I made my last start and we talked and you know it, thought it'd be best for me to pitch out of the bullpen. And I was pitching great, I thought, And I'm like, I'm thinking to myself, I'm like, fuck, I shouldn't have did this retirement tour. Like I could pitch another couple of years after bullpen. You know what I'm saying. Came out of that that that game, came into that game and uh in in New York against Houston, and I felt fine, like I was feeling pretty good, and I just threw I felt through one pitch and I felt like the back of my shoulder went towards the plate and I was like, oh shit, like that didn't feel good. And I tried to like do like a snap back and it was like, oh, my whole body just like locked up. And I was like, man, let me try to throw. Let me so they called the trainer. I was like, let me try to. Let me try to throw, you know, one more pitch and uh Gary went back there. I tried to throw one more and I couldn't do it. I was like, oh no, I mean I'm done. Like I could.

00:34:19
Speaker 3: I mean, I could feel it in my feet, you know what I'm saying.

00:34:21
Speaker 4: And when when I see when I see that video and I see myself walking off, the trainer was holding my belt like if he would, if he wasn't able to, I would have went down. They had to get a stretcher. Like that's how much pain I was in. But it was perfect. That's the perfect way for perfect way for me to go.

00:34:41
Speaker 3: Way right.

00:34:42
Speaker 1: Like you know what I'm saying, my mother fucking arm arm out, Like.

00:34:47
Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying, Like, this is it.

00:34:49
Speaker 2: I gave you everything thing, I got everything, I got this is all I wanted to ever be remembered by, like for just to be a good teammate and give you everything I got.

00:34:58
Speaker 3: And I gave it to you all I had in real time, That's all I had.

00:35:02
Speaker 1: You had a moment in your career where you were pitching for a bonus and you needed, what one more inning? Maybe you needed one more inning, but instead they threw it.

00:35:13
Speaker 3: Y'all.

00:35:14
Speaker 1: You threw hit the dude got kicked out and and technically had missed your bonus, but they came back and rounded the right.

00:35:19
Speaker 4: Explain it like that, Explain that. So I was they put a bonus in my contract. I think I needed like one hundred and forty innings to get five hundred grand extra my in my bonus. And we go in I've been pitching well and we go into Tampa and I need six innings to get this bonus. I'm in the fourth inning, cruising like I'm like, oh, I mean it's we you know what I mean, Like, it's I'm getting it right, that check getting this and uh, they threw the ball up and in at my catcher, Austin Roman, and I like, I know baseball, so I knew that ship came from the bench. You know what I'm saying, because I hit I threw a two seamer in and hit Jake Bowers in the hand. People all got mad about me throwing my two seamer, so they made a big stink they throw at also roma. I come out of the dugout and I'm like, I'm ready to go, you know what I'm saying, And then everybody calls me back down. We go back down and Guardy comes to me. He's like, bro, don't do it. And I was like, just be ready to fucking fight, That's all I told him. So they catch it. Comes up the next inning and I hit him with the first pitch. But I wasn't so much mad at like him or them. I was mad at the situation. Called it, you know what I'm saying. So I said what I said at their bench and I walked off. And when I was walking off, in the moment, I was like, I don't know if I made the right decision, Like I don't know if I did the right thing. So I go up and I call my wife and she was like, that was the was the tupest shit I received my life. And I was like, all right, Yeah, Then I came then everybody came in after the game and they was all fired up and ship. So that that was something where in the moment like it was the right thing to do, But after it, I was like, did I do the right thing?

00:36:59
Speaker 3: But I was to make the decision. It was just decision.

00:37:01
Speaker 4: I was just trying to show this is how you, This is how you take your teammates. It was a young Louis Savarino in there, Judge was young.

00:37:08
Speaker 3: All those dudes are young. This is how you. That's how you set the standard.

00:37:11
Speaker 4: This is how you treat your teammates, no matter what, don't matter about the fucking money. You go and you do what you gotta do for your teammates and everything else to work out.

00:37:18
Speaker 3: It was the Pacers get looked at me like that that's what I was doing.

00:37:23
Speaker 5: That's what I was doing.

00:37:26
Speaker 3: I was.

00:37:28
Speaker 5: I had the same thought the standard.

00:37:31
Speaker 3: Could I get mine back?

00:37:34
Speaker 1: But the Yankees came around and made it right right he did? So they still always do they still pay your bonus?

00:37:39
Speaker 4: It did how called me the next day paid my bonus. But it wasn't even about that. I wouldn't even care if they were. It was just more about Yeah, this is how you do teammates. We talked three half speaking of your beautiful wife.

00:38:06
Speaker 5: How important is she at how import that she been through your career, through all the ups and downs and everything.

00:38:11
Speaker 4: Yeah, let's give her flowers. Yeah on thousand percent. Now, she's been there one hundred percent. You know us growing both growing up in Valale. She's been there from every contract, you know what I'm saying, through the minor league. She was out there in the minor league. She came out through the minor league. So she's been with me every step of the way. And I always say, like I don't I wouldn't have had the career I had without my family having some distraction to go to and not think about the game. And I'm a totally completely different person over here with my family, you know what I'm saying. And when I get home after the game, little seat don't care if I gave up seven runs or I threw a no hitter. It's dad's home. It's time to play, and it's time to hang out. And that was always great for me to be able to separate leaving the ballpark and going home. And I got to give her a lot of credit you know, being home now the last six years, understanding what it takes to like run a household, being a.

00:38:59
Speaker 1: House you're kind of the stay at home dad out there.

00:39:03
Speaker 3: She raised four kids on the road. You know what I'm saying.

00:39:05
Speaker 4: So like now it's a it's a real appreciation for you know, what actually occurred while I wasn't home, you know, doing my career.

00:39:11
Speaker 5: I want to give her props because she she has another talent. She said, a standard for my kids for birthday parties. I went to my kids living in New York. Bro, she those events for birthday parties.

00:39:26
Speaker 3: Bro.

00:39:27
Speaker 5: I mean, she really don't. And I was able to attend one of her younger kids a while back. Bro, she is dope with that. So play y'all parties. Don't shew a party for me?

00:39:40
Speaker 4: My birthday party one year in my back in our backyard and had red Man method Man performed crazy crazy birthday party.

00:39:51
Speaker 3: Right now right, I'm tiny. Is he a true unicorn in the sport? Absolutely? Yeah.

00:39:57
Speaker 4: I think there will be other people that can come along and pitch. I probably think there probably were some other people that could have did it, But I don't think at this guy's level, like he's the best play baseball player ever seen. And I said that. I saw him play one inning of one game and he hit a ground ball to shortstop the DD and he beat it out at first base, and I was like, this guy's the biggest, the fastest he hits the ball, the furthest he throws the ball the hardest. You guys, remember that guy which all Little League when I was twelve years old whatever his name was the best player.

00:40:24
Speaker 1: That's so tiny at the highest level, at the highest level, is it, I mean, and this is your sport. Is it early too early to say he is or will be the greatest of all time?

00:40:32
Speaker 4: I said it the first day. He's the greatest baseball player to ever play. Really, yes, absolutely, And I'm a huge Berry bonceman. I grew about here. Barry's the goat. But Barry can't go out and throw seven fucking innings, you know what I'm saying, Like, this guy is basically Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds, you know what I'm saying. Like, So that that, to me, you know, sets him apart. But Barry is a close second for me, yeah, you know, growing up out here, But but no.

00:40:58
Speaker 3: It's so tiny for sure, they just training different now.

00:41:01
Speaker 4: I mean, I think it's just fundamentals, right, Like if you talk about European basketball, like they do everything right, and even if you want a young team at a young age, everything is fundamentally like locked in. So they come over here and it's you know, they do everything the right way and it makes the game easier for him. And I think now you're starting to see like power and slug from these guys, where at first it was, you know, it was more you know, the eachy roads and those type of guys. But now I mean you got Otani and you got you know, the guy that came from the white size, I can't think of his name, but you got real, you know sluggers that are coming from over there that can play this game. So it's fun to watch. How much credit does mantle Eial deserve, oh one thousand? I mean, I think if you asked ough Toani, he would say, each ros right, That's that's what he thinks.

00:41:49
Speaker 3: I think, so, I.

00:41:51
Speaker 4: Think so, I think if you asked Otani, he would say eachie ros isn't right.

00:41:54
Speaker 3: I have no idea. I've never heard him say that.

00:41:56
Speaker 1: He took the game by starring with He didn't strike out, but he I mean he was a three thirty hitter with you know, all the hits and stuff, but he could have easily hit two eighty and hit forty homers every Yeah, you know what I mean.

00:42:07
Speaker 4: Like so he I mean four thousand hits in his career. I mean, unbelievable player. So I think he kind of kicked down the door for what we saw as Japanese you know, hitters.

00:42:17
Speaker 3: He was really the first one, first.

00:42:19
Speaker 5: One five players in the league you like watching most right now, I'm.

00:42:22
Speaker 4: Always watch Aaron Judge if he's on. I'm always watch Bobby with Junior. I don't know if y'all seen him. Bobby Wood Junior is an animal gunner Henderson third such shortstop for Baltimore. I love watching Jazz. I like to watching like the Yankee games obviously, and Jackson Cheerio center fielder for the Brewers. I love watching hitters, man, I don't like watching the one to nothing game. I want to watch eight to nothing, like guys flying around the bases, hitting balls hard. So I love watching offense. So I'm gonna always name hitters. Do you like baseball?

00:42:57
Speaker 3: I do? I do? I think it's fun. Did you see the night and they did with the Floristian lights.

00:43:01
Speaker 5: Yeah, they played a game at night and the whole stadium was from flip Florissan lights.

00:43:05
Speaker 3: That shit was fied. She had our mushroom coffee and man, that shit is fire. Yeah. I like that. It's two hours too. Yeah, you know what I'm saying.

00:43:13
Speaker 4: It's entertainment, entertaining the whole time you're in the stadium, whether you're a fan of player, anything like it. It's cool, it's fun to watch.

00:43:20
Speaker 1: At what point in your career did you start hearing about analytics?

00:43:24
Speaker 3: What year?

00:43:25
Speaker 2: Man?

00:43:25
Speaker 4: I probably say like twenty tens, twelve's eleven, like twenty ten, eleven twelve. But to me, analytics has always been in the game. They always had a sheet with the hot and cold and who's hitting what and doing all these different things. But it was always baseball players that were giving you the information. I feel like now it's so many random people and organizations and some guy from maybe from MIT or from wherever else is coming down to sit down and talk to you now, and it's not a baseball player. So it's so much information, maybe some stuff that you don't need when it was when I was first came up, it was a lot of information and they would cipher through it and tell you what you did and didn't need.

00:44:05
Speaker 3: To listen to it.

00:44:06
Speaker 4: Now it was just so much stuff that it's you know, it can overwhelm you for sure.

00:44:11
Speaker 1: I mean, gone are the two hundred inning workhorses now right? I mean the analytics say get them out five or six innings and that's it. And you were someone who what eight times you went two hundred.

00:44:20
Speaker 3: Innings in your career.

00:44:21
Speaker 4: Yeah, so now I mean even just the standard of you know, yeah, I mean, like you said, six innings being the quality start, you know, or you know, only going one hundred and ten pitches, not going over one hundred and twenty pitches, like all those different things contribute to you know, shortening you know, starters and the reason why guys aren't getting wins, and you know that that's gonna kind of mess with who goes in the Hall of Fame as far as you know, stats and like, cause they're you know, Garrett Cole may not win two hundred games where he may get three thousand strikeouts, you know what I'm saying. So that you know, now were changing the standard who gets from the.

00:44:57
Speaker 3: Hall of Fame.

00:44:58
Speaker 5: The second part to me is like when it was around, we played, but you saw it, but it didn't really affect that. Now analytics it's everything. They use that to determine who they're gonna play in games. You know what I'm saying, Like you said, there's no more odd tests, Like Okay, well, if this says that he's gonna gonna average more points with this guy in the game and he could be trashed, they gonna play him anyway. Knowing you got a guy that you've seen with your own eyes, that's better. That's why analytic sucks, because it's fucking up the real talent.

00:45:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I mean, I just think there's missing components of it because it doesn't read all the the all it takes to be an athlete, to what it takes to be pitching in the eighth in Yankee Stadium or be in Oklahoma City when they're calling you nigga right and you have to shoot a free throw right, you know what I mean, Like, it doesn't read how you react to that, the character of the person you are, so it gives you numbers. But like you said, sometimes the shit we don't even need.

00:45:48
Speaker 4: But it justifies a job though, right, Like if I can come up with a formula and it says this is gonna happen and this is this is blah blah blah, then it's not my fault when it sucks up, it's the player's fault. Yeah, So now I never get fired because it's just these players ain't doing the ship righty bullshit. So now like the shot secure, it's their fault. My ship is right like this equation, you.

00:46:10
Speaker 3: Know what I'm saying.

00:46:11
Speaker 2: So it actually gives them like a fucking they don't work show when they work, you.

00:46:15
Speaker 1: Know, work in basketball like that. The coach is the first one going.

00:46:18
Speaker 3: Now do they I don't know that. Yeah, yeah, don't put that ship in my mind.

00:46:29
Speaker 2: I heard Cask getting mad about that.

00:46:35
Speaker 3: I don't know and I ain't in it.

00:46:41
Speaker 1: I can't confirm, all right, quick hitters first in the kind of mind. Let us know, best Ballpark.

00:46:48
Speaker 3: Kansas City.

00:46:49
Speaker 4: It's a real Yankee fan right there. Kaufman Stadium, Worst Ballpark finn Way. What place is fucking disgusting?

00:46:55
Speaker 3: Is it? Nasty? Bro?

00:46:59
Speaker 2: I'm not going with that nasty water and ship everywhere. It's like the walls, be fucking sweating. I can't stand in.

00:47:05
Speaker 3: That place then waiting nasty like that with love playing there. But I didn't like it.

00:47:13
Speaker 1: Smartest batter you faced, smartest Manny ramires, many many funniest teammate, Brett Gardner bench clear brawl.

00:47:23
Speaker 3: You need three to go with you? Who you who you want to come with you?

00:47:26
Speaker 4: That's a good one. I'm taking one. I'm taking Guardy for sure. I'm taking jor Hate Posada two and then Russell Martin, Russell Martin.

00:47:40
Speaker 3: I'm sure catchers have to have them iron hands.

00:47:43
Speaker 4: I've seen or Hate and good needs beat beating down with take what's your favorite baseball movie? Favorite baseball movie?

00:47:54
Speaker 3: Major League? Major League?

00:47:57
Speaker 1: You know Ricky Vaughan took steroids. He told us the movie for the movie said that average it gave his fastball ten miles an hour.

00:48:08
Speaker 3: Yeah, he told us.

00:48:10
Speaker 1: Bro one picture, yeah, yeah, yeah, one picture you admired when you were in.

00:48:17
Speaker 3: The league, when I was in the league. John Lester, oh, John Lester. Yeah.

00:48:22
Speaker 4: Lefty pitch with Boston the Cubs. I always love facing him. I always loved pitching against him. I just love the way his like his bulldog mentality on the mound. Good dude and just loved like locking horns with him.

00:48:36
Speaker 3: He did.

00:48:37
Speaker 5: Yeah, you told us we had to get Eric Davis. Matt made it happen. Who else do you think we should have on the show? Was a great one, y'all got chef.

00:48:44
Speaker 3: Wow. Let me think of somebody else from the Dave Dave Stewart ooh good would be dope.

00:48:52
Speaker 1: He's Reggie Reggie's so we I did Reggie's last softball game at the Coliseum and he said he's in. I think we're He's in down South though, right?

00:48:59
Speaker 2: No?

00:49:00
Speaker 3: Oh does he? Yeah? Reggie would be good. Reggie would be good. And uh I got a line on Big Poppy too. Hoppy would be good.

00:49:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, and we had Pedro Martinez line up for WBCs. But whatever that code was that they made for everyone to get and I got that shit laid me down.

00:49:16
Speaker 3: Man.

00:49:17
Speaker 1: I ain't been sick and so LU should fuck me up. Program CAP I love it. I learned about it. Explain what it is.

00:49:22
Speaker 4: Yeah, Commissioners Investors program, and it's just getting old players back in the game. Like I said, when I started working at the Commission's office, first thing I thought about is like, how can I get my friends here, you know what I mean? And called Jimmy Rawlins, Uh, then Ryan Howard and then now it's the list of guys that you see it is and it's just been an incredible organization and really just a group of friends that are that that love the game, care about the game, and uh.

00:49:51
Speaker 3: You want to see it getting.

00:49:52
Speaker 4: Better, bringing them back around, events, bringing them aund events, bringing them back around you know, consumer products and all these different things that we have. Like you said, we never had players in the league office, and now we have twenty guys at their disposal to ask them about whatever they you know, whatever they feel like they're experts at and we're all experts at the game. You're expert in basketball, you're you know what I'm saying, Like even though like we didn't go to college, Like there's no higher degree you can get.

00:50:16
Speaker 3: In baseball, and do you know what I'm saying. So like for us to.

00:50:20
Speaker 4: Be you know, integraded and integrated into the league like that, I think it's a huge thing and I think it's just a plus for everybody. And when you said, like you know, you know, giving me flowers for everything that we've done, it's all of us though, you know what I mean, Like, it's not just me, it's the whole CAP program, is everything that we've created.

00:50:37
Speaker 1: I think I hope other leagues are taking note too, because I feel like you guys are really doing it the right way when it comes to that, because there are guys that just again that the generation we grew up on didn't have the opportunities we had, and obviously the guys before them didn't.

00:50:50
Speaker 3: So to be able to reaccimate these guys back.

00:50:53
Speaker 1: In the game, I think the NBA and the NFL need to take notes because I think you got doing a great job with that.

00:50:57
Speaker 3: Bro.

00:50:57
Speaker 5: I want to I want to give you Flowers suit because we was able to be involved in the softball game that she was there for all the black players that came before us.

00:51:06
Speaker 3: And I know y'all had a lot to do with it.

00:51:07
Speaker 1: Rick Woodfield the one I want to be put.

00:51:10
Speaker 5: Yeah, I really was defensive just to give me award, but yeah, Bro, but to see what you're doing, Yes, you know what I'm saying. I think I think that's dope, and I don't think that would be that would be done by the major leagues if y'all wasn't involved, you know what I'm saying. I know a lot of the players appreciate it because we've seen Reggie Jackson get a chance to speak on how he was treated back in the day.

00:51:31
Speaker 3: He wouldn't end up had that platform if that game didn't happen.

00:51:34
Speaker 5: So I want to salute you out for that too, because I know a lot of those older players appreciate it.

00:51:37
Speaker 4: No, I appreciate it for show and like and like Matt said, it's just having the opportunity to bring them back around and be integrated in the game. We all love the game and you and you lose access on you're done playing, and it shouldn't be that way. It should always be a program through the league where guys if they want to come to the All Star Game, they want to come to open the game, they want to do all these different things, they should be able to because they deserve it.

00:51:58
Speaker 1: We'll getting broke. Congratulations, continue to lead the way. Best of luck with everything, man, and we're here when you need us. Appreciate you, no doubt. Cec Sabbathia. You can catch this on all the Smoking Tube and the DraftKings Network.

00:52:09
Speaker 3: See y'all next week,