Fat Joe and Jadakiss are joined by 12-time All-Star and Hall of Fame baseball legend Dave Winfield to celebrate the release of his new memoir, 'Touching All Bases.' The multi-sport phenom opens up about his historic career, being drafted across three sports (baseball, basketball, and football), and inspiring Derek Jeter to start his own foundation with his trailblazing philanthropic work, prompting Joe to share a heartfelt story about how the Dave Winfield Foundation gave him his first chance to step inside Yankee Stadium as a kid growing up in the South Bronx. Winfield pulls back the curtain on his turbulent tenure with the New York Yankees, detailing his battles with George Steinbrenner, the threats against his massive contract, and how those obstacles ultimately forged his resilience. The legends also swap unforgettable anecdotes, from Winfield getting revenge on Bob Gibson with a monstrous home run to Joe's hilarious memory of a stranded Phil Rizzuto getting rescued from Harlem.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Next time I came up, though, we're down by two,
two men on. He got that same two strikes, threw
me the slider, and I went down and got it.
You ever play golf? I hit a two iron out
of the stadium. And I was going around the base slow.
And then I walked across home plate and pointed to him.
I said, I'm here, too. And I get to the dugout,
(00:21):
and the guy said, are you crazy?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Bob Gibson. I said, Bob Gibson. I'm here, too. Yeah.
I got up the next time, first tour, right at
my head.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Oh, yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
But I was too quick. Yo, what up, y'all? This
is Joe Crack the Don.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
You know who it is, your boy Jada. You know
what it is, Joe and Jada's show, every show legendary,
every show iconic.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
The biggest. What we doing to y'all is not even
right at this point. It's not right at this point, right?
It's sad.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
Landslide records. It's getting sad. It's getting worse and worse.
Speaker 5 (01:08):
Today, that's like when you come up there, you want
to tell you all about it.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
All right, all right, all right.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
Every show legendary, every show iconic.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
And today's guest is the epitome. It's an understatement.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
There's not enough flowers to give. But we need to
hand it over there.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Check it out. When you think of today's guest, you
think of all-time greatness.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
A Hall of Famer. A World Series champion. A Yankees legend.
And one of the most complete athletes this game has
ever seen. This is a man who could do it all. Power, speed, defense, intelligence, leadership,
(01:59):
and longevity. He was a 12-time All-Star who finished his
career with more than 3,100 hits, 465 home runs, and
over 1,800 RBIs. He played 22 years in the big leagues.
(02:22):
He starred for the Padres, Yankees, Angels, Blue Jays, Twins,
and the Indies. And helped the Toronto Blue Jays win
a World Series. But this isn't just a baseball story.
He was drafted in baseball, basketball, and football.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Yeah. Baseball, basketball, and football? Are you hearing what he did?
He was drafted in baseball, basketball, and football.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
A true multi-sport phenom before that was even a conversation.
And now he's telling the whole story in his memoir,
Touching All Bases. Ladies and gentlemen, animals, insects, aliens, people
of all nationalities, ethnic backgrounds. We got the Hall of Famer,
(03:20):
Dave Whitfield!
Speaker 2 (03:25):
My brother. Woo! Wow.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
Legendary.
Speaker 5 (03:31):
That's the introduction, you know. I'm glad you appreciate the intro.
I forget some of these things, you know.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
But I've had an incredible life, and I'm glad to
be here sharing it with you guys today.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
You know.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Like I said, this book that I just finished, 30
plus years in the making, but I just waited to
the right time. And now it drops today across the country.
Touching all the bases. Touching all the bases.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Touching all the bases.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
And then when I talk about it, it's not just
about touching in baseball. It's about business. It's about sports.
It's about family. It's about community, service to others, things
like that. So I hit on a lot of things. And,
of course, someone would say, hey, wasn't George Steinbrenner the
guy that owned the team? Yeah, I touched on him, too.
I'm going to take you behind. I take everybody behind
(04:23):
the curtain, pull that curtain back, and I put you
in the room.
Speaker 5 (04:27):
Yankee fans, let's go. Baseball fans, let's go. Touching all
the bases. Decisions were made.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Now, I got to say something.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (04:36):
I grew up so poor in the Bronx and the projects.
I grew up maybe like five blocks away from Yankee Stadium.
And every night, the stadium would light the sky.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
That's how we knew we had a game.
Speaker 5 (04:49):
And the only way I got to get in Yankee
Stadium was through the Dave Winfield Foundation. Y'all would give
us tickets in the community center. And man, that changed
my life. Or I would have never went to Yankee
Stadium or seen the inside of the stadium. And so
one time I seen you, it was a Michael Jordan
(05:10):
party on All-Star Weekend or something. I don't know where
it was. It was in Houston or L.A. And I
dove on him. You was driving a Mercedes and I
dove on your car when I saw you.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
I can't believe you ain't remember this. And I was like,
Dave Winfield.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
Dave.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Oh, my God.
Speaker 5 (05:28):
You used to send me to the, man, you so
special to me. And we had Dow Strawberry there. Any
baseball player I ever run into, I'd be like, yo, man,
Dave Winfield, man. Because I don't know if you know
how big that was. Just giving us a ticket to
sit in Yankee Stadium. It was the biggest deal for us.
(05:49):
It was like, it's two worlds. You know, when you played,
the South Bronx looked like Vietnam. Outside those walls.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
It was rough. Really rough. Buildings, mattresses. Really rough when
you was playing in that stadium.
Speaker 5 (06:04):
But then we get in the stadium and it's like botanical.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
They got green grass in the Bronx. Right. Like, what
is this? Right.
Speaker 5 (06:13):
Man, but you're a special guy, man. You changed my life, man.
And that's why I like giving back to the community
so much because of experiences I have with you and
how you changed my life. We're giving us tickets and
all that.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
No, I appreciate it. You know, I grew up in
the Midwest. People wonder where... I grew up in Minnesota.
But I was.
Speaker 5 (06:34):
There before Prince, before Jimmy Jam, and all the people
like that.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
We were there 100 plus years, my family.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
And.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
You know, I just enjoy sports. I got good at it.
But when I first made it as a professional athlete,
and we didn't make a lot of money back then
in the beginning. I'll tell you more, you know, during
the program, how all that's evolved. But you didn't get
rich playing the sports. But I always knew that I
was on the shoulders of other people that came before me.
(07:06):
And I appreciated that. So the first thing I did,
we started a scholarship. We made $ 15, 000 in rookies. but
I took a thousand dollars and had my, you know,
my friends and family, we put together a scholarship for
minority student athletes called the Winfield Awards. And it started
small and it eventually got bigger. And now this year,
(07:27):
50 years later, we had our 50th anniversary and we
sent over 500 kids to college.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
And I'm proud of that.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
You know, I'm proud of the numbers that I put up,
the home runs, RBIs, championships, and all, Hall of Fame
and all that. But if, if, if I just did
all this and didn't, no one else benefited, no more,
no doors were open, no, where their mind, no minds
were open, where they thought that maybe I can do
this too, then it's kind of, it's not as worthwhile
(08:06):
as having done for others. And I gotta tell you
a story. I got my daughter here who really kind
of set this up. They were born when, you know,
right when I was finishing playing. So they didn't see
how all the people would congregate around me. And so
I brought her. We went to a Yankee old-timers game.
(08:26):
She was young. And all the people pulling on me,
I got her. There's a picture. She's in my arms.
She look at all these people pulling. She said, Daddy,
why are all these people pulling on you? You know
what I mean?
Speaker 2 (08:38):
You my daddy. My daughter thinks I'm washed up.
Speaker 5 (08:44):
Over the hill, give it up, this, this, that.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Same thing.
Speaker 5 (08:47):
The other night she came to the Bryson Tiller party.
Madison Square Garden, he had a concert. He invited me
as a special guest. I tore the paint off the roof.
The place went so crazy. And when they started going crazy,
I say, yo, Isaiah. I shouted her out on stage like,
(09:07):
you think your dad is washed up? Because she ain't
coming to no Fat Joe show. Only time she came
to Fat Joe's show, I was performing with Travis Scott.
He was right after me. I think y'all came out
with me, the locks, in MetLife Stadium or something. And
she was like, yo, dad, please get off the stage.
(09:28):
Travis Scott can rock.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Like, please.
Speaker 5 (09:32):
But it felt good to go back And she'd finally
see you in your form.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
She was little. She was thinking, like, get off my daddy.
This is my daddy. Oh, yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
And then when they finished school, they finished college, and
they got her twin brother.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
They had jobs here in New York.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
And so I just told them, because we were walking
down the street many times in New York, bus drivers
pull over, hey, Dave! Hands on the wheel. But I said,
now you better act right. Do the right thing. Everybody knows.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Everybody knows, Dave. Everybody knows.
Speaker 5 (10:03):
Dave, let me tell you something. Well, before we started,
kids called his dad. His dad was like, Big Dave,
we're going to do what we got to do to
promote this book.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Because everybody loves you here. Right.
Speaker 5 (10:17):
And you are such a historical figure to New York.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Right.
Speaker 5 (10:23):
And like we just look at you as like a superhero.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
And so that's that's how.
Speaker 5 (10:28):
We look at Dave Winfield. I don't know if Dave
Winfield knows. We look at Dave Winfield like a superhero. Now,
you know, I was going I was going to ask
you that was a question.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
I come here. A lot of guys come from other countries.
teams or other parts of the country. And you're saying, yeah, yeah, yeah.
But what is it?
Speaker 2 (10:47):
I'm honest. What is it about that made people kind
of connect with me? I was always... All I.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
Know is once I was able to learn old enough
to know about sports and know what baseball was, baseball
was the first sport they ever put me and my parents.
But my pops, and rest in peace to my Uncle Phil,
they'd be in there Big Dave, he's screaming, I'm telling you,
(11:15):
you got to watch it. He was already a superhero
to me when I'm just learning about baseball.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
See, I'm older than him, Dave. Okay. He's finally admitted. Youngblood.
Speaker 5 (11:29):
I liked you better in a Padres uniform than the
Yankees when I used to play cards.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
So you remember you buy them cards and they give
you a chewing gum. Right, right.
Speaker 5 (11:38):
And then the way you do it is you play
cards and whoever matches the color, I don't remember, it
was too long ago, you take the cards.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
So it was like gambling, but with playing cards. And
you had that Padres uniform. The yellow and brown. The
yellow and brown, boy. What? What? Those are throwbacks, too. Oh, yeah.
Speaker 5 (12:01):
Now I could have had a dollar, right? Like, them
baseball cards.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Oh, yeah. They worth so much now.
Speaker 5 (12:07):
Hold on to them. You never go broke, man. Man,
I lost those a long time ago. I lost those
a long time ago. They used to play around the
time they had the Willie Stardew.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Field up. Yeah. You had all
the big boys. Hank Aaron.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
You know, I got a chance to play with Willie Mays,
Hank Aaron.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
You got to play with Willie Mays and Hank Aaron? Yeah, yeah.
Before they retired. What was that like? I'm going to
tell you the truth.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
You know, even though I can come in and you're
a number one draft pick and I don't go to
the minor leagues and all of a sudden I'm playing
against guys that I had picture on my wall. I
tore it out of the magazine. Two people I had
on the wall. One was Bob Gibson because he was
a pitcher out of St. Louis, the lowest earned run
(12:58):
average in the history of baseball. Like every time he pitched,
every nine innings he gave up. 1.12 runs you know
these dudes you know make 40 million make with the
era of 6.2 or whatever i'm not mad at him
but it was just the time so he was he
was a bad brother you know two sport guy so
i like when i pitched i was him and as
(13:20):
the hitter was willie mccovey he and willie mays played
together big left-handed batter he'd walk up there step in
the batter's box and you know you can see pictures
who You see that, you know, their throat like that.
But when I got a chance to play against Willie
Mays before he retired, he was older and everything. But
(13:40):
the first time he hit me a ball in the outfield,
you know, I caught it like it was nothing.
Speaker 5 (13:44):
But I said, man, I should put this in my pocket.
That's Willie Mays. That's how I looked at these guys
that came before me. Hank Aaron ended up being one
of my best friends in baseball. Loved that man because
they went through a lot of stuff. for us to
be where we were today.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
So I always revered and respected, you know, those people
that came before me.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Negro League guys.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
You know what I mean? When I had a chance
to bring honor.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
You played with them. Well, yeah. I thought that was
before your time. It was.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
But Hank Aaron, he had like a year with like
the Indianapolis Clowns. Willie Mays had about a year or
something like that. So they were some of the last. So,
I mean, they finished in 1950s. Well, when Jackie Robinson
crossed the barrier in 47 or whatever, it started to
(14:43):
get away from the Negro Leagues. But there were guys
that played in it for a minute. I just looked
at them like they were uncles, grandfathers, friends. And they
influenced my life, so I gave back to them, too.
That's awesome.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
Now, before we get more into the memoir, I just
got to ask you this.
Speaker 5 (15:04):
I ain't going to lie, that book is fly. That
book is going in my house. No, no, no, that
book is going in my house. I want to read it,
no matter what.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
Before we go into the memoir some more, what did
it feel like getting drafted Baseball, basketball, and football.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
That's crazy. And he was drafted by both ABA and NBA.
So four leagues, three sports. What is that?
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Yeah, you know, I tell you, young people don't know
of an era before social media.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
You know, people nowadays, they be, you know, trying to accomplish.
Speaker 5 (15:42):
Dave, you sound like us right now.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Like, this is like, you must have been watching this show, Dave.
He is on our top of the top. You know what?
You talk everything you've said so far.
Speaker 5 (15:51):
That's how we talk about hip-hop, the pioneers, people who
paved the way to this.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
That's our whole thing in this show. I got you.
Speaker 5 (15:57):
But I'm sorry to stop you. The kids don't know
nothing before social media.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Go ahead, Dave.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
I'm sorry about that. Nah, so, I mean, I give
you a quick context. Out of high school, I was
drafted in baseball, Baltimore Orioles. They wanted me to pitch.
And they said, we got $ 500 for you in a
bus ride to Bluefield, West Virginia. I said, no, thank you.
I think I'm going to go to college. So I
go to Minnesota. Four years later, all of a sudden,
(16:23):
you got three more inches. You got about 30 pounds.
You know, you get the competition, the world travel. So
I was a different person. And so all of a sudden...
You know, we win Big Ten championships in both basketball, baseball.
And so when I got drafted in baseball, I knew
I was going to get drafted. I knew that because
(16:44):
that was my... Your main focus. Yeah, my whole life.
And basketball came because we were good. And 17,000 people
a day would watch us play. You know, I got
a lot of attention. And so that's where NBA, the
Atlanta Hawks drafted me. And then it was Utah Stars.
(17:05):
It was ABA. And then that's, you know, folks that
don't know Dr. J and all these other people played
in the ABA. ABA had better players than the NBA.
And then the last one, football, the Minnesota Vikings. I'm
from Minnesota. They said, this big brother, I know he
can catch. Did you play football? Man, last time I
played football, I was about 12 years old. But they said,
(17:28):
look at him, man. Let's throw him the ball and
he'll get it done.
Speaker 5 (17:32):
I think they just drafted somebody real high that never
played football in their life.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
He just beyond big. Is that true? It just happened.
It might have. Who was it? Philadelphia? Somebody?
Speaker 5 (17:46):
Somebody took somebody top 10 that's just the biggest guy
in the world and they was like, no, no.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
He's going to play football. He's going to.
Speaker 5 (17:53):
He don't even play football. Yeah, you can learn it,
you know, but you got to have... Like that soccer guy,
the Viking. What's the soccer guy?
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Ernie Holland? The biggest guy in the world. Who?
Speaker 5 (18:05):
Who? Walk Bernard never played football in his life. He's
the biggest guy in the world.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
He said, no, no, no. He was drafted in the
seventh round, not in the first round. Oh, I didn't know.
But he got drafted. He never played. Oh, yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Well, it's like Hakeem Elijah won. I think he was
a soccer player or something. And they said, nah, a
goalie or something like that. And all of a sudden,
you know, here comes Hakeem the Dream.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
His footwork is different. Oh, yeah. We don't want to
bring up no Embiid over here, okay?
Speaker 5 (18:42):
Don't bring no Philly talk around here. He's quiet. He
got tape on his mouth. Mind your business, bro. Don't
be bigging up Philly right now.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Nah. Nah, don't do that.
Speaker 5 (18:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
You know, Dave, we similar in a small way.
Speaker 5 (18:59):
I'm realizing, and I've always realized you a big guy, right?
You said you from the Midwest. Do you ever get
embarrassed that your moms used to hold your hand when
you was already like 12 or 13 and you like
bigger than your mom? Like my mom's used to cross
the street holding my hand and my mom's and pop's
this small. And I used to be like walking across
(19:21):
the street with him like, You had that experience, right, Dave?
Speaker 2 (19:26):
I thought you big since you was little.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
No, I got one brother, Steve. He's a year older
than me. But no, we loved our mother. But she
didn't always hold us like that. She was happy to
have two sons. And I got no problem saying I
love my mother. And she was our best friend. And
I would call her. See, they had never had the
(19:51):
experiences I had, but I'm still going to call her,
tell her what's going on and it would always be
give it 100% and I love you. And so we
were always close and unfortunately she passed away before she
had a lot of years of my life experience growing
(20:12):
up and leaving town. But, you know, when I played,
I had to play summer ball in Alaska, playing baseball. And,
you know, they're at the airport crying, you know, because
they don't want to see your son. I said, don't worry,
I'll be the mayor when I come back. Ain't no thing,
you know.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
You know what's crazy? I just had a concert in St.
Speaker 5 (20:31):
Louis and I went to the airport and it was
a man, they're going to know, I don't know their names.
It was a gentleman and his wife, And their son
is a big boy, so I knew he played ball, right?
And he was going to Budapest to play out there.
And they was, like, not crying, but it was, like,
a real sentiment. I know he was ready to shake
(20:52):
them because, you know, I seen him after on the
other side of TSA.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
He had the hoodie on. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He was chilling.
Speaker 5 (21:00):
There he was like the little kid, but he was
a big little kid. But I just seen that in St.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Louis.
Speaker 5 (21:07):
Right. I got to tell a quick story. It ain't
a Dave Winfield story, but I got to do it, right?
So I'm in St.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Louis. I got a concert. I show up. Everybody's on there.
Rick Ross, everybody. And they tell me, yo, your cousin's
in the green room. I said, my cousin? I ain't
got no cousins in St.
Speaker 5 (21:27):
Louis. Now, walk in the room, it's Busta Rhymes. Busta's
in there, Spliffstar. I'm like, yo, what you doing? They
were like, yo, we did a show earlier.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
What we doing? We tore the paint off of St. Louis. Yo,
I brought Busta Rhymes.
Speaker 5 (21:43):
You know, he's the greatest entertainer of hip-hop history. Him
and Spliffstar, that's it. Nobody can mess with him.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
Nobody.
Speaker 5 (21:51):
Busta Rhymes come, stand back, enjoy the show, right? We
do that, we catch up, we talking. The next day,
I'm coming for the Jay-Z thing, and then I got
to do Madison Square Garden.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
I'm on an 8 o'clock plane.
Speaker 5 (22:06):
When I tell you they canceled that plane about three,
four times.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
No AC. We're pulling out. Oh, a light just came on.
The plane is old. This. They come back. Oh, everybody joined.
Four times. So I'm in St. Louis. I said, for sure.
I'm going to miss everything. Spirit Airlines? Right?
Speaker 5 (22:26):
No, no.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
No, go ahead. It actually was American. Okay. But... They
like the new spirit. I call... Yeah, they like the
new spirit. Yo, American. So I go like this. So
I call my people. I'm like, yo, get me on
any flight. Right?
Speaker 5 (22:43):
I'm telling you a true story. They get me a flight.
There's only two coach tickets left to go to New
York from United.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
So me and.
Speaker 5 (22:53):
Me and Rich doing the O.J. Simpson through the airport,
jumping over the street, running with the bat. Like, we
got to get to the other side. We get to
the other side. We get on the plane. It's the
second time I ever was going to get on coach.
I got on coach one time and sat next to
the Beverly Hillbillies. The little kids was throwing potato chips
(23:15):
in my face. Y'all got so violated. They were jumping
over my neck.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
No, coach. I literally, and I'm a humble guy. I'm
very humble.
Speaker 5 (23:25):
But I literally, every day of my life, I pray
to God. One of my prayers is, Please let me
fly first class. I do not want to fly coach
again in my life. This time, I had to get here,
so I'm about to go coach.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Check this out, Kiss. I'm walking, and I see Busta Rhymes.
He's first class.
Speaker 5 (23:48):
So the first time I got to go coach, I'm like,
holy shit, Busta's going to tell everybody.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
Yes.
Speaker 5 (23:56):
I said, my God. It had to go like that, God.
What did I do to humble me like this? I'm
walking to the back. DJ Scratchitore gets up. He says, yo, Joe,
where you going? I said, long story, four flights. I
got to go to this Jay-Z thing. He said, yo,
(24:18):
you can't go back there. I said, yo, Scratch, where?
He said, the Don don't sit in the back. Take
my seat.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
Now, I usually would argue, you know. Nah. Nah. Right?
I don't want no favors like that.
Speaker 5 (24:40):
I looked at him. I was sweating bullets. We ran
through there. I said, Scratch, I'll take the chair. I'll
take the chair. I sat down, man. And man, I
was so appreciative. And it's like God could do some things.
He could just show you that, you know, you ain't
the boss. You ain't in charge, but yet still go,
(25:02):
all right, Joe.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (25:05):
Man, I looked out the window that whole flight. I
was so happy. That was a beautiful story, man.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
I got to get him. I owe him. That was
a beautiful story. I owe him.
Speaker 5 (25:14):
Like, I got to get him something. Like, I got
to call Buster, whatever, scratch the tour lights. I got
to get him something. Yeah. This was a big deal
for me. It's literally a prayer every day. Please, God,
keep me in first class. Yeah. do not want the
they was hitting me with bags of potato chips climbing
over like I was their cousin or some shit I'm
(25:35):
not going back there kids in the back beating on
you Steve you know you wanna.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
You know what I've learned?
Speaker 5 (25:43):
The things that really matter, you can't rush them.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Facts.
Speaker 4 (25:48):
You can't rush the sauce. You can't rush the music.
You can't rush relationships. And you definitely can't rush great tequila.
Speaker 5 (25:56):
That's why 1800 Tequila stands out. The name goes all
the way back to the 1800s when the Beckman family
started making tequila. And that patience, that attention to the
craft has been passed down through more than 11 generations.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
That's legacy.
Speaker 4 (26:14):
Sometimes you just got to let something cook. Juan Beckman
Vidal aged 1,800 aneo longer than he even had to
because he knew it wasn't ready yet.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
I respect that.
Speaker 5 (26:24):
Don't put it out just because you can put it out.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Put it out when it's right. That applies to a record, a.
Speaker 5 (26:30):
Conversation, a move, a making, and clearly a bottle of tequila.
Speaker 4 (26:35):
Once you get it right, you share it with your people.
That's always been part of the story. Good tequila, good conversation,
and the people around you really appreciate both.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Passion, hard work, honesty.
Speaker 5 (26:47):
Those words are written on every bottle of 1800. And honestly,
that's the foundation for anything built to last.
Speaker 4 (26:55):
So take your time with what you're creating, and when
the moment is right, share it.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
With your people. 1800 tequila. Good stuff takes time. And
the best stuff's meant to be shared with your people.
Speaker 4 (27:10):
How important is philanthropy and giving back? Because I just
told you, I just told you I had to turn
to a Ventajita group. And he said you were actually
responsible for him starting his foundation.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
I thought that was awesome.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
You never know who you're affecting in life. You're affecting me, Dave. Yeah.
You know, you just don't know. You're living your life.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
And I'll tell you, when I started my foundation work,
giving back once I was playing professional ball in the
early 70s. There was no one else doing the philanthropy
and giving money, taking time. I was the first professional
athlete that we know of in any sport that had
(27:56):
a nonprofit 501c3 giving back to people. And people used
to wonder, what are you doing, man? What's the scam?
What's the deal? I say, no scam, ain't no deal.
You know, it's from the heart. And so I remember
going back since we just finished tennis here, Arthur Ashe
(28:17):
talked to me. I helped him with his foundation, get
it together. Martina, remember Martina Navarro?
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Navarro, yes. She was the one before Serena. I met
her a bunch of times.
Speaker 5 (28:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
So people, and then Derek Jeter, when I finally met them,
this was after I was retired, early, mid-90s. And Derek
had made it. And I met his father. His father
told me, he said, Mr.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Winfield.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
I said, no, no, no, Dave, man. He said, I
got to tell you a story, man. You met us
one time in Detroit. You're coming out of the stadium.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Boom.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
You know, you talked to the kid, patted my son
on the head and all of that and talked to
him a little bit. And he said, this kid today
is now the shortstop for the Yankees. And, you know,
I was happy with that. He said, but I'm going
to tell you, he told me years ago, he said,
if I ever make it, he said, I want to
create a foundation like Dave Winfield.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
And so you never know.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
I didn't know Derek Jeter and his dad from Adam.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
But, you know, you impact people's lives. This one is
for the OGs.
Speaker 4 (29:23):
Let's keep it 1800.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
How perfect is Derek Jeter?
Speaker 5 (29:27):
So what I'm trying to say is LL Cool J
was sitting right where you was at two days ago.
And I declared him the greatest ambassador of hip hop.
I said, LL Cool J, I said, he is the
perfect poster child, family man, no BS, no nothing. I said,
(29:51):
you are like the best representation of hip-hop.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
I told LL.
Speaker 5 (29:58):
And to me, in baseball, Derek Jeter's like, the captain
is like.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Oh, yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
No, he's a man. In fact, you know, I would
kid with him when he retired. I said, man, you're
the only brother. You're the only one of the only
players that even exited the game on a high level.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
I don't know, he hit a home run or drove
in a game winning RBI.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
Closed out the stadium, closed out his career. You know, mine,
I got hurt. You know, my arm, I'm in a
sling and can't be in the playoffs. Very few people
get that perfect ending, that fairytale ending. But I'm going
to flip it for a second when you talk about LL.
We're good friends. This brother, I love him, man. There's
(30:45):
maybe for hip hop, And, you know, the music that
you all follow on a daily basis. I'm just going
to say he's impacted me a great deal. We're good friends.
He's one of the people that I can go on
my phone. I could call him.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
Busta is another. Yeah. And Snoop is another, you know.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
But a lot of people I don't know, and it's
not like I hang with them all the time, but LL,
I'm going to tell.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
You, he's in my mind. He's in your top five. Yeah,
he is.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
But he's going to be in my documentary, too. I
got a documentary coming out either at the end of
this year or first of next year.
Speaker 5 (31:28):
You know I'm the hottest in the game, Dave. You
need me on there to talk about how you changed
my life. We got to tell him to save that
last 2%. I don't know if y'all understand that.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5 (31:40):
I don't know if y'all know what's going on out here. But, yo, Dave,
you need me.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
From five blocks away to tell a story. Um.
We heard it. It's on tape.
Speaker 5 (31:55):
I personally can't believe I'm talking to Dave Winfield. That's
how much you impacted my life. I don't think you understand, like,
you know, what you mean to us and what you
meant to us growing up.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
We had a million guests. I never called my dad.
I never FaceTimed my dad. Dave Winfield. Who are these
other guys? You know, but I know. But I'm going
to tell you.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
Um.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
And it kind of segues to the book. I had
played baseball. I mean, I was 12 years old. I
wanted to be a professional baseball player.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
Made it. Played for San Diego for a lot of years.
They didn't win.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
And I said, before my career is over, because you
never know how long it's going to be, I said
I had to go to a team that had a chance.
The Yankees had a chance. They weren't necessarily the nicest
in negotiations, but I said they were going to pay
the most money and they had a chance to win.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
And I was cool with New York. I said, let's go.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
And I never expected the things that happened to me
when I came to New York. I mean, I know
we'll get a chance to talk about it. Talk about
some of the things that happened to you when you
came to New York. You know, you used to read
in the newspaper, why is Steinbrenner messing with Winfield all
the time?
Speaker 2 (33:09):
He's the leader. He's the best player. It didn't make sense, right?
And nobody knows.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
But what I did, like I said, I pulled back
the curtain and I'm telling people what was going on
with up here, in here, with my family, how it
affected my approach to life.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
I'll say this, man.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
They were part of making it some of the toughest
years of my entire life.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
And not because I can go out and play high,
you know, so you win some, you lose some, and
we better win more than we lose. But the things
that were done to me, I'll just give you an example.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
And people, when they get the book, I got to
get this book.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
I want to read when, when they read this, think
about this. I got the biggest contract of all sports people,
all the sports. And I come here, and ready to
give my all, lay it on the line. And within
a month, the man said, I'm not gonna give you
all your money. And if you don't like it, sue me.
(34:09):
Those words will always be, and he didn't say it
just once. He said it a few times. Now you
from Bronx, you from? Yeah, somebody tell you that you
ain't gonna give you your money, what you gonna do?
Speaker 2 (34:21):
That's what I did. That's what I did.
Speaker 5 (34:25):
I just had to talk somebody off the cliff on
the drive down.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
I was like, you don't need that. You got to chill.
And I lived through that. And it wasn't just that
because I had, you know, you're playing. Let me ask
you another question. Let me just ask you, what was
the genius of George Steinberg? Because we always hear how
horrible he was and all that, but what was so genius?
Speaker 2 (34:47):
Genius. He winning all the championships, right? Damn, that's a
hard question. All right, next to you. No, no. Back
to you, Johnny. No, no. No, I don't mind. I
don't mind answering this. Yowzers.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
You can give someone credit for having accomplished a lot
with the organization. Yankees organization. Dodgers are close, you know,
in terms of the best of all time. But if
you had to work for him, your uncle, your dad,
your mom, you say, man, this guy, you know, you
don't treat people this way. And, um, so there, there
(35:29):
was some pretty, pretty rough times, man. Um, like I said,
I want people to read that, but there were times
I was also a player representative for the union to
make sure you.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
Was going through it and you was representing the place.
Oh yeah. Helping everybody else.
Speaker 1 (35:48):
And, um, there were some things that, uh, he brought
to some of the meetings and you know, that weren't, weren't, uh, appropriate.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
And I said, basically you can't do that. You, and
they don't have to come and talk to you. I'll
come and talk to you and we can straighten it out.
I'm going to tell you that, without the details of it,
but it had to deal with, they wanted to implement drug.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
Testing, and it wasn't going to bother me. Drug testing
meaning steroids? Everything. Drugs? Everything.
Speaker 3 (36:20):
Drug testing meaning testing you for drugs? Yeah, but you
have to, you know, look. Smoke a spliff, yeah. Like
a little smoke, you'll slip. But the thing was, you
just have to collectively bargain that. You can't just come
up on somebody and say, look, I suspect you, And
if I don't like you, I can rain some problems
(36:43):
on you.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
You can't do it that way. So when he didn't
get his way and they pulled me in to the
office the next day, I'm coming there ready to hit
Randy Johnson or, you know, Roger Clemens or something. And
then they take me upstairs and we're talking about it.
And he was so mad because he didn't get his way,
(37:04):
which was wrong. He tried to trade me a couple
of times. I said, nah, I think I'll stay. He said,
I'm going to make it rough on you, man. I said,
what are you going to do, bench me? He said,
I can do more. I can release you. And after
I laughed at it because, okay, release me. I'm an all-star.
I can play anywhere. Just give me my money and
I can start all over again. I'd have been happy
(37:24):
with that. But from then on, I suspected that somebody
close to that circle might try to entrap me with
something to deal with drugs or something like that.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
I'm just telling you. Damn, it was that serious.
Speaker 3 (37:39):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
I need a signed book. I need a signed book.
You know, my father was a Met fan. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (37:44):
And I was a Yankee fan. And we would argue
all the time. And my father would say some things.
I love the Yankees. I'm not going to diss him,
but he was not a Yankee fan.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5 (37:57):
He was totally against the Yankees. And I couldn't believe
we lived five blocks away and he was a Mets fan.
Speaker 4 (38:02):
But all that being said, your dad might have been right.
After we read the book, he might have had some,
your pops might have had some pointers about why he
didn't like you. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:13):
No, no, he was definitely on that type of time.
We listened to the big Dave, I think.
Speaker 1 (38:19):
You know, I'm not mad at anybody for liking or
disliking the Yankees. I came here because I wanted to
be here. I wanted to be in New York. I
wanted to play for the Yankees. And I never imagined
that they would turn my life on its head. I said,
I got to go to work. And they're not for me.
(38:40):
They're working against me. You played what years to what
years with the Yankees?
Speaker 2 (38:44):
I came here 81 to 90. And I left during
the 10th year.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
Of my contract. See, guys signed for 10 years and
they're good for one or two. I was good for
every year.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
You was ready. Talk slow to me. That's just the
way it was. You know, I got a famous story, Dave. Another? Yeah.
Let's go.
Speaker 5 (39:05):
So I'm working at my uncle's store on 132nd and
Park Avenue.
Speaker 2 (39:08):
That's in Harlem.
Speaker 5 (39:11):
It's nothing but pimps, prostitutes, Big crack era. It's like
132nd and Park Avenue. Welfare centers there. The sanitation is
just a whole shit. A car stops. And it's just
tinted windowed up. Somebody goes like this, right? So I
(39:34):
come across the street. I'm maybe 13, 14, right? And
it's Phil Rizzuto. His car got stuck in the middle
of Park Avenue 131st. He said, kid, could you call
this number? This is a true story. Could you call
this number for me?
Speaker 2 (39:54):
I said, all right. It wasn't no cell phones at
that time, right? So I go inside, call the number.
Speaker 5 (39:59):
I said, listen, Mr. Phil Rizzuto was stuck on the 131st.
My man, you want to talk about the men in black?
Speaker 2 (40:09):
What?
Speaker 5 (40:09):
They came in, I couldn't, and nobody would, not even
the guys I work with believe this story. They got
that man out of there in about three minutes. Tow
truck and everything. Threw him in the car. Put the talk, gone.
I couldn't even say, yo.
Speaker 2 (40:24):
Look what happened.
Speaker 5 (40:25):
Phil was, it was over. Before cell phones, they came
over there. Cause you know, the one, three, two, you
cross over that bridge, you in Yankee Stadium. So he
used to cut through the hood to get the Yankee Stadium.
His shit lights out. Man, they came about three minutes.
I was telling everybody, nobody believed me. I was like, yo,
(40:46):
Phil is pseudo. was right there 10 minutes ago. It
came and got, it was over. Isn't that something?
Speaker 1 (40:53):
And he probably never, he used to tell stories, you know,
when you listen to the broadcast, he'd be telling those stories.
Speaker 2 (40:59):
With Bill White.
Speaker 5 (41:00):
Hey, White, you know, you know, it's surprising he never
talked about that one. He never did. I called the,
I called the number. They came in three minutes. It
was almost like I couldn't even tell my brother. My
brother wouldn't even believe me.
Speaker 2 (41:12):
I mean, I mean, gone. I didn't even know they
could do that in them years. He said, what you on, Joe?
It wasn't no Phil Rizzuto, right?
Speaker 5 (41:20):
I was scared to tell a story because I wouldn't
believe nobody believed me. And he was in a rough
block at that time in them years. That shit was like, man.
When he got out of there in like three minutes,
who was the picture that you faced that you would
(41:42):
be like, man, I got to be on my A game.
Speaker 2 (41:45):
Who was the most dominating pitcher? Who was throwing that
heat back then? No, no. They were throwing that heat. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:52):
Well, you're from New York, so you know Tom Sievert.
He was with the Mets. The Mets weren't necessarily very good,
but they would beat up on the Padres. And I
think at one point, his record against the Padres was
like 19-1 or something like that. I mean, he used
to just destroy the team. Bob Gibson... I guess a
(42:15):
quick story about that. It kind of taught me, even
though I was a little nervous meeting him, what I
thought was my hero. I met him in a store
in St. Louis and I'm a rookie and I walk
up to him. He's reading magazine waiting for his wife.
And I come over and I say, Bob Gibson. He
looks on.
Speaker 2 (42:35):
I said, Dave Winfield, San Diego Padre. How you doing?
He looked at me, he scowled at me and went
back to reading.
Speaker 1 (42:42):
It's like, you're talking about discs or whatever you want
to call it. But I didn't know back then. There
were no friends. You're just the enemy.
Speaker 5 (42:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (42:55):
And I said, man, I'm going to get this dude.
And so I didn't play that series. We go to
San Diego real quick. The manager told me, you're playing
tomorrow against Bob Gibson. I didn't sleep that. I'm waiting
to get Bob Gibson. So he was old, but he
still had some good stuff. So first time up, he
got two strikes on me and he had one of
these sliders that come up there and then You know,
(43:17):
take a left turn and down, you know. I'd never
seen this kind of stuff. So he strikes me out
the first time. And I'm cool until I get through
that dugout.
Speaker 2 (43:24):
You think he remembers he dissed you in the school? No,
he didn't know me from here.
Speaker 1 (43:28):
And so I go through the dugout and, you know,
didn't say anything.
Speaker 2 (43:32):
I got in that back room. Mother! You know, I'm mad.
So that's real. Players really go in the back room
and break the back? Oh, yeah, yeah. I was hot.
Next time I came up, though, we're down by two.
Two men on.
Speaker 1 (43:45):
He got that same two strikes, threw me the slider,
and I went down and got it. You ever play golf?
You ever hit the... Well, you play baseball.
Speaker 4 (43:53):
Yes!
Speaker 2 (43:53):
I hit a two iron out of the stadium. And
I was going around the base slow. Looking at him.
Looking at him.
Speaker 1 (44:01):
And then I walked across home plate and pointed to him.
I said, I'm here too. And I get to the
dugout and the guy said, are you crazy?
Speaker 2 (44:09):
Bob Gibson. I said, Bob Gibson. Ha ha! I'm here too.
That was your guy. And I got up the next time,
first tour, right at my head. But I was too quick.
I was always too agile, you know? He tried to
hit me, boy. But he was known for that. You
know what's crazy, Dave? I got a story like that. Okay.
(44:31):
In your industry? And I'm not going to challenge you.
Who got the better story?
Speaker 5 (44:36):
Told you this story before, and I seen my man
Sammy the other night at Jay-Z's party. Sammy used to
hit a home run. He was like a Dave Winfield
for us. We played softball.
Speaker 2 (44:46):
Okay. Legendary.
Speaker 5 (44:47):
I'm a legendary softball player in the South Bronx. I'm
not lying to you.
Speaker 2 (44:51):
I'm a pitcher. Got the horizon.
Speaker 5 (44:53):
So you know how you said, I got the joint
that you think you're going to hit in the last
minute and go like this, right? So they take me
one day, and I'm Fat Joe the rapper already, right?
So they take me one day, take me to the
other side of town. And they take me to Mates Avenue.
That's by East Tremont. And they're like, all right, you
got Fat Joe, but the whole park, that whole neighborhood,
(45:14):
that's not even my neighborhood. And Fat Joe, he's a
shit talker. So he's pitching and talking shit to you
when he throw a strike. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (45:24):
You're going to strike out in front of your wife.
You punk. You did. I'm doing all that. Right? Yeah.
Speaker 5 (45:30):
This guy bats up. He's the home run hitter of
the area. His name was Boomer. I told you this
story on the podcast before. He gets up. I put
two strikes on him. Then I throw that riser and
I strike him out. Now, getting struck out of softball
is embarrassing. I don't care who it is. You better
(45:51):
go up there and tap it, bunt it, something like you.
Speaker 2 (45:54):
It's embarrassing, right? I strike him out. I walk him
into the dugout. You ain't nothing.
Speaker 5 (46:00):
They told me you was the man. You ain't this, this, this.
Next time I faced him, this guy hit that ball.
It's a whole hard day. It was a building in
the middle because in the middle of the hood, to
this day, the softball is stuck up on the wall.
Speaker 2 (46:20):
It hit the.
Speaker 5 (46:21):
Perfect hole in the wall of the building. To this day,
that's Fat Joe. So Boomer put that shit up. I
see my man Sammy the other day. Sammy said, yo,
you said the story on the podcast.
Speaker 2 (46:35):
You know how many people hit me up?
Speaker 5 (46:37):
He said, Boomer hit me up. Yo, the ball's still
up there, Joe. He put that shit up.
Speaker 2 (46:45):
Oh, yeah. Yo, you got Bob Gibson. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
You got Bob Gibson. You got Boomer.
Speaker 1 (46:52):
No, Boomer got me. But, you know, we got a
lot of those stories on our way up in the game.
You know, someone you had to challenge or they challenged you.
Speaker 2 (47:15):
On a big, bomb, JoeAndJayTheShow.com.
Speaker 4 (47:19):
You can get the little Cole Ford t-shirt with a
hoodie tag.
Speaker 5 (47:23):
It's my favorite right there. I need an extra large. JoeAndJayTheShow.com.
Go there and get.
Speaker 3 (47:37):
It.
Speaker 1 (47:37):
Let me ask you guys this question. What incident or incidents...
in your career on the way up? Let you, you know,
if you weren't strong-minded, strong-willed, could you have just given
up and not become who you are today? Was there
(47:57):
anything that you were confronted with? You had to jump
over that?
Speaker 4 (48:00):
I had several of them because before actually getting the deal,
we had a lot of almost about to happen there.
Speaker 2 (48:10):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 4 (48:11):
It's It only take a couple of them to make
you say, I'm going to do something else.
Speaker 2 (48:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (48:19):
So from having a little thing with Dave Hall, rest
in peace, almost signing with Chubb Rock.
Speaker 2 (48:27):
Chubb Rock was on. KRS.
Speaker 4 (48:30):
He said, yo, I'm going to do this one song
with you guys. There's no telling. They might not like you.
So he had a lot of like, you're about to
get signed to Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (48:44):
Go back to the drawing board, go back to it.
So then it became like, we get signed, we get signed,
and we don't, you know, and then we got signed.
But if you're weak of heart or just giving up,
you wouldn't become who you are. That's a fact. Nobody's
in this position who gives up.
Speaker 5 (49:05):
And so no matter what profession, no matter what, oh.
biggest thing you could do is believe in yourself.
Speaker 2 (49:11):
And never give up.
Speaker 5 (49:13):
And with me, what happened with me was i was
very similar to dave winfield my first song went number
one in america okay then i found out it was
no money in hip-hop it was five hundred dollars a
show i was doing three shows at night Virginia, North Carolina, Philly, upstate, Yonkers,
(49:34):
the Bronx.
Speaker 2 (49:35):
Like, I was trying to get... Now, you.
Speaker 5 (49:37):
Put out one of them number ones, you're making $ 250, 000,
$ 300, 000 a show. So I could have gave up a
lot of times, you know, and just said, yo, there's
no money in this. It wasn't for, like, a good...
I think it was about five years in where.
(49:59):
You know, I became successful enough to where I was
getting real money.
Speaker 2 (50:02):
You know what I'm saying? So, I think it was that.
Speaker 5 (50:05):
But for us, it's, you know, believe it or not,
the baseball game is very different from the rap game.
Speaker 2 (50:11):
The rap game is like.
Speaker 4 (50:13):
The baseball game is very different from any game.
Speaker 2 (50:16):
Oh, yeah, yeah. It's hard. It's very hard. Very hard.
Rap game and baseball is like... That ain't even a thing.
To hit that baseball... You dealt with Joe Steinbrenner. We
dealt with... Meet my... meet the guy I'm signed to.
Speaker 5 (50:30):
He just came home for 30 years, killed 40 people.
Speaker 2 (50:33):
Johnny Big Lip. You know, it just.
Speaker 5 (50:38):
And how are you going to navigate? There's no PhD
in rap.
Speaker 2 (50:41):
Oh, yeah.
Speaker 5 (50:42):
They was lunatic central.
Speaker 2 (50:44):
And if they told you something, you say, and you're
just like, yo, meet my man.
Speaker 5 (50:49):
It's two quarters because he did two quarters. He's just like,
you know, it was crazy.
Speaker 3 (50:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (50:57):
Yeah. This thing was like Big Red, man. What's the
movie with Big Red? Remember? Five Heartbeats. Five Heartbeats. Everybody
was Big Red in the game. Yeah, you do. In baseball,
it was different.
Speaker 1 (51:09):
After my first season, I went from college, College World
Series as a pitcher and a hero's most valuable player.
So you number one pick and you start playing right
away and you see all your heroes. But they send
you down to Winter Ball. Now they have Arizona League.
You know, it's very nice and everything. They sent me
down to a place called Ciudad Obregon down in Mexico.
Speaker 2 (51:33):
And.
Speaker 1 (51:34):
I lasted 30 days, man, because I didn't speak the language.
I couldn't order the food. The facilities were terrible. Now,
this is 50 years ago. I mean, it's a little
farm town in Mexico. We had tarantula run through the dugout.
You get up in the batter's box. It's like a sandbox.
(51:56):
I lasted 30 days. And then they told me, we're
going to send you home. So I got released. Never
happened in life. I'm 20, 21 years old. But sometimes
you don't run up against those obstacles. And I thought
about it. Am I cut out for this game? Because
you've got to hit everybody. You have to play through everything.
(52:18):
And that was one incident. But I went home and
was working hard. Another one. I got injured in the
first year scoring a run due to try to tag
me out of home plate, hurt my knee. They call
it drop foot, you know? So I had this, you know,
where like when you wake up and your arm isn't
working or you're like that, man, I had to tape
(52:40):
myself up for about a year and a half, man.
Speaker 2 (52:43):
And I could have just given up, said, man, this
isn't going to work, you know?
Speaker 1 (52:47):
So you never, there's a lot of obstacles and, um,
you know, you just have to keep on going.
Speaker 2 (52:54):
I did what I love.
Speaker 1 (52:56):
And, um, even in New York, even though they couldn't,
once I had my 10 year contract, there was nothing
they could do, but on a daily basis, it was,
it was rough, man, unnecessarily.
Speaker 2 (53:09):
And, um, some people could have quit or just give
it in.
Speaker 1 (53:12):
But for me, you challenged me and I'm going, I'm
going to battle you. That's just part of me. And, um,
but I'll tell you this. And I write in the
book too. I made it through. You're going to hear
a lot of different stories that you just, you'll say,
I can't believe it, man. How did his brother perform?
How did he sustain? How did he do well? But
(53:35):
I had to go to another city. when I left here.
And I played for, when they said I couldn't play,
I was done, you're finished, you're no good. They weren't
playing me. I'm sitting on the bench watching our team
getting waxed out there.
Speaker 2 (53:50):
And they're not bringing you in. Yeah, they're not.
Speaker 1 (53:52):
But it was to force me to leave so they
could get some compensation for me if I left. But
I ended up going to four different teams. I played
for six more years. Soon as I left here, I
was went to the angels. I was comeback player of
the year, you know, so I wasn't finished. I go
up to Toronto. We win a championship. I drove, drove
(54:13):
in more runs than anybody 40 years old ever did.
A hundred and something hit two 90, you know, uh,
they would run for prime minister up here.
Speaker 2 (54:23):
You know, I'm good. I'm good.
Speaker 1 (54:26):
And, uh, I went to, then I went to Minnesota
and then I, you know, home, I get 3000 hits.
And then I finish up a career, which was Hall
of Fame career. But if I would have stayed here,
all the stuff they're doing to beat me down, I
wouldn't be who I am today.
Speaker 5 (54:44):
They do this to us probably even worse than hip hop.
And so what happens is, unfortunately, I never knew, I
never understood why someone's success would make others mad.
Speaker 3 (54:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (54:59):
And so they're just mad at you because you're successful.
Because you're good. And they come at you in so
many different ways. And it's very discouraging. You know what
I mean?
Speaker 1 (55:10):
Is this the management or the fans or the other
people in the industry?
Speaker 5 (55:15):
People in the industry. You know, with me, I'm a
leader of, I would say, a crew. You know, rap crew, whatever.
We call it Terrorist Bar, TS. And our brand, similar
to them, they the same way, is based on loyalty.
So our brand is based on loyalty. You mess with
(55:38):
one of us, you mess with all of us. And
we don't even care if they right or wrong. The
best I could do is talk them off the cliff.
Speaker 2 (55:46):
Right? We solid.
Speaker 5 (55:49):
The lady that cleaned the house is solid. Everybody's standing up,
but we go. And then, so when you see, you know,
People turning on you and this, and then you guys.
Speaker 2 (56:01):
Just say, man, I thought this was my friend. Right?
Speaker 5 (56:05):
And then you think about it and you say, well,
what's behind somebody turning on you? And then it always
comes back to, like, jealousy or you're making more money
than them. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (56:17):
You're in a better position.
Speaker 5 (56:20):
And it's sad because I honestly, from the bottom of
my heart, feel happy for everybody when they win.
Speaker 2 (56:26):
When they win, I'm happy for them.
Speaker 1 (56:29):
You know, when you say that, it's not any different
than what I was going through. When all this stuff
was happening to me in New York, reading in the
newspaper all the time, you don't know how many people
others jumped on.
Speaker 2 (56:42):
You jumped on. You couldn't believe it. I won't go
into detail, but it's in the book.
Speaker 1 (56:47):
But I have a daughter and a mother jumped on
trying to make things happen. They hired people to do
bad things to me and around me. They jumped on.
It was daily. It was every day. So when the
season was over, me and the wife, we get up.
We said, where are we going? If you're looking for me,
(57:08):
I'm in Hong Kong, Singapore, Greece. Panama, you know, we're
gone because you got to clear your head. And we
always said with all the people doing different things, sometimes
we're your friends. We're the people that are on your
side that, you know, love you and protect you. My wife,
who's sitting in the audience, she said, I'm going to remember.
(57:32):
I'm going to remember where were our friends You know,
so you know who you're friends with.
Speaker 2 (57:37):
When it gets real, they disperse. Oh, yeah. And then
when it gets better, you know, hey, let's sit down
for that meal. Let's travel together. You can't do that
no more. But you know what?
Speaker 5 (57:46):
There's a great show, Pablo Escobar, right? And in the show,
if it's real life, you pull out a little book.
You write your name. You be like, yeah, you know,
The man, the butcher, Pablo, disrespected your mother. He said, Pablo,
(58:06):
the butcher. It could be a year later. Pablo, the butcher,
going to creep up on you. They're going to get Pablo,
the butcher. And he always kept these notes. Rich is
almost like that. Like Rich playing my brother. He's like,
(58:27):
he won't forget nothing. Anybody do anything funny, Rich is like,
I got them in the book.
Speaker 2 (58:35):
I got them in the book. Oh, yeah. But I remember,
because times, they're not always good.
Speaker 1 (58:40):
You know, there's not a straight line from being nothing,
just growing up to who we are today.
Speaker 5 (58:45):
So you, like, I'm from the Bronx. You know, I see,
you know, Cardi B. I see French Montana. I see
A Boogie. I see these guys come out the Bronx,
and I feel like it's always home, right?
Speaker 2 (58:59):
You from Minnesota. Right?
Speaker 5 (59:02):
What was that like when Prince was killing it? Did
you feel like, yo, we got one, Minnesota?
Speaker 2 (59:09):
Oh, yeah. Jimmy Jam? Like, what was that like? Oh, no.
Speaker 1 (59:13):
But even though I was by that time living in
Los Angeles, where I live now, you know, I'm very
happy for them. You know, we became friends after Prince.
I didn't get to know, but his music always listened
to his music and the music that I was listening to.
Speaker 5 (59:33):
It feel like home. Like when you heard it, you
was like, that's that Minnesota sound.
Speaker 2 (59:37):
Oh yeah. And, um, what Jimmy and Terry put together.
Speaker 1 (59:42):
There are other people I can just call up or
whatever the case may be. But they helped so many
people with their careers, you know, producing the music, Janet Jackson.
Speaker 2 (59:51):
SOS, man. My favorite band, SOS. Oh, yeah.
Speaker 1 (59:55):
Oh, we got, we can name a lot of people,
even Lizzo coming out, you know, from Minnesota and everything. But,
you know, it's a good place to be from, you know,
because people would, It's come up to me many times
because I didn't have an accent.
Speaker 2 (01:00:09):
Where are you from, man?
Speaker 1 (01:00:11):
You know, I could tell it wasn't Mississippi or Alabama
or wherever, you know, Minnesota.
Speaker 2 (01:00:19):
Is it really?
Speaker 1 (01:00:20):
But it was a good place where I grew up.
My neighborhood was a mixed neighborhood. They called it Rondo area.
They ran the freeway right through the middle of the,
you know.
Speaker 2 (01:00:30):
They did that in the Bronx too. You read about
it now.
Speaker 1 (01:00:33):
Yeah, right through the community because you can't do nothing
about it.
Speaker 2 (01:00:38):
What's it called? Imminent domain, right? Yeah, yeah. Build it
right over your house.
Speaker 3 (01:00:43):
Right.
Speaker 2 (01:00:43):
You know that? Get out. No, no. They don't give
you no money. They just build the joint like over
your house. Like your house, you out. Move. We're building
something here. So I saw all that happening.
Speaker 1 (01:00:55):
But the people I grew up with whether I went
to church, school, sports, it was always a mixed group.
Speaker 2 (01:01:03):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (01:01:04):
So I never had a hang up about people from
a different religion or background, last name. I got Rudy
Martinez over here, Charlie Knoll. I got Kevin Smith. You know,
I mean, if you look at the pictures, that's the
way I grew up. So I'm always, they talk diversity
or whatever. I think that, whatever you do, when you
(01:01:26):
include people from different areas of life, you're probably going
to do better because they know what they're talking about.
Speaker 2 (01:01:33):
They've been there.
Speaker 1 (01:01:34):
You know, you see these corporations making stupid mistakes because, oh,
I didn't know people weren't going to like that with
that black face on it or whatever, or the language
that you used or whatever, you know, you know, and we're,
we're in a messed up kind of a perilous time.
Speaker 5 (01:01:53):
I won't get into politics. or anything like that. Listen,
let me tell you something. This book is so valuable.
Speaker 2 (01:02:01):
Everybody go out there and go get Touching All Bases.
Speaker 5 (01:02:05):
For me, that's in my house.
Speaker 2 (01:02:08):
Today. I got you the first one. Let me tell
you something. I got a book.
Speaker 5 (01:02:17):
From the Royu family themselves in Dubai. I got some
special books there. When I tell you that Dave Winfield
going right on top of them books right there in that.
Speaker 2 (01:02:25):
And you're going to read part of it.
Speaker 5 (01:02:29):
He's using it for furniture.
Speaker 2 (01:02:32):
Did you do the audio? Dave, did you do an
audio to it? Oh, yeah. Also, I'm going to listen
to your book. Okay. On the flight. Are we toasting? 1800, baby.
Shout out to 1800. Oh, man. Dave Winfield.
Speaker 5 (01:02:48):
The book is called Touching All Bases.
Speaker 2 (01:02:50):
Come on, give me.
Speaker 5 (01:02:51):
Dave.
Speaker 2 (01:02:52):
Let me get that book over there. With you guys.
Hold on, let me see that. You got to hold
it up.
Speaker 4 (01:02:58):
Touching all the bases, man. Wherever you get your books from,
you can get it right now. Not now, but right now.
Barnes and Nobles, Amazon, wherever they sell books. My man
don't read. He do the audio book so you can
get the audio book also.
Speaker 2 (01:03:16):
Touching all the bases from the legend himself, Big Dave.
We love you, baby. My brother.
Speaker 5 (01:03:22):
Hey.
Speaker 2 (01:03:23):
Woof. Hey, that's smooth. That's the 1800, baby. That's the 1800.
This ain't that. That ain't this. It's crack and kiss.
Speaker 4 (01:03:36):
Make some noise for Dave Swinfield.
Speaker 2 (01:03:40):
All the way up. All the way up.
Next time I came up, though, we're down by two,
two men on. He got that same two strikes, threw
me the slider, and I went down and got it.
You ever play golf? I hit a two iron out
of the stadium. And I was going around the base slow.
And then I walked across home plate and pointed to him.
I said, I'm here, too. And I get to the dugout,
(00:21):
and the guy said, are you crazy?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Bob Gibson. I said, Bob Gibson. I'm here, too. Yeah.
I got up the next time, first tour, right at
my head.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Oh, yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
But I was too quick. Yo, what up, y'all? This
is Joe Crack the Don.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
You know who it is, your boy Jada. You know
what it is, Joe and Jada's show, every show legendary,
every show iconic.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
The biggest. What we doing to y'all is not even
right at this point. It's not right at this point, right?
It's sad.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
Landslide records. It's getting sad. It's getting worse and worse.
Speaker 5 (01:08):
Today, that's like when you come up there, you want
to tell you all about it.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
All right, all right, all right.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
Every show legendary, every show iconic.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
And today's guest is the epitome. It's an understatement.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
There's not enough flowers to give. But we need to
hand it over there.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Check it out. When you think of today's guest, you
think of all-time greatness.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
A Hall of Famer. A World Series champion. A Yankees legend.
And one of the most complete athletes this game has
ever seen. This is a man who could do it all. Power, speed, defense, intelligence, leadership,
(01:59):
and longevity. He was a 12-time All-Star who finished his
career with more than 3,100 hits, 465 home runs, and
over 1,800 RBIs. He played 22 years in the big leagues.
(02:22):
He starred for the Padres, Yankees, Angels, Blue Jays, Twins,
and the Indies. And helped the Toronto Blue Jays win
a World Series. But this isn't just a baseball story.
He was drafted in baseball, basketball, and football.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Yeah. Baseball, basketball, and football? Are you hearing what he did?
He was drafted in baseball, basketball, and football.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
A true multi-sport phenom before that was even a conversation.
And now he's telling the whole story in his memoir,
Touching All Bases. Ladies and gentlemen, animals, insects, aliens, people
of all nationalities, ethnic backgrounds. We got the Hall of Famer,
(03:20):
Dave Whitfield!
Speaker 2 (03:25):
My brother. Woo! Wow.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
Legendary.
Speaker 5 (03:31):
That's the introduction, you know. I'm glad you appreciate the intro.
I forget some of these things, you know.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
But I've had an incredible life, and I'm glad to
be here sharing it with you guys today.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
You know.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Like I said, this book that I just finished, 30
plus years in the making, but I just waited to
the right time. And now it drops today across the country.
Touching all the bases. Touching all the bases.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Touching all the bases.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
And then when I talk about it, it's not just
about touching in baseball. It's about business. It's about sports.
It's about family. It's about community, service to others, things
like that. So I hit on a lot of things. And,
of course, someone would say, hey, wasn't George Steinbrenner the
guy that owned the team? Yeah, I touched on him, too.
I'm going to take you behind. I take everybody behind
(04:23):
the curtain, pull that curtain back, and I put you
in the room.
Speaker 5 (04:27):
Yankee fans, let's go. Baseball fans, let's go. Touching all
the bases. Decisions were made.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Now, I got to say something.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (04:36):
I grew up so poor in the Bronx and the projects.
I grew up maybe like five blocks away from Yankee Stadium.
And every night, the stadium would light the sky.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
That's how we knew we had a game.
Speaker 5 (04:49):
And the only way I got to get in Yankee
Stadium was through the Dave Winfield Foundation. Y'all would give
us tickets in the community center. And man, that changed
my life. Or I would have never went to Yankee
Stadium or seen the inside of the stadium. And so
one time I seen you, it was a Michael Jordan
(05:10):
party on All-Star Weekend or something. I don't know where
it was. It was in Houston or L.A. And I
dove on him. You was driving a Mercedes and I
dove on your car when I saw you.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
I can't believe you ain't remember this. And I was like,
Dave Winfield.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
Dave.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Oh, my God.
Speaker 5 (05:28):
You used to send me to the, man, you so
special to me. And we had Dow Strawberry there. Any
baseball player I ever run into, I'd be like, yo, man,
Dave Winfield, man. Because I don't know if you know
how big that was. Just giving us a ticket to
sit in Yankee Stadium. It was the biggest deal for us.
(05:49):
It was like, it's two worlds. You know, when you played,
the South Bronx looked like Vietnam. Outside those walls.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
It was rough. Really rough. Buildings, mattresses. Really rough when
you was playing in that stadium.
Speaker 5 (06:04):
But then we get in the stadium and it's like botanical.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
They got green grass in the Bronx. Right. Like, what
is this? Right.
Speaker 5 (06:13):
Man, but you're a special guy, man. You changed my life, man.
And that's why I like giving back to the community
so much because of experiences I have with you and
how you changed my life. We're giving us tickets and
all that.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
No, I appreciate it. You know, I grew up in
the Midwest. People wonder where... I grew up in Minnesota.
But I was.
Speaker 5 (06:34):
There before Prince, before Jimmy Jam, and all the people
like that.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
We were there 100 plus years, my family.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
And.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
You know, I just enjoy sports. I got good at it.
But when I first made it as a professional athlete,
and we didn't make a lot of money back then
in the beginning. I'll tell you more, you know, during
the program, how all that's evolved. But you didn't get
rich playing the sports. But I always knew that I
was on the shoulders of other people that came before me.
(07:06):
And I appreciated that. So the first thing I did,
we started a scholarship. We made $ 15, 000 in rookies. but
I took a thousand dollars and had my, you know,
my friends and family, we put together a scholarship for
minority student athletes called the Winfield Awards. And it started
small and it eventually got bigger. And now this year,
(07:27):
50 years later, we had our 50th anniversary and we
sent over 500 kids to college.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
And I'm proud of that.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
You know, I'm proud of the numbers that I put up,
the home runs, RBIs, championships, and all, Hall of Fame
and all that. But if, if, if I just did
all this and didn't, no one else benefited, no more,
no doors were open, no, where their mind, no minds
were open, where they thought that maybe I can do
this too, then it's kind of, it's not as worthwhile
(08:06):
as having done for others. And I gotta tell you
a story. I got my daughter here who really kind
of set this up. They were born when, you know,
right when I was finishing playing. So they didn't see
how all the people would congregate around me. And so
I brought her. We went to a Yankee old-timers game.
(08:26):
She was young. And all the people pulling on me,
I got her. There's a picture. She's in my arms.
She look at all these people pulling. She said, Daddy,
why are all these people pulling on you? You know
what I mean?
Speaker 2 (08:38):
You my daddy. My daughter thinks I'm washed up.
Speaker 5 (08:44):
Over the hill, give it up, this, this, that.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Same thing.
Speaker 5 (08:47):
The other night she came to the Bryson Tiller party.
Madison Square Garden, he had a concert. He invited me
as a special guest. I tore the paint off the roof.
The place went so crazy. And when they started going crazy,
I say, yo, Isaiah. I shouted her out on stage like,
(09:07):
you think your dad is washed up? Because she ain't
coming to no Fat Joe show. Only time she came
to Fat Joe's show, I was performing with Travis Scott.
He was right after me. I think y'all came out
with me, the locks, in MetLife Stadium or something. And
she was like, yo, dad, please get off the stage.
(09:28):
Travis Scott can rock.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Like, please.
Speaker 5 (09:32):
But it felt good to go back And she'd finally
see you in your form.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
She was little. She was thinking, like, get off my daddy.
This is my daddy. Oh, yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
And then when they finished school, they finished college, and
they got her twin brother.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
They had jobs here in New York.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
And so I just told them, because we were walking
down the street many times in New York, bus drivers
pull over, hey, Dave! Hands on the wheel. But I said,
now you better act right. Do the right thing. Everybody knows.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Everybody knows, Dave. Everybody knows.
Speaker 5 (10:03):
Dave, let me tell you something. Well, before we started,
kids called his dad. His dad was like, Big Dave,
we're going to do what we got to do to
promote this book.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Because everybody loves you here. Right.
Speaker 5 (10:17):
And you are such a historical figure to New York.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Right.
Speaker 5 (10:23):
And like we just look at you as like a superhero.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
And so that's that's how.
Speaker 5 (10:28):
We look at Dave Winfield. I don't know if Dave
Winfield knows. We look at Dave Winfield like a superhero. Now,
you know, I was going I was going to ask
you that was a question.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
I come here. A lot of guys come from other countries.
teams or other parts of the country. And you're saying, yeah, yeah, yeah.
But what is it?
Speaker 2 (10:47):
I'm honest. What is it about that made people kind
of connect with me? I was always... All I.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
Know is once I was able to learn old enough
to know about sports and know what baseball was, baseball
was the first sport they ever put me and my parents.
But my pops, and rest in peace to my Uncle Phil,
they'd be in there Big Dave, he's screaming, I'm telling you,
(11:15):
you got to watch it. He was already a superhero
to me when I'm just learning about baseball.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
See, I'm older than him, Dave. Okay. He's finally admitted. Youngblood.
Speaker 5 (11:29):
I liked you better in a Padres uniform than the
Yankees when I used to play cards.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
So you remember you buy them cards and they give
you a chewing gum. Right, right.
Speaker 5 (11:38):
And then the way you do it is you play
cards and whoever matches the color, I don't remember, it
was too long ago, you take the cards.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
So it was like gambling, but with playing cards. And
you had that Padres uniform. The yellow and brown. The
yellow and brown, boy. What? What? Those are throwbacks, too. Oh, yeah.
Speaker 5 (12:01):
Now I could have had a dollar, right? Like, them
baseball cards.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Oh, yeah. They worth so much now.
Speaker 5 (12:07):
Hold on to them. You never go broke, man. Man,
I lost those a long time ago. I lost those
a long time ago. They used to play around the
time they had the Willie Stardew.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Field up. Yeah. You had all
the big boys. Hank Aaron.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
You know, I got a chance to play with Willie Mays,
Hank Aaron.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
You got to play with Willie Mays and Hank Aaron? Yeah, yeah.
Before they retired. What was that like? I'm going to
tell you the truth.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
You know, even though I can come in and you're
a number one draft pick and I don't go to
the minor leagues and all of a sudden I'm playing
against guys that I had picture on my wall. I
tore it out of the magazine. Two people I had
on the wall. One was Bob Gibson because he was
a pitcher out of St. Louis, the lowest earned run
(12:58):
average in the history of baseball. Like every time he pitched,
every nine innings he gave up. 1.12 runs you know
these dudes you know make 40 million make with the
era of 6.2 or whatever i'm not mad at him
but it was just the time so he was he
was a bad brother you know two sport guy so
i like when i pitched i was him and as
(13:20):
the hitter was willie mccovey he and willie mays played
together big left-handed batter he'd walk up there step in
the batter's box and you know you can see pictures
who You see that, you know, their throat like that.
But when I got a chance to play against Willie
Mays before he retired, he was older and everything. But
(13:40):
the first time he hit me a ball in the outfield,
you know, I caught it like it was nothing.
Speaker 5 (13:44):
But I said, man, I should put this in my pocket.
That's Willie Mays. That's how I looked at these guys
that came before me. Hank Aaron ended up being one
of my best friends in baseball. Loved that man because
they went through a lot of stuff. for us to
be where we were today.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
So I always revered and respected, you know, those people
that came before me.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Negro League guys.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
You know what I mean? When I had a chance
to bring honor.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
You played with them. Well, yeah. I thought that was
before your time. It was.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
But Hank Aaron, he had like a year with like
the Indianapolis Clowns. Willie Mays had about a year or
something like that. So they were some of the last. So,
I mean, they finished in 1950s. Well, when Jackie Robinson
crossed the barrier in 47 or whatever, it started to
(14:43):
get away from the Negro Leagues. But there were guys
that played in it for a minute. I just looked
at them like they were uncles, grandfathers, friends. And they
influenced my life, so I gave back to them, too.
That's awesome.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
Now, before we get more into the memoir, I just
got to ask you this.
Speaker 5 (15:04):
I ain't going to lie, that book is fly. That
book is going in my house. No, no, no, that
book is going in my house. I want to read it,
no matter what.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
Before we go into the memoir some more, what did
it feel like getting drafted Baseball, basketball, and football.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
That's crazy. And he was drafted by both ABA and NBA.
So four leagues, three sports. What is that?
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Yeah, you know, I tell you, young people don't know
of an era before social media.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
You know, people nowadays, they be, you know, trying to accomplish.
Speaker 5 (15:42):
Dave, you sound like us right now.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Like, this is like, you must have been watching this show, Dave.
He is on our top of the top. You know what?
You talk everything you've said so far.
Speaker 5 (15:51):
That's how we talk about hip-hop, the pioneers, people who
paved the way to this.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
That's our whole thing in this show. I got you.
Speaker 5 (15:57):
But I'm sorry to stop you. The kids don't know
nothing before social media.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Go ahead, Dave.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
I'm sorry about that. Nah, so, I mean, I give
you a quick context. Out of high school, I was
drafted in baseball, Baltimore Orioles. They wanted me to pitch.
And they said, we got $ 500 for you in a
bus ride to Bluefield, West Virginia. I said, no, thank you.
I think I'm going to go to college. So I
go to Minnesota. Four years later, all of a sudden,
(16:23):
you got three more inches. You got about 30 pounds.
You know, you get the competition, the world travel. So
I was a different person. And so all of a sudden...
You know, we win Big Ten championships in both basketball, baseball.
And so when I got drafted in baseball, I knew
I was going to get drafted. I knew that because
(16:44):
that was my... Your main focus. Yeah, my whole life.
And basketball came because we were good. And 17,000 people
a day would watch us play. You know, I got
a lot of attention. And so that's where NBA, the
Atlanta Hawks drafted me. And then it was Utah Stars.
(17:05):
It was ABA. And then that's, you know, folks that
don't know Dr. J and all these other people played
in the ABA. ABA had better players than the NBA.
And then the last one, football, the Minnesota Vikings. I'm
from Minnesota. They said, this big brother, I know he
can catch. Did you play football? Man, last time I
played football, I was about 12 years old. But they said,
(17:28):
look at him, man. Let's throw him the ball and
he'll get it done.
Speaker 5 (17:32):
I think they just drafted somebody real high that never
played football in their life.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
He just beyond big. Is that true? It just happened.
It might have. Who was it? Philadelphia? Somebody?
Speaker 5 (17:46):
Somebody took somebody top 10 that's just the biggest guy
in the world and they was like, no, no.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
He's going to play football. He's going to.
Speaker 5 (17:53):
He don't even play football. Yeah, you can learn it,
you know, but you got to have... Like that soccer guy,
the Viking. What's the soccer guy?
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Ernie Holland? The biggest guy in the world. Who?
Speaker 5 (18:05):
Who? Walk Bernard never played football in his life. He's
the biggest guy in the world.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
He said, no, no, no. He was drafted in the
seventh round, not in the first round. Oh, I didn't know.
But he got drafted. He never played. Oh, yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Well, it's like Hakeem Elijah won. I think he was
a soccer player or something. And they said, nah, a
goalie or something like that. And all of a sudden,
you know, here comes Hakeem the Dream.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
His footwork is different. Oh, yeah. We don't want to
bring up no Embiid over here, okay?
Speaker 5 (18:42):
Don't bring no Philly talk around here. He's quiet. He
got tape on his mouth. Mind your business, bro. Don't
be bigging up Philly right now.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Nah. Nah, don't do that.
Speaker 5 (18:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
You know, Dave, we similar in a small way.
Speaker 5 (18:59):
I'm realizing, and I've always realized you a big guy, right?
You said you from the Midwest. Do you ever get
embarrassed that your moms used to hold your hand when
you was already like 12 or 13 and you like
bigger than your mom? Like my mom's used to cross
the street holding my hand and my mom's and pop's
this small. And I used to be like walking across
(19:21):
the street with him like, You had that experience, right, Dave?
Speaker 2 (19:26):
I thought you big since you was little.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
No, I got one brother, Steve. He's a year older
than me. But no, we loved our mother. But she
didn't always hold us like that. She was happy to
have two sons. And I got no problem saying I
love my mother. And she was our best friend. And
I would call her. See, they had never had the
(19:51):
experiences I had, but I'm still going to call her,
tell her what's going on and it would always be
give it 100% and I love you. And so we
were always close and unfortunately she passed away before she
had a lot of years of my life experience growing
(20:12):
up and leaving town. But, you know, when I played,
I had to play summer ball in Alaska, playing baseball. And,
you know, they're at the airport crying, you know, because
they don't want to see your son. I said, don't worry,
I'll be the mayor when I come back. Ain't no thing,
you know.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
You know what's crazy? I just had a concert in St.
Speaker 5 (20:31):
Louis and I went to the airport and it was
a man, they're going to know, I don't know their names.
It was a gentleman and his wife, And their son
is a big boy, so I knew he played ball, right?
And he was going to Budapest to play out there.
And they was, like, not crying, but it was, like,
a real sentiment. I know he was ready to shake
(20:52):
them because, you know, I seen him after on the
other side of TSA.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
He had the hoodie on. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He was chilling.
Speaker 5 (21:00):
There he was like the little kid, but he was
a big little kid. But I just seen that in St.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Louis.
Speaker 5 (21:07):
Right. I got to tell a quick story. It ain't
a Dave Winfield story, but I got to do it, right?
So I'm in St.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Louis. I got a concert. I show up. Everybody's on there.
Rick Ross, everybody. And they tell me, yo, your cousin's
in the green room. I said, my cousin? I ain't
got no cousins in St.
Speaker 5 (21:27):
Louis. Now, walk in the room, it's Busta Rhymes. Busta's
in there, Spliffstar. I'm like, yo, what you doing? They
were like, yo, we did a show earlier.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
What we doing? We tore the paint off of St. Louis. Yo,
I brought Busta Rhymes.
Speaker 5 (21:43):
You know, he's the greatest entertainer of hip-hop history. Him
and Spliffstar, that's it. Nobody can mess with him.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
Nobody.
Speaker 5 (21:51):
Busta Rhymes come, stand back, enjoy the show, right? We
do that, we catch up, we talking. The next day,
I'm coming for the Jay-Z thing, and then I got
to do Madison Square Garden.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
I'm on an 8 o'clock plane.
Speaker 5 (22:06):
When I tell you they canceled that plane about three,
four times.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
No AC. We're pulling out. Oh, a light just came on.
The plane is old. This. They come back. Oh, everybody joined.
Four times. So I'm in St. Louis. I said, for sure.
I'm going to miss everything. Spirit Airlines? Right?
Speaker 5 (22:26):
No, no.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
No, go ahead. It actually was American. Okay. But... They
like the new spirit. I call... Yeah, they like the
new spirit. Yo, American. So I go like this. So
I call my people. I'm like, yo, get me on
any flight. Right?
Speaker 5 (22:43):
I'm telling you a true story. They get me a flight.
There's only two coach tickets left to go to New
York from United.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
So me and.
Speaker 5 (22:53):
Me and Rich doing the O.J. Simpson through the airport,
jumping over the street, running with the bat. Like, we
got to get to the other side. We get to
the other side. We get on the plane. It's the
second time I ever was going to get on coach.
I got on coach one time and sat next to
the Beverly Hillbillies. The little kids was throwing potato chips
(23:15):
in my face. Y'all got so violated. They were jumping
over my neck.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
No, coach. I literally, and I'm a humble guy. I'm
very humble.
Speaker 5 (23:25):
But I literally, every day of my life, I pray
to God. One of my prayers is, Please let me
fly first class. I do not want to fly coach
again in my life. This time, I had to get here,
so I'm about to go coach.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Check this out, Kiss. I'm walking, and I see Busta Rhymes.
He's first class.
Speaker 5 (23:48):
So the first time I got to go coach, I'm like,
holy shit, Busta's going to tell everybody.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
Yes.
Speaker 5 (23:56):
I said, my God. It had to go like that, God.
What did I do to humble me like this? I'm
walking to the back. DJ Scratchitore gets up. He says, yo, Joe,
where you going? I said, long story, four flights. I
got to go to this Jay-Z thing. He said, yo,
(24:18):
you can't go back there. I said, yo, Scratch, where?
He said, the Don don't sit in the back. Take
my seat.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
Now, I usually would argue, you know. Nah. Nah. Right?
I don't want no favors like that.
Speaker 5 (24:40):
I looked at him. I was sweating bullets. We ran
through there. I said, Scratch, I'll take the chair. I'll
take the chair. I sat down, man. And man, I
was so appreciative. And it's like God could do some things.
He could just show you that, you know, you ain't
the boss. You ain't in charge, but yet still go,
(25:02):
all right, Joe.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (25:05):
Man, I looked out the window that whole flight. I
was so happy. That was a beautiful story, man.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
I got to get him. I owe him. That was
a beautiful story. I owe him.
Speaker 5 (25:14):
Like, I got to get him something. Like, I got
to call Buster, whatever, scratch the tour lights. I got
to get him something. Yeah. This was a big deal
for me. It's literally a prayer every day. Please, God,
keep me in first class. Yeah. do not want the
they was hitting me with bags of potato chips climbing
over like I was their cousin or some shit I'm
(25:35):
not going back there kids in the back beating on
you Steve you know you wanna.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
You know what I've learned?
Speaker 5 (25:43):
The things that really matter, you can't rush them.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Facts.
Speaker 4 (25:48):
You can't rush the sauce. You can't rush the music.
You can't rush relationships. And you definitely can't rush great tequila.
Speaker 5 (25:56):
That's why 1800 Tequila stands out. The name goes all
the way back to the 1800s when the Beckman family
started making tequila. And that patience, that attention to the
craft has been passed down through more than 11 generations.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
That's legacy.
Speaker 4 (26:14):
Sometimes you just got to let something cook. Juan Beckman
Vidal aged 1,800 aneo longer than he even had to
because he knew it wasn't ready yet.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
I respect that.
Speaker 5 (26:24):
Don't put it out just because you can put it out.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Put it out when it's right. That applies to a record, a.
Speaker 5 (26:30):
Conversation, a move, a making, and clearly a bottle of tequila.
Speaker 4 (26:35):
Once you get it right, you share it with your people.
That's always been part of the story. Good tequila, good conversation,
and the people around you really appreciate both.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Passion, hard work, honesty.
Speaker 5 (26:47):
Those words are written on every bottle of 1800. And honestly,
that's the foundation for anything built to last.
Speaker 4 (26:55):
So take your time with what you're creating, and when
the moment is right, share it.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
With your people. 1800 tequila. Good stuff takes time. And
the best stuff's meant to be shared with your people.
Speaker 4 (27:10):
How important is philanthropy and giving back? Because I just
told you, I just told you I had to turn
to a Ventajita group. And he said you were actually
responsible for him starting his foundation.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
I thought that was awesome.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
You never know who you're affecting in life. You're affecting me, Dave. Yeah.
You know, you just don't know. You're living your life.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
And I'll tell you, when I started my foundation work,
giving back once I was playing professional ball in the
early 70s. There was no one else doing the philanthropy
and giving money, taking time. I was the first professional
athlete that we know of in any sport that had
(27:56):
a nonprofit 501c3 giving back to people. And people used
to wonder, what are you doing, man? What's the scam?
What's the deal? I say, no scam, ain't no deal.
You know, it's from the heart. And so I remember
going back since we just finished tennis here, Arthur Ashe
(28:17):
talked to me. I helped him with his foundation, get
it together. Martina, remember Martina Navarro?
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Navarro, yes. She was the one before Serena. I met
her a bunch of times.
Speaker 5 (28:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
So people, and then Derek Jeter, when I finally met them,
this was after I was retired, early, mid-90s. And Derek
had made it. And I met his father. His father
told me, he said, Mr.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Winfield.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
I said, no, no, no, Dave, man. He said, I
got to tell you a story, man. You met us
one time in Detroit. You're coming out of the stadium.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Boom.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
You know, you talked to the kid, patted my son
on the head and all of that and talked to
him a little bit. And he said, this kid today
is now the shortstop for the Yankees. And, you know,
I was happy with that. He said, but I'm going
to tell you, he told me years ago, he said,
if I ever make it, he said, I want to
create a foundation like Dave Winfield.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
And so you never know.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
I didn't know Derek Jeter and his dad from Adam.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
But, you know, you impact people's lives. This one is
for the OGs.
Speaker 4 (29:23):
Let's keep it 1800.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
How perfect is Derek Jeter?
Speaker 5 (29:27):
So what I'm trying to say is LL Cool J
was sitting right where you was at two days ago.
And I declared him the greatest ambassador of hip hop.
I said, LL Cool J, I said, he is the
perfect poster child, family man, no BS, no nothing. I said,
(29:51):
you are like the best representation of hip-hop.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
I told LL.
Speaker 5 (29:58):
And to me, in baseball, Derek Jeter's like, the captain
is like.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Oh, yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
No, he's a man. In fact, you know, I would
kid with him when he retired. I said, man, you're
the only brother. You're the only one of the only
players that even exited the game on a high level.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
I don't know, he hit a home run or drove
in a game winning RBI.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
Closed out the stadium, closed out his career. You know, mine,
I got hurt. You know, my arm, I'm in a
sling and can't be in the playoffs. Very few people
get that perfect ending, that fairytale ending. But I'm going
to flip it for a second when you talk about LL.
We're good friends. This brother, I love him, man. There's
(30:45):
maybe for hip hop, And, you know, the music that
you all follow on a daily basis. I'm just going
to say he's impacted me a great deal. We're good friends.
He's one of the people that I can go on
my phone. I could call him.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
Busta is another. Yeah. And Snoop is another, you know.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
But a lot of people I don't know, and it's
not like I hang with them all the time, but LL,
I'm going to tell.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
You, he's in my mind. He's in your top five. Yeah,
he is.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
But he's going to be in my documentary, too. I
got a documentary coming out either at the end of
this year or first of next year.
Speaker 5 (31:28):
You know I'm the hottest in the game, Dave. You
need me on there to talk about how you changed
my life. We got to tell him to save that
last 2%. I don't know if y'all understand that.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5 (31:40):
I don't know if y'all know what's going on out here. But, yo, Dave,
you need me.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
From five blocks away to tell a story. Um.
We heard it. It's on tape.
Speaker 5 (31:55):
I personally can't believe I'm talking to Dave Winfield. That's
how much you impacted my life. I don't think you understand, like,
you know, what you mean to us and what you
meant to us growing up.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
We had a million guests. I never called my dad.
I never FaceTimed my dad. Dave Winfield. Who are these
other guys? You know, but I know. But I'm going
to tell you.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
Um.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
And it kind of segues to the book. I had
played baseball. I mean, I was 12 years old. I
wanted to be a professional baseball player.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
Made it. Played for San Diego for a lot of years.
They didn't win.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
And I said, before my career is over, because you
never know how long it's going to be, I said
I had to go to a team that had a chance.
The Yankees had a chance. They weren't necessarily the nicest
in negotiations, but I said they were going to pay
the most money and they had a chance to win.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
And I was cool with New York. I said, let's go.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
And I never expected the things that happened to me
when I came to New York. I mean, I know
we'll get a chance to talk about it. Talk about
some of the things that happened to you when you
came to New York. You know, you used to read
in the newspaper, why is Steinbrenner messing with Winfield all
the time?
Speaker 2 (33:09):
He's the leader. He's the best player. It didn't make sense, right?
And nobody knows.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
But what I did, like I said, I pulled back
the curtain and I'm telling people what was going on
with up here, in here, with my family, how it
affected my approach to life.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
I'll say this, man.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
They were part of making it some of the toughest
years of my entire life.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
And not because I can go out and play high,
you know, so you win some, you lose some, and
we better win more than we lose. But the things
that were done to me, I'll just give you an example.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
And people, when they get the book, I got to
get this book.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
I want to read when, when they read this, think
about this. I got the biggest contract of all sports people,
all the sports. And I come here, and ready to
give my all, lay it on the line. And within
a month, the man said, I'm not gonna give you
all your money. And if you don't like it, sue me.
(34:09):
Those words will always be, and he didn't say it
just once. He said it a few times. Now you
from Bronx, you from? Yeah, somebody tell you that you
ain't gonna give you your money, what you gonna do?
Speaker 2 (34:21):
That's what I did. That's what I did.
Speaker 5 (34:25):
I just had to talk somebody off the cliff on
the drive down.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
I was like, you don't need that. You got to chill.
And I lived through that. And it wasn't just that
because I had, you know, you're playing. Let me ask
you another question. Let me just ask you, what was
the genius of George Steinberg? Because we always hear how
horrible he was and all that, but what was so genius?
Speaker 2 (34:47):
Genius. He winning all the championships, right? Damn, that's a
hard question. All right, next to you. No, no. Back
to you, Johnny. No, no. No, I don't mind. I
don't mind answering this. Yowzers.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
You can give someone credit for having accomplished a lot
with the organization. Yankees organization. Dodgers are close, you know,
in terms of the best of all time. But if
you had to work for him, your uncle, your dad,
your mom, you say, man, this guy, you know, you
don't treat people this way. And, um, so there, there
(35:29):
was some pretty, pretty rough times, man. Um, like I said,
I want people to read that, but there were times
I was also a player representative for the union to
make sure you.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
Was going through it and you was representing the place.
Oh yeah. Helping everybody else.
Speaker 1 (35:48):
And, um, there were some things that, uh, he brought
to some of the meetings and you know, that weren't, weren't, uh, appropriate.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
And I said, basically you can't do that. You, and
they don't have to come and talk to you. I'll
come and talk to you and we can straighten it out.
I'm going to tell you that, without the details of it,
but it had to deal with, they wanted to implement drug.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
Testing, and it wasn't going to bother me. Drug testing
meaning steroids? Everything. Drugs? Everything.
Speaker 3 (36:20):
Drug testing meaning testing you for drugs? Yeah, but you
have to, you know, look. Smoke a spliff, yeah. Like
a little smoke, you'll slip. But the thing was, you
just have to collectively bargain that. You can't just come
up on somebody and say, look, I suspect you, And
if I don't like you, I can rain some problems
(36:43):
on you.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
You can't do it that way. So when he didn't
get his way and they pulled me in to the
office the next day, I'm coming there ready to hit
Randy Johnson or, you know, Roger Clemens or something. And
then they take me upstairs and we're talking about it.
And he was so mad because he didn't get his way,
(37:04):
which was wrong. He tried to trade me a couple
of times. I said, nah, I think I'll stay. He said,
I'm going to make it rough on you, man. I said,
what are you going to do, bench me? He said,
I can do more. I can release you. And after
I laughed at it because, okay, release me. I'm an all-star.
I can play anywhere. Just give me my money and
I can start all over again. I'd have been happy
(37:24):
with that. But from then on, I suspected that somebody
close to that circle might try to entrap me with
something to deal with drugs or something like that.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
I'm just telling you. Damn, it was that serious.
Speaker 3 (37:39):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
I need a signed book. I need a signed book.
You know, my father was a Met fan. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (37:44):
And I was a Yankee fan. And we would argue
all the time. And my father would say some things.
I love the Yankees. I'm not going to diss him,
but he was not a Yankee fan.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5 (37:57):
He was totally against the Yankees. And I couldn't believe
we lived five blocks away and he was a Mets fan.
Speaker 4 (38:02):
But all that being said, your dad might have been right.
After we read the book, he might have had some,
your pops might have had some pointers about why he
didn't like you. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:13):
No, no, he was definitely on that type of time.
We listened to the big Dave, I think.
Speaker 1 (38:19):
You know, I'm not mad at anybody for liking or
disliking the Yankees. I came here because I wanted to
be here. I wanted to be in New York. I
wanted to play for the Yankees. And I never imagined
that they would turn my life on its head. I said,
I got to go to work. And they're not for me.
(38:40):
They're working against me. You played what years to what
years with the Yankees?
Speaker 2 (38:44):
I came here 81 to 90. And I left during
the 10th year.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
Of my contract. See, guys signed for 10 years and
they're good for one or two. I was good for
every year.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
You was ready. Talk slow to me. That's just the
way it was. You know, I got a famous story, Dave. Another? Yeah.
Let's go.
Speaker 5 (39:05):
So I'm working at my uncle's store on 132nd and
Park Avenue.
Speaker 2 (39:08):
That's in Harlem.
Speaker 5 (39:11):
It's nothing but pimps, prostitutes, Big crack era. It's like
132nd and Park Avenue. Welfare centers there. The sanitation is
just a whole shit. A car stops. And it's just
tinted windowed up. Somebody goes like this, right? So I
(39:34):
come across the street. I'm maybe 13, 14, right? And
it's Phil Rizzuto. His car got stuck in the middle
of Park Avenue 131st. He said, kid, could you call
this number? This is a true story. Could you call
this number for me?
Speaker 2 (39:54):
I said, all right. It wasn't no cell phones at
that time, right? So I go inside, call the number.
Speaker 5 (39:59):
I said, listen, Mr. Phil Rizzuto was stuck on the 131st.
My man, you want to talk about the men in black?
Speaker 2 (40:09):
What?
Speaker 5 (40:09):
They came in, I couldn't, and nobody would, not even
the guys I work with believe this story. They got
that man out of there in about three minutes. Tow
truck and everything. Threw him in the car. Put the talk, gone.
I couldn't even say, yo.
Speaker 2 (40:24):
Look what happened.
Speaker 5 (40:25):
Phil was, it was over. Before cell phones, they came
over there. Cause you know, the one, three, two, you
cross over that bridge, you in Yankee Stadium. So he
used to cut through the hood to get the Yankee Stadium.
His shit lights out. Man, they came about three minutes.
I was telling everybody, nobody believed me. I was like, yo,
(40:46):
Phil is pseudo. was right there 10 minutes ago. It
came and got, it was over. Isn't that something?
Speaker 1 (40:53):
And he probably never, he used to tell stories, you know,
when you listen to the broadcast, he'd be telling those stories.
Speaker 2 (40:59):
With Bill White.
Speaker 5 (41:00):
Hey, White, you know, you know, it's surprising he never
talked about that one. He never did. I called the,
I called the number. They came in three minutes. It
was almost like I couldn't even tell my brother. My
brother wouldn't even believe me.
Speaker 2 (41:12):
I mean, I mean, gone. I didn't even know they
could do that in them years. He said, what you on, Joe?
It wasn't no Phil Rizzuto, right?
Speaker 5 (41:20):
I was scared to tell a story because I wouldn't
believe nobody believed me. And he was in a rough
block at that time in them years. That shit was like, man.
When he got out of there in like three minutes,
who was the picture that you faced that you would
(41:42):
be like, man, I got to be on my A game.
Speaker 2 (41:45):
Who was the most dominating pitcher? Who was throwing that
heat back then? No, no. They were throwing that heat. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:52):
Well, you're from New York, so you know Tom Sievert.
He was with the Mets. The Mets weren't necessarily very good,
but they would beat up on the Padres. And I
think at one point, his record against the Padres was
like 19-1 or something like that. I mean, he used
to just destroy the team. Bob Gibson... I guess a
(42:15):
quick story about that. It kind of taught me, even
though I was a little nervous meeting him, what I
thought was my hero. I met him in a store
in St. Louis and I'm a rookie and I walk
up to him. He's reading magazine waiting for his wife.
And I come over and I say, Bob Gibson. He
looks on.
Speaker 2 (42:35):
I said, Dave Winfield, San Diego Padre. How you doing?
He looked at me, he scowled at me and went
back to reading.
Speaker 1 (42:42):
It's like, you're talking about discs or whatever you want
to call it. But I didn't know back then. There
were no friends. You're just the enemy.
Speaker 5 (42:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (42:55):
And I said, man, I'm going to get this dude.
And so I didn't play that series. We go to
San Diego real quick. The manager told me, you're playing
tomorrow against Bob Gibson. I didn't sleep that. I'm waiting
to get Bob Gibson. So he was old, but he
still had some good stuff. So first time up, he
got two strikes on me and he had one of
these sliders that come up there and then You know,
(43:17):
take a left turn and down, you know. I'd never
seen this kind of stuff. So he strikes me out
the first time. And I'm cool until I get through
that dugout.
Speaker 2 (43:24):
You think he remembers he dissed you in the school? No,
he didn't know me from here.
Speaker 1 (43:28):
And so I go through the dugout and, you know,
didn't say anything.
Speaker 2 (43:32):
I got in that back room. Mother! You know, I'm mad.
So that's real. Players really go in the back room
and break the back? Oh, yeah, yeah. I was hot.
Next time I came up, though, we're down by two.
Two men on.
Speaker 1 (43:45):
He got that same two strikes, threw me the slider,
and I went down and got it. You ever play golf?
You ever hit the... Well, you play baseball.
Speaker 4 (43:53):
Yes!
Speaker 2 (43:53):
I hit a two iron out of the stadium. And
I was going around the base slow. Looking at him.
Looking at him.
Speaker 1 (44:01):
And then I walked across home plate and pointed to him.
I said, I'm here too. And I get to the
dugout and the guy said, are you crazy?
Speaker 2 (44:09):
Bob Gibson. I said, Bob Gibson. Ha ha! I'm here too.
That was your guy. And I got up the next time,
first tour, right at my head. But I was too quick.
I was always too agile, you know? He tried to
hit me, boy. But he was known for that. You
know what's crazy, Dave? I got a story like that. Okay.
(44:31):
In your industry? And I'm not going to challenge you.
Who got the better story?
Speaker 5 (44:36):
Told you this story before, and I seen my man
Sammy the other night at Jay-Z's party. Sammy used to
hit a home run. He was like a Dave Winfield
for us. We played softball.
Speaker 2 (44:46):
Okay. Legendary.
Speaker 5 (44:47):
I'm a legendary softball player in the South Bronx. I'm
not lying to you.
Speaker 2 (44:51):
I'm a pitcher. Got the horizon.
Speaker 5 (44:53):
So you know how you said, I got the joint
that you think you're going to hit in the last
minute and go like this, right? So they take me
one day, and I'm Fat Joe the rapper already, right?
So they take me one day, take me to the
other side of town. And they take me to Mates Avenue.
That's by East Tremont. And they're like, all right, you
got Fat Joe, but the whole park, that whole neighborhood,
(45:14):
that's not even my neighborhood. And Fat Joe, he's a
shit talker. So he's pitching and talking shit to you
when he throw a strike. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (45:24):
You're going to strike out in front of your wife.
You punk. You did. I'm doing all that. Right? Yeah.
Speaker 5 (45:30):
This guy bats up. He's the home run hitter of
the area. His name was Boomer. I told you this
story on the podcast before. He gets up. I put
two strikes on him. Then I throw that riser and
I strike him out. Now, getting struck out of softball
is embarrassing. I don't care who it is. You better
(45:51):
go up there and tap it, bunt it, something like you.
Speaker 2 (45:54):
It's embarrassing, right? I strike him out. I walk him
into the dugout. You ain't nothing.
Speaker 5 (46:00):
They told me you was the man. You ain't this, this, this.
Next time I faced him, this guy hit that ball.
It's a whole hard day. It was a building in
the middle because in the middle of the hood, to
this day, the softball is stuck up on the wall.
Speaker 2 (46:20):
It hit the.
Speaker 5 (46:21):
Perfect hole in the wall of the building. To this day,
that's Fat Joe. So Boomer put that shit up. I
see my man Sammy the other day. Sammy said, yo,
you said the story on the podcast.
Speaker 2 (46:35):
You know how many people hit me up?
Speaker 5 (46:37):
He said, Boomer hit me up. Yo, the ball's still
up there, Joe. He put that shit up.
Speaker 2 (46:45):
Oh, yeah. Yo, you got Bob Gibson. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
You got Bob Gibson. You got Boomer.
Speaker 1 (46:52):
No, Boomer got me. But, you know, we got a
lot of those stories on our way up in the game.
You know, someone you had to challenge or they challenged you.
Speaker 2 (47:15):
On a big, bomb, JoeAndJayTheShow.com.
Speaker 4 (47:19):
You can get the little Cole Ford t-shirt with a
hoodie tag.
Speaker 5 (47:23):
It's my favorite right there. I need an extra large. JoeAndJayTheShow.com.
Go there and get.
Speaker 3 (47:37):
It.
Speaker 1 (47:37):
Let me ask you guys this question. What incident or incidents...
in your career on the way up? Let you, you know,
if you weren't strong-minded, strong-willed, could you have just given
up and not become who you are today? Was there
(47:57):
anything that you were confronted with? You had to jump
over that?
Speaker 4 (48:00):
I had several of them because before actually getting the deal,
we had a lot of almost about to happen there.
Speaker 2 (48:10):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 4 (48:11):
It's It only take a couple of them to make
you say, I'm going to do something else.
Speaker 2 (48:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (48:19):
So from having a little thing with Dave Hall, rest
in peace, almost signing with Chubb Rock.
Speaker 2 (48:27):
Chubb Rock was on. KRS.
Speaker 4 (48:30):
He said, yo, I'm going to do this one song
with you guys. There's no telling. They might not like you.
So he had a lot of like, you're about to
get signed to Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (48:44):
Go back to the drawing board, go back to it.
So then it became like, we get signed, we get signed,
and we don't, you know, and then we got signed.
But if you're weak of heart or just giving up,
you wouldn't become who you are. That's a fact. Nobody's
in this position who gives up.
Speaker 5 (49:05):
And so no matter what profession, no matter what, oh.
biggest thing you could do is believe in yourself.
Speaker 2 (49:11):
And never give up.
Speaker 5 (49:13):
And with me, what happened with me was i was
very similar to dave winfield my first song went number
one in america okay then i found out it was
no money in hip-hop it was five hundred dollars a
show i was doing three shows at night Virginia, North Carolina, Philly, upstate, Yonkers,
(49:34):
the Bronx.
Speaker 2 (49:35):
Like, I was trying to get... Now, you.
Speaker 5 (49:37):
Put out one of them number ones, you're making $ 250, 000,
$ 300, 000 a show. So I could have gave up a
lot of times, you know, and just said, yo, there's
no money in this. It wasn't for, like, a good...
I think it was about five years in where.
(49:59):
You know, I became successful enough to where I was
getting real money.
Speaker 2 (50:02):
You know what I'm saying? So, I think it was that.
Speaker 5 (50:05):
But for us, it's, you know, believe it or not,
the baseball game is very different from the rap game.
Speaker 2 (50:11):
The rap game is like.
Speaker 4 (50:13):
The baseball game is very different from any game.
Speaker 2 (50:16):
Oh, yeah, yeah. It's hard. It's very hard. Very hard.
Rap game and baseball is like... That ain't even a thing.
To hit that baseball... You dealt with Joe Steinbrenner. We
dealt with... Meet my... meet the guy I'm signed to.
Speaker 5 (50:30):
He just came home for 30 years, killed 40 people.
Speaker 2 (50:33):
Johnny Big Lip. You know, it just.
Speaker 5 (50:38):
And how are you going to navigate? There's no PhD
in rap.
Speaker 2 (50:41):
Oh, yeah.
Speaker 5 (50:42):
They was lunatic central.
Speaker 2 (50:44):
And if they told you something, you say, and you're
just like, yo, meet my man.
Speaker 5 (50:49):
It's two quarters because he did two quarters. He's just like,
you know, it was crazy.
Speaker 3 (50:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (50:57):
Yeah. This thing was like Big Red, man. What's the
movie with Big Red? Remember? Five Heartbeats. Five Heartbeats. Everybody
was Big Red in the game. Yeah, you do. In baseball,
it was different.
Speaker 1 (51:09):
After my first season, I went from college, College World
Series as a pitcher and a hero's most valuable player.
So you number one pick and you start playing right
away and you see all your heroes. But they send
you down to Winter Ball. Now they have Arizona League.
You know, it's very nice and everything. They sent me
down to a place called Ciudad Obregon down in Mexico.
Speaker 2 (51:33):
And.
Speaker 1 (51:34):
I lasted 30 days, man, because I didn't speak the language.
I couldn't order the food. The facilities were terrible. Now,
this is 50 years ago. I mean, it's a little
farm town in Mexico. We had tarantula run through the dugout.
You get up in the batter's box. It's like a sandbox.
(51:56):
I lasted 30 days. And then they told me, we're
going to send you home. So I got released. Never
happened in life. I'm 20, 21 years old. But sometimes
you don't run up against those obstacles. And I thought
about it. Am I cut out for this game? Because
you've got to hit everybody. You have to play through everything.
(52:18):
And that was one incident. But I went home and
was working hard. Another one. I got injured in the
first year scoring a run due to try to tag
me out of home plate, hurt my knee. They call
it drop foot, you know? So I had this, you know,
where like when you wake up and your arm isn't
working or you're like that, man, I had to tape
(52:40):
myself up for about a year and a half, man.
Speaker 2 (52:43):
And I could have just given up, said, man, this
isn't going to work, you know?
Speaker 1 (52:47):
So you never, there's a lot of obstacles and, um,
you know, you just have to keep on going.
Speaker 2 (52:54):
I did what I love.
Speaker 1 (52:56):
And, um, even in New York, even though they couldn't,
once I had my 10 year contract, there was nothing
they could do, but on a daily basis, it was,
it was rough, man, unnecessarily.
Speaker 2 (53:09):
And, um, some people could have quit or just give
it in.
Speaker 1 (53:12):
But for me, you challenged me and I'm going, I'm
going to battle you. That's just part of me. And, um,
but I'll tell you this. And I write in the
book too. I made it through. You're going to hear
a lot of different stories that you just, you'll say,
I can't believe it, man. How did his brother perform?
How did he sustain? How did he do well? But
(53:35):
I had to go to another city. when I left here.
And I played for, when they said I couldn't play,
I was done, you're finished, you're no good. They weren't
playing me. I'm sitting on the bench watching our team
getting waxed out there.
Speaker 2 (53:50):
And they're not bringing you in. Yeah, they're not.
Speaker 1 (53:52):
But it was to force me to leave so they
could get some compensation for me if I left. But
I ended up going to four different teams. I played
for six more years. Soon as I left here, I
was went to the angels. I was comeback player of
the year, you know, so I wasn't finished. I go
up to Toronto. We win a championship. I drove, drove
(54:13):
in more runs than anybody 40 years old ever did.
A hundred and something hit two 90, you know, uh,
they would run for prime minister up here.
Speaker 2 (54:23):
You know, I'm good. I'm good.
Speaker 1 (54:26):
And, uh, I went to, then I went to Minnesota
and then I, you know, home, I get 3000 hits.
And then I finish up a career, which was Hall
of Fame career. But if I would have stayed here,
all the stuff they're doing to beat me down, I
wouldn't be who I am today.
Speaker 5 (54:44):
They do this to us probably even worse than hip hop.
And so what happens is, unfortunately, I never knew, I
never understood why someone's success would make others mad.
Speaker 3 (54:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (54:59):
And so they're just mad at you because you're successful.
Because you're good. And they come at you in so
many different ways. And it's very discouraging. You know what
I mean?
Speaker 1 (55:10):
Is this the management or the fans or the other
people in the industry?
Speaker 5 (55:15):
People in the industry. You know, with me, I'm a
leader of, I would say, a crew. You know, rap crew, whatever.
We call it Terrorist Bar, TS. And our brand, similar
to them, they the same way, is based on loyalty.
So our brand is based on loyalty. You mess with
(55:38):
one of us, you mess with all of us. And
we don't even care if they right or wrong. The
best I could do is talk them off the cliff.
Speaker 2 (55:46):
Right? We solid.
Speaker 5 (55:49):
The lady that cleaned the house is solid. Everybody's standing up,
but we go. And then, so when you see, you know,
People turning on you and this, and then you guys.
Speaker 2 (56:01):
Just say, man, I thought this was my friend. Right?
Speaker 5 (56:05):
And then you think about it and you say, well,
what's behind somebody turning on you? And then it always
comes back to, like, jealousy or you're making more money
than them. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (56:17):
You're in a better position.
Speaker 5 (56:20):
And it's sad because I honestly, from the bottom of
my heart, feel happy for everybody when they win.
Speaker 2 (56:26):
When they win, I'm happy for them.
Speaker 1 (56:29):
You know, when you say that, it's not any different
than what I was going through. When all this stuff
was happening to me in New York, reading in the
newspaper all the time, you don't know how many people
others jumped on.
Speaker 2 (56:42):
You jumped on. You couldn't believe it. I won't go
into detail, but it's in the book.
Speaker 1 (56:47):
But I have a daughter and a mother jumped on
trying to make things happen. They hired people to do
bad things to me and around me. They jumped on.
It was daily. It was every day. So when the
season was over, me and the wife, we get up.
We said, where are we going? If you're looking for me,
(57:08):
I'm in Hong Kong, Singapore, Greece. Panama, you know, we're
gone because you got to clear your head. And we
always said with all the people doing different things, sometimes
we're your friends. We're the people that are on your
side that, you know, love you and protect you. My wife,
who's sitting in the audience, she said, I'm going to remember.
(57:32):
I'm going to remember where were our friends You know,
so you know who you're friends with.
Speaker 2 (57:37):
When it gets real, they disperse. Oh, yeah. And then
when it gets better, you know, hey, let's sit down
for that meal. Let's travel together. You can't do that
no more. But you know what?
Speaker 5 (57:46):
There's a great show, Pablo Escobar, right? And in the show,
if it's real life, you pull out a little book.
You write your name. You be like, yeah, you know,
The man, the butcher, Pablo, disrespected your mother. He said, Pablo,
(58:06):
the butcher. It could be a year later. Pablo, the butcher,
going to creep up on you. They're going to get Pablo,
the butcher. And he always kept these notes. Rich is
almost like that. Like Rich playing my brother. He's like,
(58:27):
he won't forget nothing. Anybody do anything funny, Rich is like,
I got them in the book.
Speaker 2 (58:35):
I got them in the book. Oh, yeah. But I remember,
because times, they're not always good.
Speaker 1 (58:40):
You know, there's not a straight line from being nothing,
just growing up to who we are today.
Speaker 5 (58:45):
So you, like, I'm from the Bronx. You know, I see,
you know, Cardi B. I see French Montana. I see
A Boogie. I see these guys come out the Bronx,
and I feel like it's always home, right?
Speaker 2 (58:59):
You from Minnesota. Right?
Speaker 5 (59:02):
What was that like when Prince was killing it? Did
you feel like, yo, we got one, Minnesota?
Speaker 2 (59:09):
Oh, yeah. Jimmy Jam? Like, what was that like? Oh, no.
Speaker 1 (59:13):
But even though I was by that time living in
Los Angeles, where I live now, you know, I'm very
happy for them. You know, we became friends after Prince.
I didn't get to know, but his music always listened
to his music and the music that I was listening to.
Speaker 5 (59:33):
It feel like home. Like when you heard it, you
was like, that's that Minnesota sound.
Speaker 2 (59:37):
Oh yeah. And, um, what Jimmy and Terry put together.
Speaker 1 (59:42):
There are other people I can just call up or
whatever the case may be. But they helped so many
people with their careers, you know, producing the music, Janet Jackson.
Speaker 2 (59:51):
SOS, man. My favorite band, SOS. Oh, yeah.
Speaker 1 (59:55):
Oh, we got, we can name a lot of people,
even Lizzo coming out, you know, from Minnesota and everything. But,
you know, it's a good place to be from, you know,
because people would, It's come up to me many times
because I didn't have an accent.
Speaker 2 (01:00:09):
Where are you from, man?
Speaker 1 (01:00:11):
You know, I could tell it wasn't Mississippi or Alabama
or wherever, you know, Minnesota.
Speaker 2 (01:00:19):
Is it really?
Speaker 1 (01:00:20):
But it was a good place where I grew up.
My neighborhood was a mixed neighborhood. They called it Rondo area.
They ran the freeway right through the middle of the,
you know.
Speaker 2 (01:00:30):
They did that in the Bronx too. You read about
it now.
Speaker 1 (01:00:33):
Yeah, right through the community because you can't do nothing
about it.
Speaker 2 (01:00:38):
What's it called? Imminent domain, right? Yeah, yeah. Build it
right over your house.
Speaker 3 (01:00:43):
Right.
Speaker 2 (01:00:43):
You know that? Get out. No, no. They don't give
you no money. They just build the joint like over
your house. Like your house, you out. Move. We're building
something here. So I saw all that happening.
Speaker 1 (01:00:55):
But the people I grew up with whether I went
to church, school, sports, it was always a mixed group.
Speaker 2 (01:01:03):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (01:01:04):
So I never had a hang up about people from
a different religion or background, last name. I got Rudy
Martinez over here, Charlie Knoll. I got Kevin Smith. You know,
I mean, if you look at the pictures, that's the
way I grew up. So I'm always, they talk diversity
or whatever. I think that, whatever you do, when you
(01:01:26):
include people from different areas of life, you're probably going
to do better because they know what they're talking about.
Speaker 2 (01:01:33):
They've been there.
Speaker 1 (01:01:34):
You know, you see these corporations making stupid mistakes because, oh,
I didn't know people weren't going to like that with
that black face on it or whatever, or the language
that you used or whatever, you know, you know, and we're,
we're in a messed up kind of a perilous time.
Speaker 5 (01:01:53):
I won't get into politics. or anything like that. Listen,
let me tell you something. This book is so valuable.
Speaker 2 (01:02:01):
Everybody go out there and go get Touching All Bases.
Speaker 5 (01:02:05):
For me, that's in my house.
Speaker 2 (01:02:08):
Today. I got you the first one. Let me tell
you something. I got a book.
Speaker 5 (01:02:17):
From the Royu family themselves in Dubai. I got some
special books there. When I tell you that Dave Winfield
going right on top of them books right there in that.
Speaker 2 (01:02:25):
And you're going to read part of it.
Speaker 5 (01:02:29):
He's using it for furniture.
Speaker 2 (01:02:32):
Did you do the audio? Dave, did you do an
audio to it? Oh, yeah. Also, I'm going to listen
to your book. Okay. On the flight. Are we toasting? 1800, baby.
Shout out to 1800. Oh, man. Dave Winfield.
Speaker 5 (01:02:48):
The book is called Touching All Bases.
Speaker 2 (01:02:50):
Come on, give me.
Speaker 5 (01:02:51):
Dave.
Speaker 2 (01:02:52):
Let me get that book over there. With you guys.
Hold on, let me see that. You got to hold
it up.
Speaker 4 (01:02:58):
Touching all the bases, man. Wherever you get your books from,
you can get it right now. Not now, but right now.
Barnes and Nobles, Amazon, wherever they sell books. My man
don't read. He do the audio book so you can
get the audio book also.
Speaker 2 (01:03:16):
Touching all the bases from the legend himself, Big Dave.
We love you, baby. My brother.
Speaker 5 (01:03:22):
Hey.
Speaker 2 (01:03:23):
Woof. Hey, that's smooth. That's the 1800, baby. That's the 1800.
This ain't that. That ain't this. It's crack and kiss.
Speaker 4 (01:03:36):
Make some noise for Dave Swinfield.
Speaker 2 (01:03:40):
All the way up. All the way up.
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Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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