How Derek Jeter Made the Rookie Cry

It remains the greatest prank ever pulled by the Yankee captain. Coming off a historic debut, Marcus Thames was on top of the world, but shortly before his second professional game, Jeter enlisted Yankee Stadium security, a bomb sniffing dog and Joe Torre to bring the rookie back down to earth. "I thought I was going to prison," recalls Thames. Plus, the Fart Machine 4000 infiltrates the Winter Meetings, and how one Milwaukee Brewer uses Uber as his personal getaway car. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Trickeration, a production of I Heart Radio. Welcome
to the Trickeration podcast, the number one podcast about deception
in sports. I'm your host, Matt each week bringing you
honest conversations about dishonest act schemes, pranks, hoaxes, scams. That's
what we're all about here. And before we get to

(00:24):
this week's episode, a reminder to poke around the archives,
as we've built up a nice stable of forty or
so off the wall stories and interviews involving all sorts
of this kind of sporting nonsense. Today, we've got a
baseball triple header involving an unlikely moment of Yankee deviousness
from the captain Derek Jeter, the Milwaukee brewer that was
an uber driver's worst nightmare, and the third base coach

(00:46):
who went full Vince McMahon on his own team's general manager.
All right, enjoy the show. That was no hazing, Dan,
I mean, they probably did something in September, but I
was back in triple But with me, they didn't do
any hazing or anything. But they had a couple of pranks.
All some people. This is current Yankee hitting coach Marcus Tims.

(01:08):
He's laughing. Because he was the victim of a brutal
prank pulled on him during his rookie year. It's long
been rumored that the mastermind behind this prank was a
guy you'd never suspect, Derek Jeter. I think the captain
has something. I know he had a lot to do
with it. Early in the first season, after the Twin
Towers came down, minor league right fielder Marcus Tims got

(01:30):
called up to play his first game for the team
that had drafted him. It was the mighty New York Yankees,
you know, and those guys, man, they had gone so
many championships and was in the midst of trying to
win more. And I mean, you're just another teammate to
trying to be a pizza of the posital to try
to help him win a championship. June tenth, two thousand one,
Tim's lands at the airport in New York where a
car is waiting for him. My limo driver ask me

(02:01):
that I want to go to the hotel to drop
my stuff off or go to the stadium. I was like, no,
I don't want to be late. Just give me to
the stadium. In the aftermath of nine eleven. Security a
Yankee stadium was at an all time high. But I'm
even getting there that early, and the stadium wasn't like
Fort Knock. It was lockdown. I mean, you couldn't barely
get in there. Man. They were security everywhere. Police officers

(02:24):
are all the way around the stadium. You know, they
had arm sniffing dogs. They're coming throughout the clubhouse, throughout
the batting cages, onto the field, into the stadium, check
and season. I mean, it was co red pitching that
day against the Yankees. Randy Johnson of the Arizona Diamondbacks,
the reigning six ft ten back to back n l
Cy Young Award winner and one of the most intimidating

(02:45):
pictures in history with the big lefty on the mound.
Tim's a ready arrived in the clubhouse with a good
chance of playing that day. All the guys that came
up and congratulated me, and I was curious if I
was planning or not. Nick Once Mr Tory putting my
name on the lineup car then nerves started messing with
me a little bit. I was excited, but I was nervous.
What's your approach going into that bat? I mean, I

(03:05):
just made sure I was ready to hit. I mean,
I knew he threw hard. I mean, as a young player,
I've seen them strike out a lot of guys, So
I was like, you know, make sure you get ready
to hit first pitch, because if not, you don't want
to get behind in the count off a guy like that.
Tim steps to the plate for the first time in
the third inning of a zero zero game. The big
unit starts him off with a high fastball, And what

(03:28):
was the reaction like in the dugout after you came
in after the first pitch home run off Randy Johnson,
everybody was like, holy crap, you set the bar too
hot now, man, you can only go down from there.
But all the guys were really happy for me. There's
something that I'll never forget. Propelled by Tim's home run,
the Yankees going to win seven five in a rematch

(03:49):
of the previous year's World Series, I was still on
a on the journal and high we want to eat
After the game. I went with Derek and got some food.
You know, he was a captain and he always took
on guys on his wings. And went back to my
hotel and shot to sleep. I couldn't sleep The next day,
I go to the ballpark and ready to do it again.
After dinner with Jeter and not much sleep, Tim's heads
back to the stadium. I'm getting ready for my second

(04:16):
major league game, and I was in the training room
actually getting my ankle tape. And that's when Joe Torrey
came in. It's like security is out by your locker
and the dogs have detected something in your locker. And
I get out there and they got the dog that
the dog is barking and and all excited because he's
found something in my locker. And I'm like, what the

(04:38):
heck is going on? So were you nervous at all?
Or you were totally like you know, these guys are
pulling one on me. No, I was nervous because I
didn't know like coming through the airport or transferring my
bags out of the car that the guy like dropped
something like I had no idea what was going on.
Joe Tori was like, markets what in the hell are
you doing? Like you just got up here. What do

(04:58):
you having a locker? And I was I have nothing.
And so the police officer said, sir, can we search
there locker. I'm a country far from Mississippi. I don't
know how to make a bomb or anything. I don't
do drugs, so I know there's no drugs in my back.
When he was checking my bag, like, I'm looking at
Nick Johnson and Sorryano because I played with those guys
in my league, and Nick and I were roommates in
my league. The dog went in. He brought out something

(05:22):
in a bag and I'm like, what the hell is that?
My life like blast in front of me and I'm like, Nick,
tell him that's not my stuff. That's not the type
of guy I am. He's like, Mark, I have no
idea what you're doing. Then I glanced over at there.
He's like, Marcus, what are you thinking? You just got
called to the big leagues. And I immediately had tears
in my eyes. So I was like, man, like, I'm

(05:43):
just the happiest day of my life making into the
big league of hitting the home run and help my
team in a game. So now they found something in
my bag and I had no idea what it was,
and now you're going to prison, Like what the hell
is this? Turn around? Spread your legs to your hands
behind your back falls. You had to live in Frank,
don't go the police officer. They just read me my

(06:04):
rights and they were walking me through the locker room.
All the guys in there like they did a good
job of keeping a straight face. They were like, dude,
what the what the hell were you thinking? And I'm like, God,
that's not my stuff. I promised. I was like, I'm
not gonna admit to something I know that I didn't do.
And the police officers they escort me out. I get

(06:25):
through the doors on the outside of the locker room
and Bernie Williams were standing out there just crying laugh
is like, man, we just played a frank on you.
And I'm like, yes, you did. I'll just walk back
in and like, dang, you guys got me like than
they got me good and and it was I mean,
it was a really good frank man, and um, I'll
never forget it. From tales of fake bombs and Yankee Stadium,

(06:49):
we transitioned to a short but cautionary tale about getaway
drivers for higher but W. E. Brewer's bench coach Pat
Murphy might have the worst Uber passenger rating and the
MLB And here's why I've messed with a couple of

(07:11):
Uber drivers in my day. You know, put them in
just uncomfortable situations. It's a daily thing because I uber
to the park every day. Guys will say like, hey,
murphin Bites, you gotta go for an ober ride. Got
to so I started talking to the uber drop. I said, hey,
is there a bank around here? And I was like yeah,

(07:32):
and I said, whoa, you might stop them buying. They
inevitably all say the same thing, no problem. Then I
started talking crazy and I'm talking to my friend and
I'm just like, I'm just tired. This is it's time,
It's time to do it. Let's just do it. Let's
not be afraid, you know. And they usually don't figure
it out. They pull in front of the bank and
I said, this will be quick. Must just keep it
running here and I said, pay no attention to what

(07:55):
I put on my face, and pay no attention at
the pace that I come out, because I'm gonna come
out of a quick pace. Just let's get going. They're like,
is this guy serious? So stuff like that. Nothing's ever
mean spirited, and it's just fun. I always tip them
good and just again, I'd like to keep it light,
you know. So the guy in the backseat gets a

(08:17):
good laugh and speaking of good tips, in this next story,
we learned about the one GM reporters should avoid at
all costs at the Winter meetings. I mean, I love pranks,

(08:39):
done them before myself some roommates in college. We should
do them to each other all the time, repeatedly have
frank back, frank back, back and forth. James Wagner covers
the Yankees for the New York Times. He recently wrote
an article that surprised people titled Meet the Biggest Pranks
They're in Baseball Yankees GM Brian Cashman running the Yankees

(09:00):
shortlist of the most high profile team leadership jobs in
the world. But I mean getting to know him the
last two years that I've covered the team, and even
a little bit before that, I had heard rumblings or
stories about him being a prankster. And what's an example
of the kinds of pranks Cashman likes to pull? During
the ALCS between the Houston Astros and the New York Yankeys.

(09:20):
The Astros, as you know, have been since punished and
have admitted to its science feeling scandal, But at the time,
there was just repeated rumors around them, and one of
them was like, during that ALCS, there was whistling coming
from the Astros dugout. They were whistling potentially to convey science,
and the Yankees were not happy about it. And the
Yankees third base coach Phil Nevin, former player, is pretty

(09:43):
fiery u He has been part of a brawl before
as a coach on the field, and Phil sent a
message to the Astros hitting coach Alex Santron through third basement.
Basically he was going to meet him anytime, and he
placed to settle the score, like we'll settle this. So
Cashman and Boone had found out about this. So the

(10:04):
next morning for a game two, Nevin is sitting in
the food room of the Yankees clubhouse. He was actually
eating like a meal with Aaron Judge there at the table.
Someone comes and taps him on the shoulder. It's a
clubhouse attendant says, Alex Centron is waiting outside of you,
like waiting outside of the clubhouse doors. So Nevin like

(10:27):
gets up charges out of the food room expecting that
like the challenge he had issued during the game the
day before, like this was it like Centrol was waiting
for him outside ready for a fight. He's a kind
of muscular guy walking through the door with his arms out.
He looked like w W performer. But Nevin does come
charging out the doors. It wasn't Centron waiting for a

(10:47):
fight was never expected because um Aaron Boone and Cashman
were waiting on the other side of the door. I've
seen video how it unfolded and uh and it's just
a moment of levity during a very serious, tense series.
During the Winter Meetings in Florida, an annual offseason convention
attended by most baseball personnel, Cashman saw an opportunity to

(11:08):
try out some of his new gags. The GM of
every team invites, you know, the local reporters that cover
that team up to the hotel suite to talk to him.
It's kind of the standard business, you know, what's going on?
Were you going after being a trade? And one of
those times and the hotel suite that he had, he
had set up the fart machine. He's just pressing away
on this thing with a remote where you could breaking
trigger the parts sounds and getting a good laugh out

(11:31):
of it. And how does Cashman even have a fart machine?
I can't picture him. Is he physically in the store
picking it out? So his long time assistant GM Jean
Afterman told me that like he used to use basically
this like really crappy version of it. H this like
kind of run down fart machine that kept breaking, and
so she got him what she calls the fart Master

(11:52):
four thousand, which was like a souped up, better version
of it. And Cashman dis Stince told me, and even
on the phone, like recited like exact model number and
brand that he buys he has bought repeated. He said,
He's blown through multiple ones of these and he just
keep buying more. Um, what did he tell you about
sort of his philosophy for for doing this stuff? You know,

(12:14):
this is stressful, kind of high pressure jobs. He just
wants just to have fun and to remember that like
obviously these are high stakes they need to win and
you know, you know, you can still do serious work
and do it well and have a good lack every
so often. All Right, That is it for today. A

(12:39):
big thanks to Marcus Tim's, Pat Murphy and James Wagner
for sharing their tales, and thanks to the listeners for
listening and sharing and subscribing and helping to grow the
Triggeration Nation. If you haven't already, please subscribe and rate
and review and all that good stuff. And if you
have ideas for future episodes, please hit the tip line
at Triggeration Nation at gmail dot com. Would love to
hear from you. I can tell you where hot on

(13:00):
the trail of a couple of Hollywood sports crossover stories,
including the Johnny Depp impersonator that dunked onto Marta Rose
and and a weird one about Sheila La Booth and
the U c l A golf tame So look at
for those, And as we do every week, we check
in with the legend Chris Matt Doug Russo, Chris, how
do we do this week? Maddie? Good job, people doing
the work now, thank you Chris. All right, talk to

(13:20):
you guys next week. Triggeration is a production of I
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