March 9, 2025 • 55 mins
Nothing captures the essence of baseball fandom quite like Cookie Charres's description of emerging from the dark subway tunnel to see Yankee Stadium gleaming in the sunlight. This episode delves deep into the heart of Yankee fandom through the eyes of a lifelong supporter who witnessed the glory days of Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra firsthand.
Cookie takes us back to his childhood in the Bronx, sharing stories of Sunday family trips to the ballpark in the 1950s. We then shift to dissect last season's World Series heartbreak against the Dodgers, analyzing the pivotal Game 5 momentum shift that ultimately cost the Yankees their 28th championship. The conversation doesn't shy away from frustrations - continuing to pitch to Freddie Freeman and watching the Dodgers celebrate on hallowed Yankee ground.
Looking ahead to 2025, we examine the Yankees' offseason moves with critical eyes. From Juan Soto's departure to the Mets (a betrayal that still stings) to promising acquisitions like Cody Bellinger, Devin Williams, and Max Fried. The discussion covers the full roster with particular excitement about prospects George Lombard Jr. and Spencer Jones, who might represent the next generation of Yankee greatness. We debate positional battles, injury concerns including Luis Gil shoulder and Giancarlo Stanton's ongoing health issues, and Cookie shares predictions for the upcoming season with his trademark Bronx confidence.
The episode concludes with reflections on baseball's evolving rules and Cookie's poetic description of taking the subway to Yankee Stadium - a memory that encapsulates why baseball matters beyond just wins and losses. Whether you're a Yankees devotee or simply appreciate authentic sports passion, this conversation captures the cultural significance, personal attachment, and generational bonds that make baseball America's enduring pastime. Subscribe for more baseball conversations throughout Season 5!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Joy (00:04):
Thanks for tuning in to the Bring Joy podcast.
We're in season five and it'sall about baseball.
I'm talking big leagues to thelittle leagues, yankees to the
Conks and everything in between.
I'll share my joy for the gamewith you and, whether you're a
fan of baseball or goodstorytelling, trust me you'll be
entertained and each episodewill bring a little joy to your
day.
So sit back and relax.
(00:24):
Let's do this thing.
I've got a guest on the showtoday, my friend Cookie Charres.
You're a Lifelong Yankee fan.
Served 35 years with the usnavy, that's correct, including
seven years in vietnam, yep, andwell, a little bit more.
Cookie (00:42):
Well, yeah, it's seven years, that's 1968, 69 to 1975.
You're absolutely correct.
Thank you for your service, sir.
Joy (00:51):
It's okay, I'd rather be a yankee fan you're a father, a
grandfather yeah a good friendof mine and a good friend of
many yeah, that's that's.
Cookie (01:02):
That's, that's unique.
You like that.
Yeah, I like that a lot.
What I miss no, that's good, Ilike that.
Joy (01:08):
You should use that constantly so let's do a
background check okay what doyou know about baseball?
Cookie (01:15):
well, I know I know nothing about baseball.
Everything I know aboutbaseball yogi brother taught me
because I listened to his littlepoems.
Now I know about baseballbecause basically at a very
young age my first game atYankee Stadium was in 1954, 53,
54.
That's the beginning ofMickey's dominance of the MLB.
(01:40):
And being you know the funnything about that, I'm going
gonna jump around because oldmen do that.
Going on 76.
Joy (01:48):
22nd of this month oh, we're gonna have a birthday
party, we're gonna have abirthday party.
Cookie (01:52):
But I want a birthday party because you know how I
kind of birthday party.
I want the Yankees to be forthe first that I want them just,
I want them to just bebrilliant this year.
That would be a great gift forme.
Joy (02:06):
All right, I'll call and talk to the captain and see if
he can make it happen for you.
Cookie (02:09):
Yeah, I was talking about Mickey.
The years that I started in thebackground with the Yankees, my
uncles were.
My grandfather was an avid.
I mean, my whole family wasavid Yankee fans, you know.
I mean my father was the onlyone that was a giant fan when
they were playing in the pologrounds, you know.
But the rest of my family wasYankee fans and the reason why
(02:34):
was because my grandfather was abookie and he used to take bets
from everybody in theneighborhood.
He ran the bolita, he ran thenumbers racket in Harlem
neighborhood.
He ran the bolita, he ran thenumbers racket in harlem and uh,
but anyway, to get to the point, uh is that every ball my
uncles would take me to the ballgame and uh, you know it was a
(02:56):
common.
Every sunday we go to a ballgame.
You know we just pack up.
You know a lunch, you know acouple of beers, and those days
you can bring a bag of.
You know a little.
We didn't have coolers.
You know a lunch, you know acouple of beers.
In those days you can bring abag of.
You know a little.
We didn't have coolers.
You know we did what we could.
You know we all piled up in acheckered cab, you know, with
those flip seats in the back,and we'd go over from my aunt's
house, 138th Street in the Bronx, and we'd go up to all the way
(03:21):
up to just take the side streetsall the way up to Yankee
Stadium.
You know, right out of HuntsPoint, right there at the market
, turn left on the concourse,head down to 161st Street and
Riverside and we're right there,let's go.
Joy (03:37):
You know that's our backyard man.
That was our backyard.
You dropped Yogi Berra's namealready.
Cookie (03:40):
Mickey Mantle, tell me some of the players that you
those days we had people like Icame in at the tail end of last
year of phobias, you know verypseudo.
And then.
But we have people like TomTrash, cleet boy on third Trash
was a utility play that couldplay second and short excellent.
(04:03):
Bobby richardson playing thesecond most of the time.
And you had um.
First base was a guy by thename of um.
We had a couple of them.
Joy (04:12):
You know we always been kind of weak at first base yeah,
we got an issue with uh well,we got first base covered this
year, but third base yeah, we'regoldie, uh, we but.
Cookie (04:22):
But back then, after Luke Garrick left, we really
didn't have a good first baseman.
Joy (04:27):
Let's fast forward a little bit right.
Cookie (04:29):
Yeah.
Joy (04:30):
So you've been on the show before.
Cookie (04:31):
Yes, ma'am.
Joy (04:32):
Season four.
We did a great episode.
If you haven't heard it youneed to go listen to it.
We called it Echoes of YankeeStadium and Cookie goes back and
tells us all about thoselegendary Yankee teams that he's
been so fortunate to grow upseeing play.
And when we did that episode itwas August and the Yankees had
(04:52):
started the season on fire, onfire.
And then we had a terriblesummer.
Cookie (04:57):
Oh yeah, Remember they started to dive.
They took a nosedive.
Joy (05:01):
Exactly, it was looking bad and you and I, we were
frustrated, we were making jokes.
Cookie (05:05):
And we had soda too, but the thing wasn't clicking.
For some reason it wasn'tclicking.
Maybe it was a sign of thingsto come with regards to the bad
taste of soda leaves in theBronx.
Wait to get back here.
He's coming back to visit usand we're going to let him have
it a little bit.
We're going to pull his coat,like they're saying about it.
We're going to pull his coat.
Joy (05:23):
Yeah.
So we were cracking jokes, weweren't even thinking about the
playoffs.
But you know, we get out of thesummer, we start playing good
ball again.
Next thing, you know we win theEast, right, yeah, so we walk
into the playoffs.
And who do we face?
We face the Royals andCleveland Guardians.
(05:43):
Right, right, a lot of critics,yankee haters, saying we had an
easy road to the World Series.
Whatever we get to the WorldSeries, we're facing the Los
Angeles Dodgers.
Right?
Cookie (05:56):
I can't stand them Sorry .
Joy (05:58):
We've been there and done that right.
Cookie (06:00):
Don't like the Dodgers.
I don't like them when we're inBrooklyn.
Joy (06:03):
Yeah, that's exactly.
We go way back, the rivalrygoes way back.
Cookie (06:08):
Way back.
We didn't like them then.
We don't like them now.
Joy (06:12):
The Dodgers left and the Yankees stayed.
That's what I'm going to say,right?
Cookie (06:16):
We have a home.
They never had a home.
Besides, our home was built byRuth.
Nobody's tearing that down.
You know, we have legacy,didn't?
Their legacy is one guy by thename of robinson, you know?
Other than that, what do theyhave, duke snyder?
Oh my god, come on, give me abreak.
He ain't no mickey mantel right?
Joy (06:37):
well, they got that and they got a 2024 world series
championship.
Cookie (06:41):
So I think no no, no no, no, you're right about that.
I uh, let me show a little bitof humility here.
I think they have the best teamthat money can buy.
Okay, let's put it that way.
And you know, we were accusedof that many years ago with the
yankees, because, you know, biggeorge the boss used to buy.
(07:02):
If he wanted to get you, he'llget you.
You know he'll buy you.
And that's why we had thoseoutrageous, outrageous dynasties
, those year after year afteryear.
But I tell you one thing thoughit was built around a core.
We had a core, the core four,and they're all homegrown talent
.
And they're all homegrowntalent.
(07:23):
You know Dieter, you knowPettit, bernie Williams, mariano
Rivera I can go on a little bitmore.
I think it was more than and wehad our man who, I think, is
really going to be a great,great manager and I hope it's
with the Yankees by the name ofJorge Posada.
Joy (07:41):
Yeah, I think his time's going to come, but let's do our
therapists a favor and let's goahead and talk about the World
Series last year.
We're avoiding it, right yeahit's a stain yeah, there's
probably a name for that, acondition for that.
We're avoiding the truth, solet's go ahead.
We're going to get it over with.
I don't want to go too far downthe well, but people want to
(08:06):
hear us talk about it.
So we get to the world series.
Right?
Los angeles has home fieldadvantage, so the first two
games they get us.
I don't think there's a wholelot to say there, but we should
have won a second game.
Cookie (08:19):
That was it says.
We came back from behind andtied it and went ahead and then
and then we went to the bullpen.
Joy (08:25):
Yeah and Nester, they bring Nester out.
Cookie (08:29):
That was a big mistake right there because he just got
off the aisle.
Joy (08:32):
Right, he hadn't pitched for several months.
Yeah, not any during theplayoffs.
Okay, and here we go.
Cookie (08:41):
I would have wanted to be, you know, our man.
You know they got to.
Took what's his name's?
Face Holmes', face Weaver.
The Dream Weaver, yeah, dreamWeaver.
Joy (08:51):
I would have went right to the Weaver man you know Right,
but you don't get that callBoone did, and we'll talk about
Aaron Boone too, but anyway, soBoone, yeah, so yeah, we leave
Los Angeles down 0-2.
Yeah, we come back home and welose game three.
Cookie (09:07):
That's right.
Joy (09:08):
And all I can think in my head is Freddie freaking Freeman
.
Yeah, yeah, why did we keeppitching to him?
I don't know.
Cookie (09:16):
I would have walked him every time out, every single
time.
Joy (09:19):
I just would have said you know, put out four fingers and
then leave the middle one soanyway, there again, you and I
don't get the call right, boomgets to make that call and we've
got feelings about boom, whichmaybe we'll get into here in a
minute, but but we get to umgame four, we win.
Game four right, our bats comealive, we got, uh, I think.
Cookie (09:42):
Juan Soto hit a home run .
Everybody, everybody, wasclicking that name.
Everybody.
Volpe, volpe, volpe went wild.
Even what's his name.
Who's on the way?
He's with Detroit now.
Glaber, glaber.
Yeah, we had a couple of Glaberdays that day.
Joy (09:57):
Yeah.
Cookie (09:58):
You know he was hot.
He was hot for anything.
His defense really lacked a lot, but he was hot for anything.
His defense really lacked a lot, but his offense was good
during the playoffs in the WorldSeries.
Joy (10:10):
Yeah, and now he's with the Tigers, like you said.
So we get game four and thenwe're back at game five and
we're looking good, we'relooking good.
Cookie (10:19):
man, we're looking real good.
Joy (10:20):
We're hitting the ball good , we're scoring runs and we're
like, okay, we're back, we'regoing to take the series right
here and then we get to thefifth inning, and then the air
came out of the balloon.
Yeah, so you get a fly ball tothe captain.
Cookie (10:37):
Right to center field.
It was funny because it died.
You know it was.
It was like almost like youwere watching somebody fish, put
a net on a string and pulledthe ball.
It just died.
I think it was a little bit ofthe yips that you know a captain
(10:58):
got.
It could happen to anybody.
I'm they're gonna make excusesfor the guy because in this day
and age I'm going to be frankwith the public here you get
paid that much money.
Okay, you make that catch.
There's no effort, and I'mpretty sure that judge is still
kicking his butt, he's stillpulling his hair up because of
that.
Joy (11:17):
Yeah, he'll never forget that, as many home runs, as many
records as he sent and as manyrings as he gets, because you
know, I'm an optimist foreverand that's why they call you joy
.
Yeah, there you go.
Right, you know my mama namedme right, but he's gonna walk
out the Hall of Fame with ringson both hands.
You know you're right, you knowI hope you're right.
Cookie (11:37):
I hope he takes away the .
Well, I hope he can equal atleast what G this guy.
He G this got five rings yeahthat would be something.
Now, the only, the only onethat has more rings than him is
who?
Joy (11:51):
Tell me.
Cookie (11:53):
The man with the big eight in the back, yogi.
Joy (11:56):
Oh, Yogi yeah.
Cookie (11:58):
He has ten rings.
Joy (11:59):
imagine why does that happen?
Like Yogi's not, he's not thefirst name that people talk
about, right?
We talk about Babe Ruth andMickey Mantle and Lou Gehrig Joe
DiMaggio.
Why do we go blank when we needto know that's Yogi Berra, and
I love catches right, I'm forcatches all day, but anyway.
So Judge fumbles the ball,drops the ball and then it's not
(12:23):
bad enough.
We get another ground ball.
We could get a guy out at thebad toss over there picture
freezes.
Cookie (12:28):
You got the first baseman that doesn't know what
the hell he's doing yeah, we gotreasonably cold point on each
other.
Joy (12:34):
It's got.
Cookie (12:35):
It's just the bad and you know folks, you know what it
is.
Look, momentum is the big witchin the ballpark.
Okay, If you're on a good swingand you got the right stuff
that day, because you know, I'mtelling you, I think sometimes
(12:58):
it's better to be lucky thangood.
I just think, basically, Ireally do, guys, I think that
you've got to be lucky than good.
There was times, and we'll goback later, but I'm going to
continue with this.
First, the thing is that thatday, for some reason, one little
error takes the momentum awayfrom your soul.
You know, it's like, all of asudden, you think you've got
somebody.
It's like your boxer.
You've got a guy against theropes and all of a sudden he
(13:20):
hits you with a jab and you'resaying to yourself uh-oh, wait a
minute now, let me back off alittle bit.
And then you lose your momentum.
Before you know it, you're onyour ass, you know.
So I think that's what happened.
I think that all of a suddenand you know the Dodgers, when
they got you on a rope, they'renot going to let you go until
they step on your neck.
Joy (13:37):
They had a great team, and that's what good teams do and
sealed the deal.
Yes, and that's where I say wegot out coached oh, there's no
question about it.
Cookie (13:47):
I don't care what anybody says.
Now, I'm not an expert, I'm nota sabermetrics kind of guy.
I'm old school.
I'm the type of guys that ifyou bring a knife to a fight,
I'm bringing a gun.
You begin a gun, I'm bringing abazooka.
You know, that's the way wethink in the bronx.
But the thing is that you wouldjust let it get away and the
Dodgers with that team from topto bottom.
(14:08):
There's no weak links in thatlineup.
I mean, they got Mookie Betts,they got the Wiz kids from Japan
.
Come on, man.
It's like there's no let up onthat team.
And then, on top of that, whenthey get you weak and they know
they got you on a rope, they'regoing to really hit you with
everything they got.
And that's what they did to us.
Joy (14:28):
Yeah, they did.
Cookie (14:28):
And our manager couldn't react to Dave Roberts' moves.
He couldn't.
Joy (14:33):
No, no, and they kept pitching to Freddie Freeman.
I mentioned that already rightFreddie freaking Freeman.
Freddie freaking Freeman.
So, like you said, they knockedus on our ass and we're looking
at them celebrate and do thedog pile right there in Yankee
Stadium.
Couldn't have been any worseLike sick to my stomach, my
heart's in my throat.
And then I see Juan Soto beinterviewed, oh God.
(14:54):
And he turns a Yankee hatbackwards, right.
I don't know, maybe that was asign of things to come.
I don't know.
But then he proceeds to say,yeah, he's available to any team
.
All right, it's all about themoney.
So so here we are, let's so theworld series is over.
Right, we've um admitted ourloss and I tipped our hats to
(15:16):
the dodgers.
Now we're headed into the 20252025 season.
We just, you know, brought upthe you know, don't say his name
Juan Soto.
Cookie (15:27):
I look at it this way Look, I think the guy did what
he had to do for his family.
Does he have any character?
Is he a character yet?
Does he have any?
Joy (15:36):
No, I don't want to do.
Yeah, we got feelings.
We got feelings.
Cookie (15:42):
The guy did what he had to do, right, he did what he had
to do for his family.
Joy (15:47):
He's talking about the richest contract in sports
history $765 million Milliondollars for 14 years, 15 years
Right.
I read something today BabeRuth signed in 1922.
He signed the richest contractand he was making like a hundred
thousand or something yeah,like 55, yeah, it was like, yeah
(16:08):
, you know, not even six figures.
Cookie (16:10):
They asked him in the dugout.
Now I know a little bit ofhistory about this one, not that
I was living at the time, guys,I ain't that old, but I am old.
The thing is that they asked inthe newspaper.
I asked them the post I thinkwas the daily news how do you
feel that you're making moremoney than the president of the
united states?
And the guy said ray blue saidyeah, but he ain't betting 320
(16:33):
that's a good one.
Joy (16:34):
so, yeah, the mets, the, the offseason, the mets right
off the bat.
They signed juan soto and wehad a good time.
He was a good player, he was alot of fun to watch and let's
see what he does.
We'll see him again.
Like I mentioned in my lastpodcast, we don't have to wait
until the regular season.
We're going to see him beforespring training is over and,
(16:57):
yeah, we'll welcome him, right.
Cookie (16:59):
By the way, we're going to go visit him at his house.
We're sending a couple of boysto his house.
Joy (17:06):
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Cookie (17:07):
Yeah, we're going to pay him a visit already.
Joy (17:09):
He comes from a long line of gangsters.
No, no, I do not.
Cookie (17:12):
I come from a long line of Yankee-loving family members.
We just do what we need to doto keep it straight.
He needs to be straightened outa little bit, and we can do
that, but no, no, out a littlebit, and we can do that, but no,
no.
All kidding aside, okay, I meanI give all the props to the
mets.
First the dodgers for beatingus, because they really put a
(17:32):
hell of a team together.
I'm sorry they're, they're thewhole, their whole, uh, their
whole entire organization justdid a phenomenal job.
We we got lost in the source.
I thought to be honest with you.
I can say this with all honestyI think Joy and I agreed on
this that neither one of usreally thought we were going to
(17:52):
make the World Series to themoon, and we made it.
So I gave us a little bit ofprops, but not enough.
Once we get our foot in thedoor, you know, I want to win it
all.
Joy (18:02):
Yeah.
Cookie (18:02):
You know it's like tasting.
You know it's like putting yourfinger in your mom's sauce in
the pot on the stove and all ofa sudden you can't eat.
But you got to be satisfied byjust having your finger in the
pot.
No, that's not the way we rollhere.
Joy (18:14):
Exactly, exactly.
So we're coming into the 2025season with new players, new
faces.
Besides Juan Soto, we wentahead and we picked up some good
players there Cody Bellinger,we got Cody Bellinger.
Cookie (18:28):
He's a three-time gold glove center fielder, outfielder
.
He can play all.
He is a what do you call it?
A top-notch defensive player inthe outfield.
Hang on one second.
Joy (18:44):
We got an airplane crashing .
I got construction going on.
Cookie (18:49):
I got airplanes flying over here.
That's Soto's private jet goingto spring me.
Joy (18:52):
He heard you.
He heard you All right.
So yeah, bellinger go ahead, hecan play all fields, basically.
Cookie (19:00):
Yeah, he's a gold glove, platinum glover, in the
outfield, you know, and we gothim out there so he can roam
around.
He can do both.
In fact, today he's playingright field, not center, because
center's going to be you knowwhat, I can't put it.
Anyway, he's playing rightfield to show you, and I believe
Judge is DH-ing today at thisgame against Minnesota.
Joy (19:24):
Well, let's talk about the new guys for a minute.
Talk about getting lost in thesauce.
We're getting lost in the saucehere.
So we got Bellinger, we gotDevin Williams.
Cookie (19:31):
Devin Williams is a hell of a closer Right.
Think about this, guys we gotWeaver and then leading up to
Williams, like having a what was?
Why was the name of the eliteelite a lead into?
Joy (19:53):
a Mariano Rivera coming.
Cookie (19:53):
What, uh, what one, yeah , yeah yeah, yeah, what, when
John wetland coming in and hewould lead into once what the
came in, you know the game.
Then you'd hand it over to myman, you know what?
Oh yeah, no, mo big bow, and itwas over.
It was, you know, eliano, moBig Mo, and it was over, it was
done.
You know.
You put Portland in the sixthinning.
It's done, it's finished.
Joy (20:11):
So I say, Devin Williams and you go right to talking
about Mariano Rivera, we're notdoing a comparison yet but we
need a closer and I think he's.
Devin, he was we're gettingexcited about talking about a
closer, a Yankee closer againwhen we got this guy.
So we agree it's a good pickfrom the Brewers.
We'll see what happens.
Also on the mound, we got MaxFried and he threw yesterday and
(20:34):
looked good.
Cookie (20:34):
He was awesome.
He was wicked.
He was throwing high cutters at96.
Okay, the guy's a beast.
You can't hear what you can'tsee.
96.
Okay, the guy's a beast.
Joy (20:43):
You can't hit what you can't see.
You can't.
Cookie (20:45):
No, it's coming in at 96 , 97, 98, and it's around here
and it just and the guys swingthrough it because they're doing
a defensive swing, because it'sbeing crowded.
You know, you don't want to gethit by that.
Joy (20:58):
Yeah, and I hear that he's a lot of fun in the dugout too.
They say he's got a lot ofpersonality.
Cookie (21:04):
Yeah, now he's going to grow.
Now, with the facial hairrestrictions taken off, he's
going to grow his beard.
He was kind of a little pissedoff a little bit that he had to
shave off his.
Joy (21:14):
Well, Devin Williams you're talking about?
Yeah, yeah.
Cookie (21:17):
And then Max Sweet too.
Well, he likes sporting amustache.
He looks good in a mustache.
Joy (21:24):
We'll talk about the facial hair thing.
But a couple more players realquick.
Also, on pitches, we gotFernando Cruz from the Reds,
along with Alex Jackson, acatcher, because we gave them
Trevino.
So those are the most notableplayers that we got Along with.
Saying goodbye to, juan Soto,cortez went to the Brewers and
(21:47):
the Debra Williams, gleyberTorres to the Tigers.
Verdugo and Rizzo were not onthe roster anywhere, not in New
York or anywhere.
Cookie (21:56):
No well, Rizzo announced his retirement.
Joy (21:59):
Did he?
Yeah, I missed that.
Yeah, okay, we're back.
We had some technicaldifficulties.
Cookie (22:13):
So I think we were picking up.
That was Risotto was messingwith our equipment.
Joy (22:15):
Yeah, right, you heard the airplane fly over and everything
got a little bit crazy.
Right Now he knows people, butanyway.
So yeah, we were talking aboutthat.
We lost Verdugo and Rizzo and Iwas saying that they haven't
been picked up by another teamand then you shared with me that
Rizzo is going ahead andretiring.
Cookie (22:34):
Yeah, he announces his retirement last, if I'm not
mistaken, last Friday.
Joy (22:40):
So will he retire as a Cub or a Yankee?
Cookie (22:42):
A Cub yeah.
Joy (22:44):
I can see why he spent most of his career there.
Yeah, good on them.
Cookie (22:48):
So I think he didn't say but all the how can I say all
the pro announcers in baseballand MLB and ESPN said he would
most likely retire as a Cub.
Joy (23:02):
Yeah, that's fair.
That's not a bad way to go upBecause he won a World Series
there.
Cookie (23:05):
Yeah, Remember he won his World Series there in
Chicago.
Joy (23:08):
I'm sure the Cubs fans will be happy.
Yeah, he was a fan favorite inChicago and New York.
Cookie (23:15):
He was loved in Chicago, yeah, yeah, and he was loved
there in New York too.
Joy (23:19):
Yeah.
Cookie (23:26):
We didn't get his best years.
Joy (23:27):
Hey, listen, he did good for us.
I think he did.
He did better than Gallo.
You know, I got some baseballcards sitting on the table there
just to you know, make it kindof scenic.
And there was a Joey Gallo inthe stack and I threw it back in
the box.
Cookie (23:39):
Only Joey could do that.
He got away with it, you know.
Joy (23:42):
But yeah.
So let's look at the lineup youalready mentioned um the
outfield.
We got cody bellinger.
He can play anywhere um centerfield, for sure, but we've got a
situation because we got theyoung kid dominguez.
Yeah, we got the martian themartian right and he, he's a
power hitter at least that'swhat he's been um down in the
farm system.
He's a natural center fielder.
(24:03):
So what do we do?
Because he's looked terrible inleft field, so what are we
doing there?
Cookie (24:09):
Right there, you know it's a conundrum.
Right now, I look at it thisway.
By the way, Puerto Ricans knowhow to say big words.
Okay, we know how to use bigwords.
Joy (24:17):
You said conundrum, I said conundrum okay, that means it's
a.
Cookie (24:26):
It's a.
It's a hard thing to figure out, uh, the thing is right, right
now he's offensively, he's doingokay.
I wouldn't light up the boardon him right now because he's
hitting.
At least he's hitting from bothsides of the plate.
He hit a home run from the uh,from the right side, the other
right, he's a switch hittingpower hitter.
So he's got, he's got, he's got.
Joy (24:40):
You know light tower power right so I'd rather him be
comfortable at the plate thanworrying about if he's catching
a fly ball in the corner therein left field.
So for me, I think I'mconvinced now I'd rather put him
in center field.
Cookie (24:53):
Let bellinger play left, put judging right or vice versa
and then they're talking aboutdiscussing there's been a big
discussion about, because whatthey can do is that they can
also DH Jason Dominguez and thenput in Grisham in center,
because Grisham has been a, Imean, the top, one of the top.
(25:17):
People don't know this guy andif you look at his credentials,
he's been a gold glove centeroutfielder for years.
I mean for years.
That's what he's known as.
He's fielder outfielder foryears.
I mean for years.
That's what he's known as.
He's not known for hitting,he's known for his defense yeah,
my brother-in-law's a a fan ofgrisham.
Joy (25:32):
He likes, he likes the way he just goes.
Boop, he makes it look easy outthere.
That's a thought.
I'm just thinking.
The future is dominguez, notgrisham.
But uh, you know, I stole thata little bit from Michael Caine,
but we'll see.
So we've got that.
Grisham is the stopgap rightnow.
We've got that covered, solet's go around.
We mentioned Paul Goldsman.
We got him from the Cardinals.
(25:53):
He's going to take over firstbase, moving Jazz Chisholm to
second.
Cookie (25:59):
Jazz Chisholm.
Right now his defensive skillsare through the roof.
What an athlete.
I saw him.
I saw the other day thehighlights of him turning with
Volpe turning a double play,6-4-3 double play.
It was sensational, I mean.
And he's got a bazooka for anarm and he picked up the—he
(26:27):
back-grabbed it because whenVolpe shovel shoveled it over to
chisholm he was already comingin for the ball.
So he shoveled it to to my man,jazz, and he grabs it with his,
with his bare hand, and hethrows it underneath his armpit
like he's still going that way.
He's going to to uh, to thedugout, and he it, and it goes
underneath his armpit, past himand goes to Goldie and he's out.
(26:48):
Double play.
I mean, it was sensational,bing bam boom, that's it.
The Jazz was really dancing thatday.
Joy (26:54):
He said that him and Volpe will lead the league and put out
.
Cookie (27:00):
So I'm good with it.
I like that.
I can't argue with that,because right now those are the
best one-two combination I'veseen so far this spring.
Joy (27:07):
Right and Volpe had a good postseason, so you know if he
can be consistent at the plate.
I mean he's our shortstop.
He put on 20 pounds.
He's a New York kid 20 pounds.
Cookie (27:19):
So did I.
Joy (27:23):
He put on 20 pounds of muscle Muscle.
Yeah, oh, okay.
Cookie (27:27):
The guy he's ripped.
You should see him.
He looks like the Hulk man andit's not affecting his bat swing
, he is dealing at the plate.
Joy (27:36):
I love it.
I love it.
I know he's going to have agood season.
I want him to be a Yankeeforever.
I love his whole story.
Cookie (27:41):
And it was announced today, by the way, by Boone that
Oswaldo Cabrera was going to bethe starting third baseman.
Joy (27:49):
We all love the kid.
Cookie (27:50):
We all love the kid, but following on Cabrera, Talk to
me.
Joy (27:55):
Can I say this, please do?
I'm going to mute my mics.
Cookie (27:57):
All right, we got a kid by the name of George Lombard Jr
.
This guy here has got baseballMLB DNA in his blood, everywhere
in his body.
His father used to play for theAtlanta Braves and now his
father is a bench coach for theDetroit Tigers, so he grew up in
(28:17):
baseball.
This guy is a beast Talkingabout life, power, power.
This guy is a screamer.
He hit a screamer the other dayfrom the right side 445 feet
that hit the scoreboard and it'sstill going.
Joy (28:33):
You said light tower power.
Cookie (28:37):
The only one that I knew that had light tower power
before Judge came along wasMickey Mantle, when he did hit
the lights at Yankee Stadium.
You know it's yeah, this kid issomething else, and guess what?
Joy (28:49):
But he's 19 years old.
19 years old, so we're notgoing to see him for a while.
Cookie (28:53):
We're not going to see him for at least one more year,
because they're going to him.
He's in A, in single A, andthey want him to go to at least
triple A, so they're going toskip double A, okay, aaa, okay.
But you know what I mean?
What's his name?
Volpe skipped it.
He went from single A to AAA.
He came to the Yankees.
Same thing, dominguez too.
Joy (29:10):
Yeah, they were the exceptions.
Traditionally we leave the guyssitting there forever and then
we get rid of them.
Cookie (29:17):
We don't even bring them up, but then we lose them for
rule five.
Yeah, yeah, but they think he'sa natural third baseman too.
This guy is not.
Everybody in the league thinksthat he's a plus plus defensive
player.
He's a 5'2 player right now.
Joy (29:34):
The Lombard kid.
Cookie (29:35):
The Lombard junior.
Is they already equal?
He's better, by the way, heplays third short and second.
And the guy?
Can they say that he's equal toVolpe in defense and Volpe is a
gold glove.
So think about what they'resaying.
Joy (29:51):
Yeah, the future's bright for the Yankees.
Cookie (29:53):
For the infield.
You can't touch that infield.
Joy (29:55):
So right now, we got Oswaldo Cabrera playing third
that's been announced by Booneand we got Peraza as a backup.
Are we okay without having abig name third baseman?
Are we going to be patient asYankee fans?
Cookie (30:12):
Joy, I think that's probably the best question of
the year.
I'm totally certain of this.
You knocked it out of theballpark with that question
Because, first of all, eitherway you go, you're going to be
questioned by your choices.
You know how the Yankee fansare.
You know how I am.
You go, you're going to bequestioned by your choices.
You know how the Yankee fansare.
You know how I am.
Yeah, I'm brutal.
Okay, how many times did I quitwatching the Yankees?
Joy (30:31):
How many times did we not talk last season?
Because?
Cookie (30:34):
Ladies and gentlemen, let me tell you something.
She was my therapist.
I would turn to text and shewould say just chill out.
Joy (30:41):
Go watch a movie His passion, chill out.
Go watch a movie, his passionlets him.
It sucks the joy out ofbaseball.
He gets so wound up.
Cookie (30:51):
I don't even think we talked during the world series.
No, we didn't.
We think we texted each other,yeah yeah, but any but anyhow.
Joy (30:55):
Yeah, that's the thing.
Yankee fans are hard on eachother.
We're hard on our playersbecause we have high
expectations.
We've got 27 worldchampionships.
Of course we have highexpectations.
We're champions, we want tochampionships.
Of course we have highexpectations, we're champions,
we want to be champions all thetime.
It's harder than we make itlook all right, but anyway.
Third base we're going to bepatient.
(31:16):
We have to be patient with thekid Dominguez too, right.
Cookie (31:19):
We have to be patient, but I think that with Dominguez
see, this is where I give creditto not to Bloom, but managers
You've got to be a good managerand also a GM, because what
happens?
You've got a kid that'sdeveloping, and what do you do
(31:39):
If they start having doubtsabout their defensive prowess?
It's going to affect theiroffense.
They're not thinking abouthitting when they're at the
plate, they're thinking abouttheir defense if they made an
error.
The poor kid made like threeerrors in one game last week, so
you know he's already doubtinghimself.
You know, you remember.
Joy (31:59):
Chuck.
Cookie (31:59):
Knoblauch.
Oh my God, the guy couldn'teven throw it straight, he
bounced the ball.
Joy (32:05):
But that's why I started thinking of him.
When Dominguez continues tomake the same kind of errors, he
can't even see the ball out ofthe sun and it's like the same
thing over and over.
And he's an athlete, he's atop-notch athlete, but I think
he's in his head at this point,much like Knobloch.
Cookie (32:21):
There's no doubt about it.
No doubt about it.
Joy (32:27):
But there's no doubt about it, no doubt about it, but it's
too early in his career for himto get in his head and so, as
fans, he's got to play throughit.
He's got to play through itright, and we need to welcome
him.
Cookie (32:32):
He has to play through it, but this is important when
you have a cohesive team, andthis is where a good manager
like a Joe Torre used to do.
I mean, look what Joe Torre didfor Derek.
Joy (32:44):
Jeter, and this is where Aaron Judge and these guys need
to lead.
Cookie (32:49):
They got to step up.
Joy (32:50):
And be there for this young team or young players that are
coming up.
Let's talk a little bit aboutthe pitching staff.
We talked about the new guyscoming in, but Garrett Cole's
our guy.
He's an ace, he's pitchingtoday.
So we got Cole and our rookieof the year.
Cookie (33:08):
Luis Hill, okay, he must be.
He finished third or fourth inthe Cy Young race last year.
Joy (33:17):
But he won rookie of the year and unfortunately he's got
a bum shoulder.
Cookie (33:21):
Well, he's got a strained tendon, so they're
going to treat it with somesteroids and they're not going
to operate.
They don't think that'snecessary.
Joy (33:29):
That's good news.
Cookie (33:30):
So he's going to be out for at least six weeks.
Joy (33:32):
Right.
So we're not going to startthis season with him, which
means that Stroman, who I wasbarking at you last week about,
let's get rid of him.
He's got a bad attitude.
Cookie (33:41):
Well, I wasn't the only one that wanted to get rid of it
.
No, no, I'm saying I, we both,you're going to have to swallow
for a minute, unless, see mybiggest contention.
Now, guys, ladies and gentlemen, we have a guy by the name of
Will Warren.
Now, last year his ERA was a 10.
This year, you know what hisERA right now is.
(34:01):
The guy's a beast.
This year he tweaked hispitches.
Is he already right now?
Is a?
uh, a zero, uh, as one one three, one point, one three might as
well be a zero the guy, the guy,the guy, the guy's a beast and
he and he just throws and he's a.
(34:25):
He's a cancer survivor on topof that.
The guy's a beast.
He just doesn't want to loseand his whip right now is like
he went from a 9.82 to a 1.13.
Think about that, guys.
And he's perfect for this,because I think he's a much
(34:45):
better pitcher than Stroman.
Now, stroman doesn't want topitch out of the bullpen.
Joy (34:50):
Well, no, I'm thinking that Stroman's got a starting spot
now that he lives now.
Cookie (34:56):
I would not put Stroman got.
He got swamped the other day.
He got really.
He kicked around the other day.
He doesn't have an ace plusstuff anymore.
Joy (35:07):
Well, I think he's got a chip on his shoulder because he
knows that we wanted to get ridof him.
We were kind of stuck with thecontract $18 million.
Cookie (35:14):
Nobody was jumping up and down for him, but he doesn't
have a whip of 0.50 like my man.
Joy (35:24):
No, he doesn't, but he's got more experience.
I think so I.
I think he finds a place inthat starting lineup.
We'll see, we'll see whathappens I?
Cookie (35:33):
I think he's gonna have to pitch, because they own 18
million dollars right.
Joy (35:37):
I mean he's 18 million.
He might.
If he's not gonna pitch nowwith hill down, when is he gonna
pitch?
Cookie (35:42):
I mean, I like to send him to the mets yeah, yeah,
let's not talk about the Metsagain.
Joy (35:47):
Who else we got started?
We got Rodon Rodon and we gotthe new guy Freed.
Cookie (35:53):
Freed, Max Freed, he's a beast.
I put my money on him, man,he's just going to be a winner.
I think he could win the CyYoung this year.
Right now he's 2-0.
Freed Freed is no Warren is Itake that back guys.
But anyway, Freed is a beasttoo.
He's smooth as silk.
(36:14):
He'll remind you a lot of theLouisiana from Louisiana, our
picture in the glory yearsbefore when Matt only was at
first base Louisiana Lightning.
Ron Guidry Ooh, that's a goodone and he looks like him.
(36:35):
Yeah, yeah, but he's taller.
Joy (36:37):
He's got that tall lanky.
Cookie (36:39):
Yeah, but he's taller than Guidry.
Guidry was like 5'10" 5'11".
This guy here is like 6'2".
Joy (36:44):
Well, he came out of Atlanta and Atlanta always has
good pitching, yeah, and he cameout from a good school.
Cookie (36:50):
You know the baseball capital of college, which is how
many guys out there.
Come on, call us up and tell uswhat's the name of that school
that has the best players comeout of there.
Anyway, that's not important.
What's important is that healso fills the spot.
Remember we got now talkingabout pitches.
(37:10):
Joy Scott Effers is on theaisle.
We lost a couple of guys to theaisle so far.
We got Clayton Beter's on theaisle and Chase Hampton is gone
for the year with Tommy John.
Joy (37:22):
Yeah, we're beat up.
Cookie (37:24):
And Brubaker just went on the aisle too.
Joy (37:26):
We've got back to, you know , so we'll see.
And defense wins championships,which starts with the guy on
the mound.
So we've got to get thatpitching staff right and, you
know, see if we can get somewins there with who we have
until the kid gets back.
And hopefully Cole's going tostay strong.
All season he showed a lot ofheart and passion that I didn't
(37:53):
really know he had, to be honest.
But in the postseason,especially the World Series, he
dug down and I really became afan of his even more after
seeing him battle like that.
So I think, with him as our ace, that's a good place to start
and hopefully everybody elsewill follow suit.
(38:13):
We've been talking about a lotof injuries.
We've got to talk aboutGiancarlo Stanton.
Cookie (38:19):
Oh my God, You're right, joy.
I mean, we forgot about Big G.
Joy (38:22):
No, I'm waiting.
Big finish with Big G, big GCenter, I'm waiting.
I was on Big Finish with Big G,you know.
Cookie (38:26):
Big G, santa and Ideson both those albums.
I wonder what he's been doingoff the season and off the
ballpark.
Joy (38:34):
Well, that's what I was wondering.
But what I heard Michael Kaysay recently on another podcast
was that he was hurting.
Last year there were pointswhere he'd wake up in the
morning and he couldn't evenpick up the bat, couldn't even
hold the bat, so he just wentbeast mode in postseason and
really carried us offensively Idon't know how he did it, man,
(38:55):
but he got my respect becauselast year he was, he went wild.
Cookie (38:59):
Yeah, he did.
And the postseason, just likejoy just mentioned, I mean it's
like the guy was like he was MrClutch, you know what I mean and
he did, he brought us back fromthe dead in a couple of games
against Cleveland.
I mean he clinched, he won theMVP of that series.
Joy (39:16):
Yeah, he was tough.
So I say take all the time youneed yeah just come back in time
for the playoffs.
Just come back for thepostseason.
We'll see you.
You know, maybe aroundSeptember, you know, we'll send
you a card, make sure you'regood.
Cookie (39:28):
Come back around August so you can warm up by the time
September rolls around your head.
Joy (39:32):
All right, I'm good with that For my birthday in late
August.
You know we'll get Stanton back.
Cookie (39:37):
We'll get Big G for Big J.
Joy (39:40):
Yeah, there you go.
Okay, so we were talking aboutStanton coming back for the
postseason, so I like the waywe're thinking, right, that
we're going to go to thepostseason.
In order to get to thepostseason, not only do we need
Stanton back, but we need Judgeto have a big season.
We're talking about all theseguys and we're not giving the
captain the proper due respect,right?
(40:00):
What about Aaron Judge?
Cookie (40:02):
Aaron Judge.
I think he's going to go on arevenge tour this year.
Now so far in the spring, boonehas been holding him back.
I don't know why and that's mycontention with Boone, because I
think he has he hesitates toomuch to let the guys who really
(40:22):
get them molded into each other.
The captain's got to lead, he'sgot to lead by example, and so
when you start hitting and youknow the judge can hit when he
goes on a roll, you've got towarm him up.
Now You've got to heat him up.
He's like a stallion, he's likeSecretariat, as a thoroughbred,
and he's big enough to be one.
So the guy he's got to warm upbefore he makes that final turn
(40:43):
around, the final postmark atAqueduct to be one.
So the guy you know he's got towarm up before he makes that
final turn around the finalpostmark at Aqueduct.
Joy (40:51):
Any predictions?
Is he going to hit over 50 homeruns this year?
Cookie (40:54):
I think right now, I predict that he's going to be at
least 45.
Okay, I haven't seen enough ofhim to see exactly how he's
going to now Because, to behonest with you, joy, I think
that the American League thisyear is not competitive at all.
I think the Yankees and the RedSox are the most.
Joy (41:16):
The American League East.
Cookie (41:18):
The American League East .
Joy (41:19):
Right.
Cookie (41:21):
Even the whole American League, but specifically the
American League East.
I'm glad that you pulled mycoat on that one, because it's
true, I mean who's in it?
Joy (41:31):
Toronto.
Cookie (41:31):
They ain't going anywhere.
They haven't made any changes.
Baltimore has stayed the same.
Basically.
The only ones that's madechanges this year are the
Yankees and the Red Sox.
Joy (41:42):
Let's talk about the Red Sox for just a second, because
my boy, hague Smith, good friendof mine, is a Red Sox fan.
Cookie (41:49):
Oh, I know Hague.
Joy (41:50):
You know Hague right, so he's a Red Sox fan.
Him and his boy, kai, are RedSox fans.
So I'll give Hague a shout out,and he told me already that the
Red Sox are better than lastyear.
And Red Sox are better thanlast year and they have.
Cookie (42:03):
They went and got a bunch of pitches.
And they got Bregman.
Joy (42:06):
And they got Bregman right.
Cookie (42:10):
So they'll.
They even got what's his name.
Rafael Devers is now justde-aging.
Right, right and he was theface of the franchise.
Think about it.
Talk about a face.
Joy (42:22):
Anyway, you bring out the bad in me.
No, that's the best in you, uh,but uh, yeah, so red sox will
be competitive, right they'regonna show up and compete.
They're, they're spending moneyand they're they're a winning
franchise.
Cookie (42:35):
Just because they can't beat us doesn't make them,
they're like second they're theonly ones that other than then
you know the dodgers that canbeat us well, and then also the
round out.
Joy (42:44):
So we we haven't mentioned tampa, and tampa is basically
like our tenants right now,because unfortunately, their
stadium got blown away duringthe hurricane, which is not a
joke by any means, but they hadto come to us, so they're
playing at our field.
Cookie (42:58):
They're playing in all seasons so we know that they
start to beat us.
Daddy you know, if they startto beat us, we'll evict them
that's what I'm saying.
Joy (43:07):
We got the upper hand there and you're talking about them
playing outdoors in the rain thesun and you know those fly
balls, the sun's going to bereally in there.
Cookie (43:19):
They're not used to that .
I think that hurts them theywere already hurt, but give them
credit because they're going toget acclimated.
Because they're playing in ourballpark right now and doing
their spring training, they canget acclimated pretty good.
Sure, I know, but they strippedtheir team down.
They have nobody.
Yeah, I think they're afranchise on the way out, Well
(43:43):
you know, I think you're rightabout that right now, for the
moment, I don't see themcompeting to the point where
they're going to make theplayoffs.
Joy (43:49):
Right right.
Cookie (43:50):
I think the top three teams in the East is going to be
the Yankees, the Red Sox neckand neck and then the only other
team that I could say thatcould be competitive to us would
be the Orioles.
Yeah, and even then I don'tthink the Orioles have a chance
against the Yankees or the RedSox.
(44:12):
I put the Orioles in thirdplace.
Joy (44:14):
Right, so we win the East.
And then I think the otherAmerican League team that's done
some things.
They got a pitcher.
I wanted was Detroit Tigers.
They got our boy Glaber.
Cookie (44:23):
Yeah.
Joy (44:24):
And they got the guy that was pitching with the Dodgers.
What's his name?
Flattery.
Cookie (44:29):
Flattery.
Yeah, I wanted him to go to theYankees.
We were a little bad, but wedidn't.
Joy (44:33):
Twice.
I wanted to get him and wedidn't get him either time.
So I think Detroit is a betterteam, and my friend Mark Pearson
he's a Detroit Tiger fan, soI'll give him a shout-out as
well.
But either way, we'll match up.
Cookie (44:47):
We'll play 163 ballgames right, we're going to play more
than that this year, my friend.
Joy (44:53):
Right, yeah, 163 regular season.
Cookie (45:00):
The Yankees will win the East and we'll see who we're
going to match up with.
The only thing is that.
What I don't like about theplayoffs Joy, what I don't like
about the playoffs Joy is that Ihate the whole configuration of
it.
Joy (45:11):
The wild card, yeah, the wild card.
Cookie (45:13):
to me it's not fair, because you can win your
division or your conference andyou can win 100 games.
Let's say the Yankees or theRed Sox win, let's say, 99, 100
games and then all of a sudden alittle team that gets hot at
(45:33):
the end of the.
They make the wild card andthey get hot for three games and
then they beat that leader.
It's the best out of five.
That's not right.
I'd say change it all to bestout of seven.
Best out of seven, best out ofseven.
Everybody's happy.
The MLB makes money, tvsponsors make money and the
teams have a chance to releaseshows.
(45:54):
They shouldn't make it a wildcard chance.
In other words, if you getlucky in three games, they're
done, you're done.
Joy (46:02):
Right, right, it's not right.
I want to talk a little bitabout the business of baseball
for a second, since youmentioned the mlb, right,
because that let's, let's dothat, but, um, but before we get
off, um, the yankees.
I know we were talking aboutjudge and you were telling me
about a kid that we have in thefarm system that's like big and
(46:23):
strong, like Judge.
Who is that?
Cookie (46:25):
Spencer Jones.
Right now he's wearing number78.
They're running out of numbersat Yankee roster, my friends.
Number 78, spencer Jones.
He bats and throws lefties, sohe's an Aaron Judge, but from
the left side.
You know what that means.
At Yankee Stadium, right theshort porch, short porch.
(46:45):
How about the upper deck withthis guy?
He's 6'6 and 235.
Joy (46:51):
How do the kids get so big?
I don't know, man, what do theyeat?
I?
Cookie (46:54):
don't know man and he's only 23 years old, Same age that
the judge came in.
Joy (47:02):
That's good stuff.
I don't want to bring it backto the Dodgers, but anytime I
have an opportunity to remindfans and I know I have a lot of
key west people that listen tomy podcast the dodgers have uh
up and coming superstar.
A native son of key west,antonio knows in their pitching
uh rotation and um or on theirpitching staff.
(47:24):
I should say I hope he getscalled up this year.
I expect him to get called up,but he got an inning of work on
opening day spring training.
Seven pitches looked great forwhom uh, he's playing with the
dodgers oh, that's, right.
Yeah, I've been telling youabout him.
But yeah, yeah, antonio knows,but I'm hoping that they got
enough pitches and the and theyankees can go steal one we
(47:47):
gotta drop that diamond.
They stole the world seriesfrom us, we're gonna steal.
Cookie (47:52):
Antonio knows.
Let's take that, let's take thenose yeah, let's go get him.
Joy (47:57):
Let's go get him.
Hey, cookie, I was talkingabout the business of baseball.
You mentioned the major leagues.
One of of the things you know,there's always the narrative
that baseball is boring,baseball is dead.
So major leagues have done alot of things to speed up the
game right.
One of the things is the pitchclock.
I think we've gotten used tothat End of the game, tie ball
(48:22):
game, end of nine tied up.
Now they put a runner on second.
Cookie (48:26):
The ghost runner, the ghost runner, the ghost runner.
Joy (48:28):
Um, there's been um a couple other changes that I've
seen the abs yeah, I wanted to.
You want to talk about that atall yeah, the automatic balls
and strike system.
Cookie (48:38):
I can't stand it.
I've been looking at it.
At first I said, you know,let's try to get.
It was cute because now you can.
You can actually challenge apitch if you think it's close.
Joy (48:46):
Yeah, you tap your head.
Cookie (48:47):
Yeah, exactly.
Joy (48:49):
Which already looks ridiculous.
Yeah, it's like what?
Cookie (48:52):
are you a third base coach making signs?
Leave it to the asshole to usethat as a cheating scheme.
But the thing is that you knowit's like come on, I mean, do
you want to really get rid ofthe umpire?
I think that's the greatestthing about umpires is that
you've got the human element.
Number one.
Number two why are you going totake away the manager's right
(49:13):
to argue with the umpire?
Then nobody will be thrown outof the game.
Joy (49:17):
Yeah, talk about excitement and I'll give credit to Boone
for that.
Boone can argue.
Boone can pick a good fight.
He can argue boom, boom canpick a good fight.
He can.
He can argue better than man,you know, yeah, he's a good
fighter.
So the other thing I've seen,uh, is about blocking the bag at
second base, so that that's athing that's out just like they
did for home plate the catchercan't block the bank.
Cookie (49:38):
They play anymore.
He's got to have the ball.
He's gonna be.
You got to get the ball in thatarea for him to reach and then
block the bag, or he uses thelegs.
We got a lot of injuries lastyear from the catchers having to
use their legs or their arms.
They're taught rotator cuffsbecause they slide into the arm.
When the catcher reaches andcatches the ball with his mitt,
(50:01):
the guy slides in pretty hardand he puts the spikes on his
glove, he snags it and pulls itand he acts as a rotator cuff.
Joy (50:08):
Yeah, so they try to avoid injuries, collisions at second,
and then it falls back on thecatchers trying to just not
block the bag, so they're makingpretzels out of the slide, I
say just let everybody hit eachother.
Cookie (50:24):
Yeah, just like the old days, right, come on man.
Joy (50:27):
Toughen up a little bit.
It's just like everybodygetting on the IL Every time you
turn around everybody's gotsomething hurt Before you know
it.
Cookie (50:32):
They're going to be sharing the World Series trophy
as a runner-up.
They're going to have aparticipation trophy, hey we
don't want that.
Joy (50:42):
We can't let that.
Cookie (50:43):
Let them play the game the way it's supposed to be
played.
Man, toughen up a little bit,right.
Joy (50:49):
And that's the same thing they're trying to do on first
base.
And again, a lot of this stuffis happening during spring
training.
We're not going to see it inthe actual regular season, but
they've added a bag to firstbase, oh yeah.
Cookie (51:01):
That's right Like they're doing in Little League.
Joy (51:04):
Yeah, just like Little League.
Hang on, we got this.
There's Soto coming over usagain.
But yeah, they've added asecond base, right, so there's
now two bags at first.
So if a runner's coming downthe line, he's got to touch that
.
Cookie (51:20):
That outside bag.
Joy (51:21):
Yeah, I'm looking at my clock to make sure I hit record.
He scared me for a minute.
I'm looking at my clock to makesure I hit record.
It scared me for a minute.
I'm starting to feel likeSoto's watching me, but anyway,
yeah.
So the runner coming down theline, he's got to hit that
orange bag, at least partlyright.
So now you're putting yourumpire in even a tougher
position.
Cookie (51:39):
Yeah, because he's got to see if he partly touched the.
It's a bang-bang play.
What are you going to do?
What happens if you get to thereal bag and the sound is
different from the one on theoutside Because they go by
hearing too Sure?
Joy (51:54):
sure.
Cookie (51:55):
Ba-boom, you know, and when your cleats hit the bag it
goes to sound differently thanwhen you don't hit the bag or
you toe it.
I just think that's a wrong,wrong idea.
I don't like that idea at all.
The ABS for me should be takenoff.
I know they're not going to useit this year.
They're using it as springtraining, but in the minors they
use it all the time.
Joy (52:16):
Right right.
No, and I think you know, Ithink there's.
You know, we want to get itright as much as possible, but
we're human.
Cookie (52:25):
We don't have to be perfect right, just that human
element and that I've attendedgames at Yankee Stadium all my
life.
Not to exact, I didn't carewhat time it was.
Do you think folks, do youreally think that real baseball
fans care give a damn about howlong they stay at the ballpark?
(52:47):
What's it?
Is it punching and punching?
You got to be home at a certaintime.
You pay all this money now togo to a game, hundreds of
dollars before you even go tothe food stand, and you're
worried about getting out of theballpark at a certain time so
you can beat the traffic.
Nah, come on, man, toughen upguys.
Stop with this stuff already.
Let them fight, let them getinto it.
(53:08):
Make it a contact sport like itwas before.
I mean, it's not like football.
It's not like football.
You know You're going to put atime clock Before you know it,
you're going to put a time clockon the game.
Joy (53:18):
Hey, cookie, we got to wrap up here.
Let me ask you, can you take meback to the subway and take me
back to Yankee Stadium.
Cookie (53:27):
Yes, you can.
My favorite part of going toYankee Stadium, guys, was when
we hit the last stop, which was149th Street and Grand Concourse
, in the tunnel area prior tohitting 161st Street and
Riverside.
And I would always run to thefront of the train because my
(53:48):
favorite scene was like you'rein this darkness, You're in the
dark and you see this littlepinhole up ahead.
And it got bigger and biggerand wider and wider the more you
progressed on the rails.
And when it hit that spot,right there, the whole world
opened up and all of a suddenyou saw on the left-hand side of
(54:08):
the window was Yankee Stadiumand it was pulling up and they
would announce they wouldn't say161st Street, they would always
say Yankee Stadium.
And the conductor would sayYankee Stadium to your left, and
your stop is going to be on theright.
Don't go to your left becausethe stop is going to be on the
(54:28):
right.
Don't go to your left, becausethe door is going to open on
your right.
Good luck, yankees.
And that was it.
And let me tell you somethingit was such a because at that
time the subway station wasconnected to Yankee Stadium.
You could go straight from thestation platform to the actual
ramp into Yankee Stadium and itwas for me.
(54:49):
It was the delight of comingout of that dark tunnel and
seeing the color of the blueskies and the white facade of
Yankee Stadium.
To me it was a great contrastand I'll always remember that,
to the day I die.
Joy (55:00):
That's good stuff and that's a good place to stop.
Let's do another one around theAll-Star break.
We'll do another episode.
Cookie (55:09):
I'll be more prepared.
Joy (55:11):
And see how our Yankees are doing.
But I hope everybody out therecatches a ball game in your town
on TV, because baseball is agreat game.
We all love it.
I'm Joy Newlish and Iappreciate you tuning into my
podcast.
My purpose is to bring joy intomy life and the lives of others
.
If you enjoyed this episode,drop a review, share and
(55:31):
subscribe, because there's a lotof good stuff on tap.
You can also follow Bring Joyon YouTube or check my website
at joynulishcom.
Now go bring joy to the peoplein your world.
Until next time, much love.
Thank you, cookie.
Cookie (55:44):
You're welcome, sweetie.
Thanks for tuning in to the Bring Joy podcast.
We're in season five and it'sall about baseball.
I'm talking big leagues to thelittle leagues, yankees to the
Conks and everything in between.
I'll share my joy for the gamewith you and, whether you're a
fan of baseball or goodstorytelling, trust me you'll be
entertained and each episodewill bring a little joy to your
day.
So sit back and relax.
(00:24):
Let's do this thing.
I've got a guest on the showtoday, my friend Cookie Charres.
You're a Lifelong Yankee fan.
Served 35 years with the usnavy, that's correct, including
seven years in vietnam, yep, andwell, a little bit more.
Cookie (00:42):
Well, yeah, it's seven years, that's 1968, 69 to 1975.
You're absolutely correct.
Thank you for your service, sir.
Joy (00:51):
It's okay, I'd rather be a yankee fan you're a father, a
grandfather yeah a good friendof mine and a good friend of
many yeah, that's that's.
Cookie (01:02):
That's, that's unique.
You like that.
Yeah, I like that a lot.
What I miss no, that's good, Ilike that.
Joy (01:08):
You should use that constantly so let's do a
background check okay what doyou know about baseball?
Cookie (01:15):
well, I know I know nothing about baseball.
Everything I know aboutbaseball yogi brother taught me
because I listened to his littlepoems.
Now I know about baseballbecause basically at a very
young age my first game atYankee Stadium was in 1954, 53,
54.
That's the beginning ofMickey's dominance of the MLB.
(01:40):
And being you know the funnything about that, I'm going
gonna jump around because oldmen do that.
Going on 76.
Joy (01:48):
22nd of this month oh, we're gonna have a birthday
party, we're gonna have abirthday party.
Cookie (01:52):
But I want a birthday party because you know how I
kind of birthday party.
I want the Yankees to be forthe first that I want them just,
I want them to just bebrilliant this year.
That would be a great gift forme.
Joy (02:06):
All right, I'll call and talk to the captain and see if
he can make it happen for you.
Cookie (02:09):
Yeah, I was talking about Mickey.
The years that I started in thebackground with the Yankees, my
uncles were.
My grandfather was an avid.
I mean, my whole family wasavid Yankee fans, you know.
I mean my father was the onlyone that was a giant fan when
they were playing in the pologrounds, you know.
But the rest of my family wasYankee fans and the reason why
(02:34):
was because my grandfather was abookie and he used to take bets
from everybody in theneighborhood.
He ran the bolita, he ran thenumbers racket in Harlem
neighborhood.
He ran the bolita, he ran thenumbers racket in harlem and uh,
but anyway, to get to the point, uh is that every ball my
uncles would take me to the ballgame and uh, you know it was a
(02:56):
common.
Every sunday we go to a ballgame.
You know we just pack up.
You know a lunch, you know acouple of beers, and those days
you can bring a bag of.
You know a little.
We didn't have coolers.
You know a lunch, you know acouple of beers.
In those days you can bring abag of.
You know a little.
We didn't have coolers.
You know we did what we could.
You know we all piled up in acheckered cab, you know, with
those flip seats in the back,and we'd go over from my aunt's
house, 138th Street in the Bronx, and we'd go up to all the way
(03:21):
up to just take the side streetsall the way up to Yankee
Stadium.
You know, right out of HuntsPoint, right there at the market
, turn left on the concourse,head down to 161st Street and
Riverside and we're right there,let's go.
Joy (03:37):
You know that's our backyard man.
That was our backyard.
You dropped Yogi Berra's namealready.
Cookie (03:40):
Mickey Mantle, tell me some of the players that you
those days we had people like Icame in at the tail end of last
year of phobias, you know verypseudo.
And then.
But we have people like TomTrash, cleet boy on third Trash
was a utility play that couldplay second and short excellent.
(04:03):
Bobby richardson playing thesecond most of the time.
And you had um.
First base was a guy by thename of um.
We had a couple of them.
Joy (04:12):
You know we always been kind of weak at first base yeah,
we got an issue with uh well,we got first base covered this
year, but third base yeah, we'regoldie, uh, we but.
Cookie (04:22):
But back then, after Luke Garrick left, we really
didn't have a good first baseman.
Joy (04:27):
Let's fast forward a little bit right.
Cookie (04:29):
Yeah.
Joy (04:30):
So you've been on the show before.
Cookie (04:31):
Yes, ma'am.
Joy (04:32):
Season four.
We did a great episode.
If you haven't heard it youneed to go listen to it.
We called it Echoes of YankeeStadium and Cookie goes back and
tells us all about thoselegendary Yankee teams that he's
been so fortunate to grow upseeing play.
And when we did that episode itwas August and the Yankees had
(04:52):
started the season on fire, onfire.
And then we had a terriblesummer.
Cookie (04:57):
Oh yeah, Remember they started to dive.
They took a nosedive.
Joy (05:01):
Exactly, it was looking bad and you and I, we were
frustrated, we were making jokes.
Cookie (05:05):
And we had soda too, but the thing wasn't clicking.
For some reason it wasn'tclicking.
Maybe it was a sign of thingsto come with regards to the bad
taste of soda leaves in theBronx.
Wait to get back here.
He's coming back to visit usand we're going to let him have
it a little bit.
We're going to pull his coat,like they're saying about it.
We're going to pull his coat.
Joy (05:23):
Yeah.
So we were cracking jokes, weweren't even thinking about the
playoffs.
But you know, we get out of thesummer, we start playing good
ball again.
Next thing, you know we win theEast, right, yeah, so we walk
into the playoffs.
And who do we face?
We face the Royals andCleveland Guardians.
(05:43):
Right, right, a lot of critics,yankee haters, saying we had an
easy road to the World Series.
Whatever we get to the WorldSeries, we're facing the Los
Angeles Dodgers.
Right?
Cookie (05:56):
I can't stand them Sorry .
Joy (05:58):
We've been there and done that right.
Cookie (06:00):
Don't like the Dodgers.
I don't like them when we're inBrooklyn.
Joy (06:03):
Yeah, that's exactly.
We go way back, the rivalrygoes way back.
Cookie (06:08):
Way back.
We didn't like them then.
We don't like them now.
Joy (06:12):
The Dodgers left and the Yankees stayed.
That's what I'm going to say,right?
Cookie (06:16):
We have a home.
They never had a home.
Besides, our home was built byRuth.
Nobody's tearing that down.
You know, we have legacy,didn't?
Their legacy is one guy by thename of robinson, you know?
Other than that, what do theyhave, duke snyder?
Oh my god, come on, give me abreak.
He ain't no mickey mantel right?
Joy (06:37):
well, they got that and they got a 2024 world series
championship.
Cookie (06:41):
So I think no no, no no, no, you're right about that.
I uh, let me show a little bitof humility here.
I think they have the best teamthat money can buy.
Okay, let's put it that way.
And you know, we were accusedof that many years ago with the
yankees, because, you know, biggeorge the boss used to buy.
(07:02):
If he wanted to get you, he'llget you.
You know he'll buy you.
And that's why we had thoseoutrageous, outrageous dynasties
, those year after year afteryear.
But I tell you one thing thoughit was built around a core.
We had a core, the core four,and they're all homegrown talent
.
And they're all homegrowntalent.
(07:23):
You know Dieter, you knowPettit, bernie Williams, mariano
Rivera I can go on a little bitmore.
I think it was more than and wehad our man who, I think, is
really going to be a great,great manager and I hope it's
with the Yankees by the name ofJorge Posada.
Joy (07:41):
Yeah, I think his time's going to come, but let's do our
therapists a favor and let's goahead and talk about the World
Series last year.
We're avoiding it, right yeahit's a stain yeah, there's
probably a name for that, acondition for that.
We're avoiding the truth, solet's go ahead.
We're going to get it over with.
I don't want to go too far downthe well, but people want to
(08:06):
hear us talk about it.
So we get to the world series.
Right?
Los angeles has home fieldadvantage, so the first two
games they get us.
I don't think there's a wholelot to say there, but we should
have won a second game.
Cookie (08:19):
That was it says.
We came back from behind andtied it and went ahead and then
and then we went to the bullpen.
Joy (08:25):
Yeah and Nester, they bring Nester out.
Cookie (08:29):
That was a big mistake right there because he just got
off the aisle.
Joy (08:32):
Right, he hadn't pitched for several months.
Yeah, not any during theplayoffs.
Okay, and here we go.
Cookie (08:41):
I would have wanted to be, you know, our man.
You know they got to.
Took what's his name's?
Face Holmes', face Weaver.
The Dream Weaver, yeah, dreamWeaver.
Joy (08:51):
I would have went right to the Weaver man you know Right,
but you don't get that callBoone did, and we'll talk about
Aaron Boone too, but anyway, soBoone, yeah, so yeah, we leave
Los Angeles down 0-2.
Yeah, we come back home and welose game three.
Cookie (09:07):
That's right.
Joy (09:08):
And all I can think in my head is Freddie freaking Freeman
.
Yeah, yeah, why did we keeppitching to him?
I don't know.
Cookie (09:16):
I would have walked him every time out, every single
time.
Joy (09:19):
I just would have said you know, put out four fingers and
then leave the middle one soanyway, there again, you and I
don't get the call right, boomgets to make that call and we've
got feelings about boom, whichmaybe we'll get into here in a
minute, but but we get to umgame four, we win.
Game four right, our bats comealive, we got, uh, I think.
Cookie (09:42):
Juan Soto hit a home run .
Everybody, everybody, wasclicking that name.
Everybody.
Volpe, volpe, volpe went wild.
Even what's his name.
Who's on the way?
He's with Detroit now.
Glaber, glaber.
Yeah, we had a couple of Glaberdays that day.
Joy (09:57):
Yeah.
Cookie (09:58):
You know he was hot.
He was hot for anything.
His defense really lacked a lot, but he was hot for anything.
His defense really lacked a lot, but his offense was good
during the playoffs in the WorldSeries.
Joy (10:10):
Yeah, and now he's with the Tigers, like you said.
So we get game four and thenwe're back at game five and
we're looking good, we'relooking good.
Cookie (10:19):
man, we're looking real good.
Joy (10:20):
We're hitting the ball good , we're scoring runs and we're
like, okay, we're back, we'regoing to take the series right
here and then we get to thefifth inning, and then the air
came out of the balloon.
Yeah, so you get a fly ball tothe captain.
Cookie (10:37):
Right to center field.
It was funny because it died.
You know it was.
It was like almost like youwere watching somebody fish, put
a net on a string and pulledthe ball.
It just died.
I think it was a little bit ofthe yips that you know a captain
(10:58):
got.
It could happen to anybody.
I'm they're gonna make excusesfor the guy because in this day
and age I'm going to be frankwith the public here you get
paid that much money.
Okay, you make that catch.
There's no effort, and I'mpretty sure that judge is still
kicking his butt, he's stillpulling his hair up because of
that.
Joy (11:17):
Yeah, he'll never forget that, as many home runs, as many
records as he sent and as manyrings as he gets, because you
know, I'm an optimist foreverand that's why they call you joy
.
Yeah, there you go.
Right, you know my mama namedme right, but he's gonna walk
out the Hall of Fame with ringson both hands.
You know you're right, you knowI hope you're right.
Cookie (11:37):
I hope he takes away the .
Well, I hope he can equal atleast what G this guy.
He G this got five rings yeahthat would be something.
Now, the only, the only onethat has more rings than him is
who?
Joy (11:51):
Tell me.
Cookie (11:53):
The man with the big eight in the back, yogi.
Joy (11:56):
Oh, Yogi yeah.
Cookie (11:58):
He has ten rings.
Joy (11:59):
imagine why does that happen?
Like Yogi's not, he's not thefirst name that people talk
about, right?
We talk about Babe Ruth andMickey Mantle and Lou Gehrig Joe
DiMaggio.
Why do we go blank when we needto know that's Yogi Berra, and
I love catches right, I'm forcatches all day, but anyway.
So Judge fumbles the ball,drops the ball and then it's not
(12:23):
bad enough.
We get another ground ball.
We could get a guy out at thebad toss over there picture
freezes.
Cookie (12:28):
You got the first baseman that doesn't know what
the hell he's doing yeah, we gotreasonably cold point on each
other.
Joy (12:34):
It's got.
Cookie (12:35):
It's just the bad and you know folks, you know what it
is.
Look, momentum is the big witchin the ballpark.
Okay, If you're on a good swingand you got the right stuff
that day, because you know, I'mtelling you, I think sometimes
(12:58):
it's better to be lucky thangood.
I just think, basically, Ireally do, guys, I think that
you've got to be lucky than good.
There was times, and we'll goback later, but I'm going to
continue with this.
First, the thing is that thatday, for some reason, one little
error takes the momentum awayfrom your soul.
You know, it's like, all of asudden, you think you've got
somebody.
It's like your boxer.
You've got a guy against theropes and all of a sudden he
(13:20):
hits you with a jab and you'resaying to yourself uh-oh, wait a
minute now, let me back off alittle bit.
And then you lose your momentum.
Before you know it, you're onyour ass, you know.
So I think that's what happened.
I think that all of a suddenand you know the Dodgers, when
they got you on a rope, they'renot going to let you go until
they step on your neck.
Joy (13:37):
They had a great team, and that's what good teams do and
sealed the deal.
Yes, and that's where I say wegot out coached oh, there's no
question about it.
Cookie (13:47):
I don't care what anybody says.
Now, I'm not an expert, I'm nota sabermetrics kind of guy.
I'm old school.
I'm the type of guys that ifyou bring a knife to a fight,
I'm bringing a gun.
You begin a gun, I'm bringing abazooka.
You know, that's the way wethink in the bronx.
But the thing is that you wouldjust let it get away and the
Dodgers with that team from topto bottom.
(14:08):
There's no weak links in thatlineup.
I mean, they got Mookie Betts,they got the Wiz kids from Japan
.
Come on, man.
It's like there's no let up onthat team.
And then, on top of that, whenthey get you weak and they know
they got you on a rope, they'regoing to really hit you with
everything they got.
And that's what they did to us.
Joy (14:28):
Yeah, they did.
Cookie (14:28):
And our manager couldn't react to Dave Roberts' moves.
He couldn't.
Joy (14:33):
No, no, and they kept pitching to Freddie Freeman.
I mentioned that already rightFreddie freaking Freeman.
Freddie freaking Freeman.
So, like you said, they knockedus on our ass and we're looking
at them celebrate and do thedog pile right there in Yankee
Stadium.
Couldn't have been any worseLike sick to my stomach, my
heart's in my throat.
And then I see Juan Soto beinterviewed, oh God.
(14:54):
And he turns a Yankee hatbackwards, right.
I don't know, maybe that was asign of things to come.
I don't know.
But then he proceeds to say,yeah, he's available to any team
.
All right, it's all about themoney.
So so here we are, let's so theworld series is over.
Right, we've um admitted ourloss and I tipped our hats to
(15:16):
the dodgers.
Now we're headed into the 20252025 season.
We just, you know, brought upthe you know, don't say his name
Juan Soto.
Cookie (15:27):
I look at it this way Look, I think the guy did what
he had to do for his family.
Does he have any character?
Is he a character yet?
Does he have any?
Joy (15:36):
No, I don't want to do.
Yeah, we got feelings.
We got feelings.
Cookie (15:42):
The guy did what he had to do, right, he did what he had
to do for his family.
Joy (15:47):
He's talking about the richest contract in sports
history $765 million Milliondollars for 14 years, 15 years
Right.
I read something today BabeRuth signed in 1922.
He signed the richest contractand he was making like a hundred
thousand or something yeah,like 55, yeah, it was like, yeah
(16:08):
, you know, not even six figures.
Cookie (16:10):
They asked him in the dugout.
Now I know a little bit ofhistory about this one, not that
I was living at the time, guys,I ain't that old, but I am old.
The thing is that they asked inthe newspaper.
I asked them the post I thinkwas the daily news how do you
feel that you're making moremoney than the president of the
united states?
And the guy said ray blue saidyeah, but he ain't betting 320
(16:33):
that's a good one.
Joy (16:34):
so, yeah, the mets, the, the offseason, the mets right
off the bat.
They signed juan soto and wehad a good time.
He was a good player, he was alot of fun to watch and let's
see what he does.
We'll see him again.
Like I mentioned in my lastpodcast, we don't have to wait
until the regular season.
We're going to see him beforespring training is over and,
(16:57):
yeah, we'll welcome him, right.
Cookie (16:59):
By the way, we're going to go visit him at his house.
We're sending a couple of boysto his house.
Joy (17:06):
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Cookie (17:07):
Yeah, we're going to pay him a visit already.
Joy (17:09):
He comes from a long line of gangsters.
No, no, I do not.
Cookie (17:12):
I come from a long line of Yankee-loving family members.
We just do what we need to doto keep it straight.
He needs to be straightened outa little bit, and we can do
that, but no, no, out a littlebit, and we can do that, but no,
no.
All kidding aside, okay, I meanI give all the props to the
mets.
First the dodgers for beatingus, because they really put a
(17:32):
hell of a team together.
I'm sorry they're, they're thewhole, their whole, uh, their
whole entire organization justdid a phenomenal job.
We we got lost in the source.
I thought to be honest with you.
I can say this with all honestyI think Joy and I agreed on
this that neither one of usreally thought we were going to
(17:52):
make the World Series to themoon, and we made it.
So I gave us a little bit ofprops, but not enough.
Once we get our foot in thedoor, you know, I want to win it
all.
Joy (18:02):
Yeah.
Cookie (18:02):
You know it's like tasting.
You know it's like putting yourfinger in your mom's sauce in
the pot on the stove and all ofa sudden you can't eat.
But you got to be satisfied byjust having your finger in the
pot.
No, that's not the way we rollhere.
Joy (18:14):
Exactly, exactly.
So we're coming into the 2025season with new players, new
faces.
Besides Juan Soto, we wentahead and we picked up some good
players there Cody Bellinger,we got Cody Bellinger.
Cookie (18:28):
He's a three-time gold glove center fielder, outfielder
.
He can play all.
He is a what do you call it?
A top-notch defensive player inthe outfield.
Hang on one second.
Joy (18:44):
We got an airplane crashing .
I got construction going on.
Cookie (18:49):
I got airplanes flying over here.
That's Soto's private jet goingto spring me.
Joy (18:52):
He heard you.
He heard you All right.
So yeah, bellinger go ahead, hecan play all fields, basically.
Cookie (19:00):
Yeah, he's a gold glove, platinum glover, in the
outfield, you know, and we gothim out there so he can roam
around.
He can do both.
In fact, today he's playingright field, not center, because
center's going to be you knowwhat, I can't put it.
Anyway, he's playing rightfield to show you, and I believe
Judge is DH-ing today at thisgame against Minnesota.
Joy (19:24):
Well, let's talk about the new guys for a minute.
Talk about getting lost in thesauce.
We're getting lost in the saucehere.
So we got Bellinger, we gotDevin Williams.
Cookie (19:31):
Devin Williams is a hell of a closer Right.
Think about this, guys we gotWeaver and then leading up to
Williams, like having a what was?
Why was the name of the eliteelite a lead into?
Joy (19:53):
a Mariano Rivera coming.
Cookie (19:53):
What, uh, what one, yeah , yeah yeah, yeah, what, when
John wetland coming in and hewould lead into once what the
came in, you know the game.
Then you'd hand it over to myman, you know what?
Oh yeah, no, mo big bow, and itwas over.
It was, you know, eliano, moBig Mo, and it was over, it was
done.
You know.
You put Portland in the sixthinning.
It's done, it's finished.
Joy (20:11):
So I say, Devin Williams and you go right to talking
about Mariano Rivera, we're notdoing a comparison yet but we
need a closer and I think he's.
Devin, he was we're gettingexcited about talking about a
closer, a Yankee closer againwhen we got this guy.
So we agree it's a good pickfrom the Brewers.
We'll see what happens.
Also on the mound, we got MaxFried and he threw yesterday and
(20:34):
looked good.
Cookie (20:34):
He was awesome.
He was wicked.
He was throwing high cutters at96.
Okay, the guy's a beast.
You can't hear what you can'tsee.
96.
Okay, the guy's a beast.
Joy (20:43):
You can't hit what you can't see.
You can't.
Cookie (20:45):
No, it's coming in at 96 , 97, 98, and it's around here
and it just and the guys swingthrough it because they're doing
a defensive swing, because it'sbeing crowded.
You know, you don't want to gethit by that.
Joy (20:58):
Yeah, and I hear that he's a lot of fun in the dugout too.
They say he's got a lot ofpersonality.
Cookie (21:04):
Yeah, now he's going to grow.
Now, with the facial hairrestrictions taken off, he's
going to grow his beard.
He was kind of a little pissedoff a little bit that he had to
shave off his.
Joy (21:14):
Well, Devin Williams you're talking about?
Yeah, yeah.
Cookie (21:17):
And then Max Sweet too.
Well, he likes sporting amustache.
He looks good in a mustache.
Joy (21:24):
We'll talk about the facial hair thing.
But a couple more players realquick.
Also, on pitches, we gotFernando Cruz from the Reds,
along with Alex Jackson, acatcher, because we gave them
Trevino.
So those are the most notableplayers that we got Along with.
Saying goodbye to, juan Soto,cortez went to the Brewers and
(21:47):
the Debra Williams, gleyberTorres to the Tigers.
Verdugo and Rizzo were not onthe roster anywhere, not in New
York or anywhere.
Cookie (21:56):
No well, Rizzo announced his retirement.
Joy (21:59):
Did he?
Yeah, I missed that.
Yeah, okay, we're back.
We had some technicaldifficulties.
Cookie (22:13):
So I think we were picking up.
That was Risotto was messingwith our equipment.
Joy (22:15):
Yeah, right, you heard the airplane fly over and everything
got a little bit crazy.
Right Now he knows people, butanyway.
So yeah, we were talking aboutthat.
We lost Verdugo and Rizzo and Iwas saying that they haven't
been picked up by another teamand then you shared with me that
Rizzo is going ahead andretiring.
Cookie (22:34):
Yeah, he announces his retirement last, if I'm not
mistaken, last Friday.
Joy (22:40):
So will he retire as a Cub or a Yankee?
Cookie (22:42):
A Cub yeah.
Joy (22:44):
I can see why he spent most of his career there.
Yeah, good on them.
Cookie (22:48):
So I think he didn't say but all the how can I say all
the pro announcers in baseballand MLB and ESPN said he would
most likely retire as a Cub.
Joy (23:02):
Yeah, that's fair.
That's not a bad way to go upBecause he won a World Series
there.
Cookie (23:05):
Yeah, Remember he won his World Series there in
Chicago.
Joy (23:08):
I'm sure the Cubs fans will be happy.
Yeah, he was a fan favorite inChicago and New York.
Cookie (23:15):
He was loved in Chicago, yeah, yeah, and he was loved
there in New York too.
Joy (23:19):
Yeah.
Cookie (23:26):
We didn't get his best years.
Joy (23:27):
Hey, listen, he did good for us.
I think he did.
He did better than Gallo.
You know, I got some baseballcards sitting on the table there
just to you know, make it kindof scenic.
And there was a Joey Gallo inthe stack and I threw it back in
the box.
Cookie (23:39):
Only Joey could do that.
He got away with it, you know.
Joy (23:42):
But yeah.
So let's look at the lineup youalready mentioned um the
outfield.
We got cody bellinger.
He can play anywhere um centerfield, for sure, but we've got a
situation because we got theyoung kid dominguez.
Yeah, we got the martian themartian right and he, he's a
power hitter at least that'swhat he's been um down in the
farm system.
He's a natural center fielder.
(24:03):
So what do we do?
Because he's looked terrible inleft field, so what are we
doing there?
Cookie (24:09):
Right there, you know it's a conundrum.
Right now, I look at it thisway.
By the way, Puerto Ricans knowhow to say big words.
Okay, we know how to use bigwords.
Joy (24:17):
You said conundrum, I said conundrum okay, that means it's
a.
Cookie (24:26):
It's a.
It's a hard thing to figure out, uh, the thing is right, right
now he's offensively, he's doingokay.
I wouldn't light up the boardon him right now because he's
hitting.
At least he's hitting from bothsides of the plate.
He hit a home run from the uh,from the right side, the other
right, he's a switch hittingpower hitter.
So he's got, he's got, he's got.
Joy (24:40):
You know light tower power right so I'd rather him be
comfortable at the plate thanworrying about if he's catching
a fly ball in the corner therein left field.
So for me, I think I'mconvinced now I'd rather put him
in center field.
Cookie (24:53):
Let bellinger play left, put judging right or vice versa
and then they're talking aboutdiscussing there's been a big
discussion about, because whatthey can do is that they can
also DH Jason Dominguez and thenput in Grisham in center,
because Grisham has been a, Imean, the top, one of the top.
(25:17):
People don't know this guy andif you look at his credentials,
he's been a gold glove centeroutfielder for years.
I mean for years.
That's what he's known as.
He's fielder outfielder foryears.
I mean for years.
That's what he's known as.
He's not known for hitting,he's known for his defense yeah,
my brother-in-law's a a fan ofgrisham.
Joy (25:32):
He likes, he likes the way he just goes.
Boop, he makes it look easy outthere.
That's a thought.
I'm just thinking.
The future is dominguez, notgrisham.
But uh, you know, I stole thata little bit from Michael Caine,
but we'll see.
So we've got that.
Grisham is the stopgap rightnow.
We've got that covered, solet's go around.
We mentioned Paul Goldsman.
We got him from the Cardinals.
(25:53):
He's going to take over firstbase, moving Jazz Chisholm to
second.
Cookie (25:59):
Jazz Chisholm.
Right now his defensive skillsare through the roof.
What an athlete.
I saw him.
I saw the other day thehighlights of him turning with
Volpe turning a double play,6-4-3 double play.
It was sensational, I mean.
And he's got a bazooka for anarm and he picked up the—he
(26:27):
back-grabbed it because whenVolpe shovel shoveled it over to
chisholm he was already comingin for the ball.
So he shoveled it to to my man,jazz, and he grabs it with his,
with his bare hand, and hethrows it underneath his armpit
like he's still going that way.
He's going to to uh, to thedugout, and he it, and it goes
underneath his armpit, past himand goes to Goldie and he's out.
(26:48):
Double play.
I mean, it was sensational,bing bam boom, that's it.
The Jazz was really dancing thatday.
Joy (26:54):
He said that him and Volpe will lead the league and put out
.
Cookie (27:00):
So I'm good with it.
I like that.
I can't argue with that,because right now those are the
best one-two combination I'veseen so far this spring.
Joy (27:07):
Right and Volpe had a good postseason, so you know if he
can be consistent at the plate.
I mean he's our shortstop.
He put on 20 pounds.
He's a New York kid 20 pounds.
Cookie (27:19):
So did I.
Joy (27:23):
He put on 20 pounds of muscle Muscle.
Yeah, oh, okay.
Cookie (27:27):
The guy he's ripped.
You should see him.
He looks like the Hulk man andit's not affecting his bat swing
, he is dealing at the plate.
Joy (27:36):
I love it.
I love it.
I know he's going to have agood season.
I want him to be a Yankeeforever.
I love his whole story.
Cookie (27:41):
And it was announced today, by the way, by Boone that
Oswaldo Cabrera was going to bethe starting third baseman.
Joy (27:49):
We all love the kid.
Cookie (27:50):
We all love the kid, but following on Cabrera, Talk to
me.
Joy (27:55):
Can I say this, please do?
I'm going to mute my mics.
Cookie (27:57):
All right, we got a kid by the name of George Lombard Jr
.
This guy here has got baseballMLB DNA in his blood, everywhere
in his body.
His father used to play for theAtlanta Braves and now his
father is a bench coach for theDetroit Tigers, so he grew up in
(28:17):
baseball.
This guy is a beast Talkingabout life, power, power.
This guy is a screamer.
He hit a screamer the other dayfrom the right side 445 feet
that hit the scoreboard and it'sstill going.
Joy (28:33):
You said light tower power.
Cookie (28:37):
The only one that I knew that had light tower power
before Judge came along wasMickey Mantle, when he did hit
the lights at Yankee Stadium.
You know it's yeah, this kid issomething else, and guess what?
Joy (28:49):
But he's 19 years old.
19 years old, so we're notgoing to see him for a while.
Cookie (28:53):
We're not going to see him for at least one more year,
because they're going to him.
He's in A, in single A, andthey want him to go to at least
triple A, so they're going toskip double A, okay, aaa, okay.
But you know what I mean?
What's his name?
Volpe skipped it.
He went from single A to AAA.
He came to the Yankees.
Same thing, dominguez too.
Joy (29:10):
Yeah, they were the exceptions.
Traditionally we leave the guyssitting there forever and then
we get rid of them.
Cookie (29:17):
We don't even bring them up, but then we lose them for
rule five.
Yeah, yeah, but they think he'sa natural third baseman too.
This guy is not.
Everybody in the league thinksthat he's a plus plus defensive
player.
He's a 5'2 player right now.
Joy (29:34):
The Lombard kid.
Cookie (29:35):
The Lombard junior.
Is they already equal?
He's better, by the way, heplays third short and second.
And the guy?
Can they say that he's equal toVolpe in defense and Volpe is a
gold glove.
So think about what they'resaying.
Joy (29:51):
Yeah, the future's bright for the Yankees.
Cookie (29:53):
For the infield.
You can't touch that infield.
Joy (29:55):
So right now, we got Oswaldo Cabrera playing third
that's been announced by Booneand we got Peraza as a backup.
Are we okay without having abig name third baseman?
Are we going to be patient asYankee fans?
Cookie (30:12):
Joy, I think that's probably the best question of
the year.
I'm totally certain of this.
You knocked it out of theballpark with that question
Because, first of all, eitherway you go, you're going to be
questioned by your choices.
You know how the Yankee fansare.
You know how I am.
You go, you're going to bequestioned by your choices.
You know how the Yankee fansare.
You know how I am.
Yeah, I'm brutal.
Okay, how many times did I quitwatching the Yankees?
Joy (30:31):
How many times did we not talk last season?
Because?
Cookie (30:34):
Ladies and gentlemen, let me tell you something.
She was my therapist.
I would turn to text and shewould say just chill out.
Joy (30:41):
Go watch a movie His passion, chill out.
Go watch a movie, his passionlets him.
It sucks the joy out ofbaseball.
He gets so wound up.
Cookie (30:51):
I don't even think we talked during the world series.
No, we didn't.
We think we texted each other,yeah yeah, but any but anyhow.
Joy (30:55):
Yeah, that's the thing.
Yankee fans are hard on eachother.
We're hard on our playersbecause we have high
expectations.
We've got 27 worldchampionships.
Of course we have highexpectations.
We're champions, we want tochampionships.
Of course we have highexpectations, we're champions,
we want to be champions all thetime.
It's harder than we make itlook all right, but anyway.
Third base we're going to bepatient.
(31:16):
We have to be patient with thekid Dominguez too, right.
Cookie (31:19):
We have to be patient, but I think that with Dominguez
see, this is where I give creditto not to Bloom, but managers
You've got to be a good managerand also a GM, because what
happens?
You've got a kid that'sdeveloping, and what do you do
(31:39):
If they start having doubtsabout their defensive prowess?
It's going to affect theiroffense.
They're not thinking abouthitting when they're at the
plate, they're thinking abouttheir defense if they made an
error.
The poor kid made like threeerrors in one game last week, so
you know he's already doubtinghimself.
You know, you remember.
Joy (31:59):
Chuck.
Cookie (31:59):
Knoblauch.
Oh my God, the guy couldn'teven throw it straight, he
bounced the ball.
Joy (32:05):
But that's why I started thinking of him.
When Dominguez continues tomake the same kind of errors, he
can't even see the ball out ofthe sun and it's like the same
thing over and over.
And he's an athlete, he's atop-notch athlete, but I think
he's in his head at this point,much like Knobloch.
Cookie (32:21):
There's no doubt about it.
No doubt about it.
Joy (32:27):
But there's no doubt about it, no doubt about it, but it's
too early in his career for himto get in his head and so, as
fans, he's got to play throughit.
He's got to play through itright, and we need to welcome
him.
Cookie (32:32):
He has to play through it, but this is important when
you have a cohesive team, andthis is where a good manager
like a Joe Torre used to do.
I mean, look what Joe Torre didfor Derek.
Joy (32:44):
Jeter, and this is where Aaron Judge and these guys need
to lead.
Cookie (32:49):
They got to step up.
Joy (32:50):
And be there for this young team or young players that are
coming up.
Let's talk a little bit aboutthe pitching staff.
We talked about the new guyscoming in, but Garrett Cole's
our guy.
He's an ace, he's pitchingtoday.
So we got Cole and our rookieof the year.
Cookie (33:08):
Luis Hill, okay, he must be.
He finished third or fourth inthe Cy Young race last year.
Joy (33:17):
But he won rookie of the year and unfortunately he's got
a bum shoulder.
Cookie (33:21):
Well, he's got a strained tendon, so they're
going to treat it with somesteroids and they're not going
to operate.
They don't think that'snecessary.
Joy (33:29):
That's good news.
Cookie (33:30):
So he's going to be out for at least six weeks.
Joy (33:32):
Right.
So we're not going to startthis season with him, which
means that Stroman, who I wasbarking at you last week about,
let's get rid of him.
He's got a bad attitude.
Cookie (33:41):
Well, I wasn't the only one that wanted to get rid of it
.
No, no, I'm saying I, we both,you're going to have to swallow
for a minute, unless, see mybiggest contention.
Now, guys, ladies and gentlemen, we have a guy by the name of
Will Warren.
Now, last year his ERA was a 10.
This year, you know what hisERA right now is.
(34:01):
The guy's a beast.
This year he tweaked hispitches.
Is he already right now?
Is a?
uh, a zero, uh, as one one three, one point, one three might as
well be a zero the guy, the guy,the guy, the guy's a beast and
he and he just throws and he's a.
(34:25):
He's a cancer survivor on topof that.
The guy's a beast.
He just doesn't want to loseand his whip right now is like
he went from a 9.82 to a 1.13.
Think about that, guys.
And he's perfect for this,because I think he's a much
(34:45):
better pitcher than Stroman.
Now, stroman doesn't want topitch out of the bullpen.
Joy (34:50):
Well, no, I'm thinking that Stroman's got a starting spot
now that he lives now.
Cookie (34:56):
I would not put Stroman got.
He got swamped the other day.
He got really.
He kicked around the other day.
He doesn't have an ace plusstuff anymore.
Joy (35:07):
Well, I think he's got a chip on his shoulder because he
knows that we wanted to get ridof him.
We were kind of stuck with thecontract $18 million.
Cookie (35:14):
Nobody was jumping up and down for him, but he doesn't
have a whip of 0.50 like my man.
Joy (35:24):
No, he doesn't, but he's got more experience.
I think so I.
I think he finds a place inthat starting lineup.
We'll see, we'll see whathappens I?
Cookie (35:33):
I think he's gonna have to pitch, because they own 18
million dollars right.
Joy (35:37):
I mean he's 18 million.
He might.
If he's not gonna pitch nowwith hill down, when is he gonna
pitch?
Cookie (35:42):
I mean, I like to send him to the mets yeah, yeah,
let's not talk about the Metsagain.
Joy (35:47):
Who else we got started?
We got Rodon Rodon and we gotthe new guy Freed.
Cookie (35:53):
Freed, Max Freed, he's a beast.
I put my money on him, man,he's just going to be a winner.
I think he could win the CyYoung this year.
Right now he's 2-0.
Freed Freed is no Warren is Itake that back guys.
But anyway, Freed is a beasttoo.
He's smooth as silk.
(36:14):
He'll remind you a lot of theLouisiana from Louisiana, our
picture in the glory yearsbefore when Matt only was at
first base Louisiana Lightning.
Ron Guidry Ooh, that's a goodone and he looks like him.
(36:35):
Yeah, yeah, but he's taller.
Joy (36:37):
He's got that tall lanky.
Cookie (36:39):
Yeah, but he's taller than Guidry.
Guidry was like 5'10" 5'11".
This guy here is like 6'2".
Joy (36:44):
Well, he came out of Atlanta and Atlanta always has
good pitching, yeah, and he cameout from a good school.
Cookie (36:50):
You know the baseball capital of college, which is how
many guys out there.
Come on, call us up and tell uswhat's the name of that school
that has the best players comeout of there.
Anyway, that's not important.
What's important is that healso fills the spot.
Remember we got now talkingabout pitches.
(37:10):
Joy Scott Effers is on theaisle.
We lost a couple of guys to theaisle so far.
We got Clayton Beter's on theaisle and Chase Hampton is gone
for the year with Tommy John.
Joy (37:22):
Yeah, we're beat up.
Cookie (37:24):
And Brubaker just went on the aisle too.
Joy (37:26):
We've got back to, you know , so we'll see.
And defense wins championships,which starts with the guy on
the mound.
So we've got to get thatpitching staff right and, you
know, see if we can get somewins there with who we have
until the kid gets back.
And hopefully Cole's going tostay strong.
All season he showed a lot ofheart and passion that I didn't
(37:53):
really know he had, to be honest.
But in the postseason,especially the World Series, he
dug down and I really became afan of his even more after
seeing him battle like that.
So I think, with him as our ace, that's a good place to start
and hopefully everybody elsewill follow suit.
(38:13):
We've been talking about a lotof injuries.
We've got to talk aboutGiancarlo Stanton.
Cookie (38:19):
Oh my God, You're right, joy.
I mean, we forgot about Big G.
Joy (38:22):
No, I'm waiting.
Big finish with Big G, big GCenter, I'm waiting.
I was on Big Finish with Big G,you know.
Cookie (38:26):
Big G, santa and Ideson both those albums.
I wonder what he's been doingoff the season and off the
ballpark.
Joy (38:34):
Well, that's what I was wondering.
But what I heard Michael Kaysay recently on another podcast
was that he was hurting.
Last year there were pointswhere he'd wake up in the
morning and he couldn't evenpick up the bat, couldn't even
hold the bat, so he just wentbeast mode in postseason and
really carried us offensively Idon't know how he did it, man,
(38:55):
but he got my respect becauselast year he was, he went wild.
Cookie (38:59):
Yeah, he did.
And the postseason, just likejoy just mentioned, I mean it's
like the guy was like he was MrClutch, you know what I mean and
he did, he brought us back fromthe dead in a couple of games
against Cleveland.
I mean he clinched, he won theMVP of that series.
Joy (39:16):
Yeah, he was tough.
So I say take all the time youneed yeah just come back in time
for the playoffs.
Just come back for thepostseason.
We'll see you.
You know, maybe aroundSeptember, you know, we'll send
you a card, make sure you'regood.
Cookie (39:28):
Come back around August so you can warm up by the time
September rolls around your head.
Joy (39:32):
All right, I'm good with that For my birthday in late
August.
You know we'll get Stanton back.
Cookie (39:37):
We'll get Big G for Big J.
Joy (39:40):
Yeah, there you go.
Okay, so we were talking aboutStanton coming back for the
postseason, so I like the waywe're thinking, right, that
we're going to go to thepostseason.
In order to get to thepostseason, not only do we need
Stanton back, but we need Judgeto have a big season.
We're talking about all theseguys and we're not giving the
captain the proper due respect,right?
(40:00):
What about Aaron Judge?
Cookie (40:02):
Aaron Judge.
I think he's going to go on arevenge tour this year.
Now so far in the spring, boonehas been holding him back.
I don't know why and that's mycontention with Boone, because I
think he has he hesitates toomuch to let the guys who really
(40:22):
get them molded into each other.
The captain's got to lead, he'sgot to lead by example, and so
when you start hitting and youknow the judge can hit when he
goes on a roll, you've got towarm him up.
Now You've got to heat him up.
He's like a stallion, he's likeSecretariat, as a thoroughbred,
and he's big enough to be one.
So the guy he's got to warm upbefore he makes that final turn
(40:43):
around, the final postmark atAqueduct to be one.
So the guy you know he's got towarm up before he makes that
final turn around the finalpostmark at Aqueduct.
Joy (40:51):
Any predictions?
Is he going to hit over 50 homeruns this year?
Cookie (40:54):
I think right now, I predict that he's going to be at
least 45.
Okay, I haven't seen enough ofhim to see exactly how he's
going to now Because, to behonest with you, joy, I think
that the American League thisyear is not competitive at all.
I think the Yankees and the RedSox are the most.
Joy (41:16):
The American League East.
Cookie (41:18):
The American League East .
Joy (41:19):
Right.
Cookie (41:21):
Even the whole American League, but specifically the
American League East.
I'm glad that you pulled mycoat on that one, because it's
true, I mean who's in it?
Joy (41:31):
Toronto.
Cookie (41:31):
They ain't going anywhere.
They haven't made any changes.
Baltimore has stayed the same.
Basically.
The only ones that's madechanges this year are the
Yankees and the Red Sox.
Joy (41:42):
Let's talk about the Red Sox for just a second, because
my boy, hague Smith, good friendof mine, is a Red Sox fan.
Cookie (41:49):
Oh, I know Hague.
Joy (41:50):
You know Hague right, so he's a Red Sox fan.
Him and his boy, kai, are RedSox fans.
So I'll give Hague a shout out,and he told me already that the
Red Sox are better than lastyear.
And Red Sox are better thanlast year and they have.
Cookie (42:03):
They went and got a bunch of pitches.
And they got Bregman.
Joy (42:06):
And they got Bregman right.
Cookie (42:10):
So they'll.
They even got what's his name.
Rafael Devers is now justde-aging.
Right, right and he was theface of the franchise.
Think about it.
Talk about a face.
Joy (42:22):
Anyway, you bring out the bad in me.
No, that's the best in you, uh,but uh, yeah, so red sox will
be competitive, right they'regonna show up and compete.
They're, they're spending moneyand they're they're a winning
franchise.
Cookie (42:35):
Just because they can't beat us doesn't make them,
they're like second they're theonly ones that other than then
you know the dodgers that canbeat us well, and then also the
round out.
Joy (42:44):
So we we haven't mentioned tampa, and tampa is basically
like our tenants right now,because unfortunately, their
stadium got blown away duringthe hurricane, which is not a
joke by any means, but they hadto come to us, so they're
playing at our field.
Cookie (42:58):
They're playing in all seasons so we know that they
start to beat us.
Daddy you know, if they startto beat us, we'll evict them
that's what I'm saying.
Joy (43:07):
We got the upper hand there and you're talking about them
playing outdoors in the rain thesun and you know those fly
balls, the sun's going to bereally in there.
Cookie (43:19):
They're not used to that .
I think that hurts them theywere already hurt, but give them
credit because they're going toget acclimated.
Because they're playing in ourballpark right now and doing
their spring training, they canget acclimated pretty good.
Sure, I know, but they strippedtheir team down.
They have nobody.
Yeah, I think they're afranchise on the way out, Well
(43:43):
you know, I think you're rightabout that right now, for the
moment, I don't see themcompeting to the point where
they're going to make theplayoffs.
Joy (43:49):
Right right.
Cookie (43:50):
I think the top three teams in the East is going to be
the Yankees, the Red Sox neckand neck and then the only other
team that I could say thatcould be competitive to us would
be the Orioles.
Yeah, and even then I don'tthink the Orioles have a chance
against the Yankees or the RedSox.
(44:12):
I put the Orioles in thirdplace.
Joy (44:14):
Right, so we win the East.
And then I think the otherAmerican League team that's done
some things.
They got a pitcher.
I wanted was Detroit Tigers.
They got our boy Glaber.
Cookie (44:23):
Yeah.
Joy (44:24):
And they got the guy that was pitching with the Dodgers.
What's his name?
Flattery.
Cookie (44:29):
Flattery.
Yeah, I wanted him to go to theYankees.
We were a little bad, but wedidn't.
Joy (44:33):
Twice.
I wanted to get him and wedidn't get him either time.
So I think Detroit is a betterteam, and my friend Mark Pearson
he's a Detroit Tiger fan, soI'll give him a shout-out as
well.
But either way, we'll match up.
Cookie (44:47):
We'll play 163 ballgames right, we're going to play more
than that this year, my friend.
Joy (44:53):
Right, yeah, 163 regular season.
Cookie (45:00):
The Yankees will win the East and we'll see who we're
going to match up with.
The only thing is that.
What I don't like about theplayoffs Joy, what I don't like
about the playoffs Joy is that Ihate the whole configuration of
it.
Joy (45:11):
The wild card, yeah, the wild card.
Cookie (45:13):
to me it's not fair, because you can win your
division or your conference andyou can win 100 games.
Let's say the Yankees or theRed Sox win, let's say, 99, 100
games and then all of a sudden alittle team that gets hot at
(45:33):
the end of the.
They make the wild card andthey get hot for three games and
then they beat that leader.
It's the best out of five.
That's not right.
I'd say change it all to bestout of seven.
Best out of seven, best out ofseven.
Everybody's happy.
The MLB makes money, tvsponsors make money and the
teams have a chance to releaseshows.
(45:54):
They shouldn't make it a wildcard chance.
In other words, if you getlucky in three games, they're
done, you're done.
Joy (46:02):
Right, right, it's not right.
I want to talk a little bitabout the business of baseball
for a second, since youmentioned the mlb, right,
because that let's, let's dothat, but, um, but before we get
off, um, the yankees.
I know we were talking aboutjudge and you were telling me
about a kid that we have in thefarm system that's like big and
(46:23):
strong, like Judge.
Who is that?
Cookie (46:25):
Spencer Jones.
Right now he's wearing number78.
They're running out of numbersat Yankee roster, my friends.
Number 78, spencer Jones.
He bats and throws lefties, sohe's an Aaron Judge, but from
the left side.
You know what that means.
At Yankee Stadium, right theshort porch, short porch.
(46:45):
How about the upper deck withthis guy?
He's 6'6 and 235.
Joy (46:51):
How do the kids get so big?
I don't know, man, what do theyeat?
I?
Cookie (46:54):
don't know man and he's only 23 years old, Same age that
the judge came in.
Joy (47:02):
That's good stuff.
I don't want to bring it backto the Dodgers, but anytime I
have an opportunity to remindfans and I know I have a lot of
key west people that listen tomy podcast the dodgers have uh
up and coming superstar.
A native son of key west,antonio knows in their pitching
uh rotation and um or on theirpitching staff.
(47:24):
I should say I hope he getscalled up this year.
I expect him to get called up,but he got an inning of work on
opening day spring training.
Seven pitches looked great forwhom uh, he's playing with the
dodgers oh, that's, right.
Yeah, I've been telling youabout him.
But yeah, yeah, antonio knows,but I'm hoping that they got
enough pitches and the and theyankees can go steal one we
(47:47):
gotta drop that diamond.
They stole the world seriesfrom us, we're gonna steal.
Cookie (47:52):
Antonio knows.
Let's take that, let's take thenose yeah, let's go get him.
Joy (47:57):
Let's go get him.
Hey, cookie, I was talkingabout the business of baseball.
You mentioned the major leagues.
One of of the things you know,there's always the narrative
that baseball is boring,baseball is dead.
So major leagues have done alot of things to speed up the
game right.
One of the things is the pitchclock.
I think we've gotten used tothat End of the game, tie ball
(48:22):
game, end of nine tied up.
Now they put a runner on second.
Cookie (48:26):
The ghost runner, the ghost runner, the ghost runner.
Joy (48:28):
Um, there's been um a couple other changes that I've
seen the abs yeah, I wanted to.
You want to talk about that atall yeah, the automatic balls
and strike system.
Cookie (48:38):
I can't stand it.
I've been looking at it.
At first I said, you know,let's try to get.
It was cute because now you can.
You can actually challenge apitch if you think it's close.
Joy (48:46):
Yeah, you tap your head.
Cookie (48:47):
Yeah, exactly.
Joy (48:49):
Which already looks ridiculous.
Yeah, it's like what?
Cookie (48:52):
are you a third base coach making signs?
Leave it to the asshole to usethat as a cheating scheme.
But the thing is that you knowit's like come on, I mean, do
you want to really get rid ofthe umpire?
I think that's the greatestthing about umpires is that
you've got the human element.
Number one.
Number two why are you going totake away the manager's right
(49:13):
to argue with the umpire?
Then nobody will be thrown outof the game.
Joy (49:17):
Yeah, talk about excitement and I'll give credit to Boone
for that.
Boone can argue.
Boone can pick a good fight.
He can argue boom, boom canpick a good fight.
He can.
He can argue better than man,you know, yeah, he's a good
fighter.
So the other thing I've seen,uh, is about blocking the bag at
second base, so that that's athing that's out just like they
did for home plate the catchercan't block the bank.
Cookie (49:38):
They play anymore.
He's got to have the ball.
He's gonna be.
You got to get the ball in thatarea for him to reach and then
block the bag, or he uses thelegs.
We got a lot of injuries lastyear from the catchers having to
use their legs or their arms.
They're taught rotator cuffsbecause they slide into the arm.
When the catcher reaches andcatches the ball with his mitt,
(50:01):
the guy slides in pretty hardand he puts the spikes on his
glove, he snags it and pulls itand he acts as a rotator cuff.
Joy (50:08):
Yeah, so they try to avoid injuries, collisions at second,
and then it falls back on thecatchers trying to just not
block the bag, so they're makingpretzels out of the slide, I
say just let everybody hit eachother.
Cookie (50:24):
Yeah, just like the old days, right, come on man.
Joy (50:27):
Toughen up a little bit.
It's just like everybodygetting on the IL Every time you
turn around everybody's gotsomething hurt Before you know
it.
Cookie (50:32):
They're going to be sharing the World Series trophy
as a runner-up.
They're going to have aparticipation trophy, hey we
don't want that.
Joy (50:42):
We can't let that.
Cookie (50:43):
Let them play the game the way it's supposed to be
played.
Man, toughen up a little bit,right.
Joy (50:49):
And that's the same thing they're trying to do on first
base.
And again, a lot of this stuffis happening during spring
training.
We're not going to see it inthe actual regular season, but
they've added a bag to firstbase, oh yeah.
Cookie (51:01):
That's right Like they're doing in Little League.
Joy (51:04):
Yeah, just like Little League.
Hang on, we got this.
There's Soto coming over usagain.
But yeah, they've added asecond base, right, so there's
now two bags at first.
So if a runner's coming downthe line, he's got to touch that
.
Cookie (51:20):
That outside bag.
Joy (51:21):
Yeah, I'm looking at my clock to make sure I hit record.
He scared me for a minute.
I'm looking at my clock to makesure I hit record.
It scared me for a minute.
I'm starting to feel likeSoto's watching me, but anyway,
yeah.
So the runner coming down theline, he's got to hit that
orange bag, at least partlyright.
So now you're putting yourumpire in even a tougher
position.
Cookie (51:39):
Yeah, because he's got to see if he partly touched the.
It's a bang-bang play.
What are you going to do?
What happens if you get to thereal bag and the sound is
different from the one on theoutside Because they go by
hearing too Sure?
Joy (51:54):
sure.
Cookie (51:55):
Ba-boom, you know, and when your cleats hit the bag it
goes to sound differently thanwhen you don't hit the bag or
you toe it.
I just think that's a wrong,wrong idea.
I don't like that idea at all.
The ABS for me should be takenoff.
I know they're not going to useit this year.
They're using it as springtraining, but in the minors they
use it all the time.
Joy (52:16):
Right right.
No, and I think you know, Ithink there's.
You know, we want to get itright as much as possible, but
we're human.
Cookie (52:25):
We don't have to be perfect right, just that human
element and that I've attendedgames at Yankee Stadium all my
life.
Not to exact, I didn't carewhat time it was.
Do you think folks, do youreally think that real baseball
fans care give a damn about howlong they stay at the ballpark?
(52:47):
What's it?
Is it punching and punching?
You got to be home at a certaintime.
You pay all this money now togo to a game, hundreds of
dollars before you even go tothe food stand, and you're
worried about getting out of theballpark at a certain time so
you can beat the traffic.
Nah, come on, man, toughen upguys.
Stop with this stuff already.
Let them fight, let them getinto it.
(53:08):
Make it a contact sport like itwas before.
I mean, it's not like football.
It's not like football.
You know You're going to put atime clock Before you know it,
you're going to put a time clockon the game.
Joy (53:18):
Hey, cookie, we got to wrap up here.
Let me ask you, can you take meback to the subway and take me
back to Yankee Stadium.
Cookie (53:27):
Yes, you can.
My favorite part of going toYankee Stadium, guys, was when
we hit the last stop, which was149th Street and Grand Concourse
, in the tunnel area prior tohitting 161st Street and
Riverside.
And I would always run to thefront of the train because my
(53:48):
favorite scene was like you'rein this darkness, You're in the
dark and you see this littlepinhole up ahead.
And it got bigger and biggerand wider and wider the more you
progressed on the rails.
And when it hit that spot,right there, the whole world
opened up and all of a suddenyou saw on the left-hand side of
(54:08):
the window was Yankee Stadiumand it was pulling up and they
would announce they wouldn't say161st Street, they would always
say Yankee Stadium.
And the conductor would sayYankee Stadium to your left, and
your stop is going to be on theright.
Don't go to your left becausethe stop is going to be on the
(54:28):
right.
Don't go to your left, becausethe door is going to open on
your right.
Good luck, yankees.
And that was it.
And let me tell you somethingit was such a because at that
time the subway station wasconnected to Yankee Stadium.
You could go straight from thestation platform to the actual
ramp into Yankee Stadium and itwas for me.
(54:49):
It was the delight of comingout of that dark tunnel and
seeing the color of the blueskies and the white facade of
Yankee Stadium.
To me it was a great contrastand I'll always remember that,
to the day I die.
Joy (55:00):
That's good stuff and that's a good place to stop.
Let's do another one around theAll-Star break.
We'll do another episode.
Cookie (55:09):
I'll be more prepared.
Joy (55:11):
And see how our Yankees are doing.
But I hope everybody out therecatches a ball game in your town
on TV, because baseball is agreat game.
We all love it.
I'm Joy Newlish and Iappreciate you tuning into my
podcast.
My purpose is to bring joy intomy life and the lives of others
.
If you enjoyed this episode,drop a review, share and
(55:31):
subscribe, because there's a lotof good stuff on tap.
You can also follow Bring Joyon YouTube or check my website
at joynulishcom.
Now go bring joy to the peoplein your world.
Until next time, much love.
Thank you, cookie.
Cookie (55:44):
You're welcome, sweetie.
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