May 11, 2018 • 34 mins
With Doug off, Dan Beyer and Jonas Knox fill in. They discuss the Raptors decision to fire head coach Dwane Casey and if his relationship with DeMar DeRozan was the reason why. Plus they talk to 2 time World Series Champion Keith Hernandez and the struggles he had early in his career and what happened to Matt Harvey in New York.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the best of the Dug Gottlieb Show on
Fox Sports Radio and John Ramos. Ramos working One Armed
today Boom kr edition if you will of the Doug
Gottlieb Show here on Fox Sports Radio. It's a Friday.
Everybody's excited for the weekend. Everyone except Dwayne Casey, who
(00:24):
lost his job today, fired as the head coach of
the Toronto Raptors after a season where they won fifty
nine games, or the top scene in the East, but
were swept in the Eastern Conference semifinals by the Cleveland Cavaliers.
I am hearing rumblings. Dan guests who's coming back in
Toronto legend Gats Is that his name? Him too? They're
(00:49):
both coming back, Dan. Maybe Rocket Ismail will be the
new head coach of the Raptors is he returns to
Toronto in a different sport like Seto Gaston would shocking
that Dwayne Cason, Dwayne Casey, I've just made up that name.
Dwayne Casey is done as the head coach of the
Toronto Raptors. I don't know. Shocking is because we had
heard rumblings that maybe something could be on the way,
(01:12):
But I was surprised when I heard the news because Jonas,
when you look at the Toronto Raptors, you have an
organization that, let's just say, isn't it doesn't have a
deep tradition of greatness. Came in the league in the
mid nineties, made a conference final for the first time
just two years ago under Dwayne Casey. But in a
(01:33):
span of really a week, Dwayne Casey went from the
top of the world to the unemployment line. And you
look at the four games that they lost to the
Cleveland Cavaliers. In my mind, it is a direct result
of what happened in that series. And in my mind
as well, I don't think it's a majority of the
(01:56):
blame should be on Dwayne Casey. But as we've seen
many times in sports, the player stays and the coach
goes in Toronto for whatever optics reasons they want, ended
up this missing Dwyane Casey today. I was thinking about
this last night when I was on Fox Sports Radio,
and I was thinking about I wonder if how much
(02:16):
Steven's success because you know, in sports, it's always a
copycat league. If if one team mass success doing something,
then another team will try and emulate it. You look
at the Bears this offseason, they're basically just copying what
the l A Rams did a year before. That's that's
the whole goal. Let's see if we can do what
they did. And so when you see teams around the league,
(02:36):
I wonder how much pressure And I was thinking this
and talking about last night to where I wonder how
much pressure Stephen's success with a depleted roster, missing the
two stars, and a young coach in the Eastern Conference,
how much success him having is going to put pressure
on other coaches around the NBA because it's almost set
(02:57):
an unreasonable standard because you have no idea how really
good Jalen Brown or Jason tatumar. You have no idea
whether or not he's working with more talent than we
all realize because they're so young. But because of the success,
no coach in the NBA can say to their owner
while I was dealing with injuries, or I had this
come up, or because they can all go, Okay, what's
(03:18):
he doing because he's back in the conference finals and
we're at home and we can't beat Lebron James to
save our life. And I think I think there's pressure
from the outside. I think what he did benching to
mar de Rozen at the end of that game and
listen for the argument they had. Shack and Charles Barkley
had an argument and when they were going back and forth,
(03:40):
it was about an issue between Dwayne Casey and one
of his star players. Nothing. He's got to repair his
relationship with Yes, he does. You have to because uh
that listen. If you're best player, you've been your best player.
That's not the point. It's the point. You don't disrespect
(04:02):
your best player. Because you don't have a great relationship
with your best player, you're never going to win. He
did not. That's not well in your opinion. No, just
cause you say something, it's just that's not true. Man.
It's not me and part riding ever saw and what
happened to my man, So it's not true. We're not
saying what's your best point. I don't know what you're
talking about. I'm just telling champion, no matter how much
(04:25):
you scream, that does not make you right. If you're wrong,
that's baby stop, baby player. Maybe no point, don't play,
no player. You gotta sit his eyes down here, is it?
Guess what Charles Barkley was right because he and it's
not and it's not that it's right, it's just he
was right. It's not the fact that they are going
(04:46):
to pick the player over the coach. It doesn't mean
doing in case he was wrong, But in that instance,
Charles Barkley was right. I think the writing was on
the wall. It's always been that case. And where Shaq
got it wrong in that argument is that DeMar de
Rosen is not on Shack's level. You can add the elite,
elite players not get along with your coach and end
up having things work out. But this is different. Jonas
(05:08):
for the simple fact of Shack. Sure he had Kobe,
It's sure he had Dwayne Wade alongside him. But Chack
was dominant, especially in those Laker years of of I
I still say that he's the most dominant player that
the NBA has seen in the last twenty years. There's
no way to stop him offensively. When you look at
what Shack was, you know what, you just end up
(05:29):
living with pat Riley and Shaquille O'Neil not getting along
because it's too valuable in Toronto. You're just like, all right,
Dwayne Casey isn't pat Riley, DeMar de Rosen isn't Shaquille O'Neil,
So you've got to figure out some sort of relationship.
Even though this isn't the best I think that this
team maxed out with what they've got, and I think
(05:53):
that's why Messiah Jerry made a move, is that he
realized this ceiling is what it is and the optics
of it, and if there's gonna be apathy with Toronto
not being able to move on, something's got to be different.
And again the coach ends up going. But you have
got a team that has Tamada Rosen with three years
(06:13):
left on his contract, Kyle Lowry with two years left
on his contract, Sir Jibaka has got two years. You're
paying Norman Powell forty two million dollars over the next
four years. There's not a lot of room for them
to go anywhere Jonas with new personnel, so something had
to be done optics wise, And Dwayne Casey ends up
being the fall guy for the simple fact of this
team's ceiling is just not that high, and he's the
(06:35):
one that has to take the out. You can't fire
all the players. It's it's a cliche we've heard all
the time. Dwayne Casey ends up having to deal with
now unemployment because the Raptors are a team that's just
aren't gonna be They aren't good enough to compete for
a title. And I give him credit for what they
put together on the regular season, it's fine, it's fine,
But but when you swing for the fences this many
times they have made. If you look at the three
(06:57):
big moves that they've made, or the three big strategic
moves that they've made over the past year and a half,
it was let's go for broke at the trade deadline
last year, which everybody lauded them for. And remember everybody
criticized Danny Ainge for not wanting to trade with Paul
for Indiana to try and acquire Paul George. They swung
for the fences and they missed. Then in the off season,
(07:19):
they went out, they added pieces, a bokatoo an extension,
they thought they had figured this out, added a bunch
of players, swung for the fences, and they missed again.
And then Dwayne Casey decided, all right, I've got to
try and inject something into this team to try and
get him to to to fire up, get them, get
them going. And so I'm gonna bench my star player,
my best player for the final what twelve fourteen minutes
(07:41):
of regulation in a playoff game. I guess what you
swung for the fences and you missed? Like that's They
have taken high risk, high reward gambles over the past
year and a half, and none of them have resulted
in rewards. But here's the difference that I see is
those risks were front office risks. Oh Day and Casey
make benching demark de Rosen actually worked out, you know,
(08:03):
like he's he ends up being the scapegoat because the
Raptors were actually in Game three, he wasn't the one
to miss all those shots in Game one. All of
the moves you mentioned were of Massija jury the Raptors
front office, and they failed at doing their job. So
then he ends up being the scapegoat and all of
this that's where it's where if maybe it's you know,
(08:23):
in the long run, maybe it's a situation that Dwayne
Casey is gonna get out of and at some point
we'll find a better situation with a core that has
a higher ceiling. But with all of the examples that
you laid out, those were things that Toronto felt that
they set up. It's like trying to win a It's
trying to win a hand of black jack with fifteen,
you know, and the other the dealer busts and Hall
(08:45):
of famer Chris Carter Pro Football Hall of Famer, he
actually saw this coming several years ago. If you got
a fall guy, if y'all got swept, got to have
a fall guy. I am curious on what Massija Jerry
did think Dwayne case He did wrong as he spoke
earlier today. Nothing in particular that coach Casey did wrong,
(09:06):
but I think it was time to time for this toppen.
Oh no reason. Wow, I would have made up something.
I would have I mean that anything. You could just
do what the Redskins did to Scott mccluy and tell
everybody was drinking on the job after he leaves. My goodness,
(09:26):
nothing in particular. We just found that we needed to change.
If you have won fifty games, the only hope, truth
jonas as well, for this team to advance to the
NBA Finals was to get a home courts throughout the
playffs like they weren't going to go on the road
and steal a couple of games and end up making
a Cinderella run to the NBA Finals. They did what
they needed to do in the regular season. The other
(09:48):
thing that I like what Dwyne Casey did is, you
know what, his starting five wasn't good enough to be
dominant in the in the East, but their second five
was pretty darn good. Throughout the season. We talked about
the Raptors bench being the one of the strongest, if
not the strongest, in the n b A, that he
figured out a way for them to get that number
one seed. Now when the playoffs, benches get a little
(10:10):
bit shorter, and maybe it's not as much of an
advantage for the Toronto Raptors, but either as much as
he could for thirty some odd weeks of the season
and the span of a week with nothing in particular
the reason he ends up losing his job, nothing in particular.
Do you think there's anything too that there's sort of
an unrealistic expectation because everybody sees what Brad Stevens has done,
(10:32):
and there could be owners or general managers out there
who think, well, if he can do it, why the
hell can't we I'm more excuses I don't because I
think people realize how good Brad Stevens Is and I
think they realize other coaches didn't. I think that. I
think that's part of the reason why he didn't get
a vote while they voted for Dwayne Casey's because I
think coaches are feeling the heat. I think they see
(10:53):
a guy who's doing it differently than they've ever done
it before. And I think this is the first sign
of that. But remember, when he's coaching, he has Kyrie
for a decent amount of the season, a majority of
the season, and so they improved two games in that
coach's bout, like the coaches that were named, or like
Doc Rivers. And I'm not saying it's the right thing
(11:14):
to do, but I do I do wonder if there
are elements of that out there. Be sure to catch
live editions of The Doug Gottlieb Show weekdays at three
p m. Eastern noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and
the I Heart Radio app. Seven years in the books
for Dwayne Casey, now his tenure with the Toronto Raptors
is over. Trying to sort out the mess that is
in Toronto. He covers the NBA for Yah Who's Sports
(11:37):
Dan Define joins us here on Fox Sports Radio Hey, Dan,
thanks so much of the time, my pleasure, thanks for
having me on. Okay, Massiah Jerry just said that for
no particular reason, they fired Dwyane Casey, So I'm going
to rely on you. What was the reason they fired
Dwyane Casey today? Because it is as difficult as it is,
and you know, Massia Jerry said it was like the
hardest things ever had to do in his career. It's
(11:59):
easier than trying to figure out how to improve the
roster when you've you're paying Surgeonbaka million dollars for next year,
up for the next two years, and Kyle Lowry you know,
some nowhere in your seventy million for the next three
years and uh, you know, and DeMar de Rosen getting
a ton of money over the next few years. Like
they've locked into that roster, and that roster has just
(12:20):
gotten swept out of the postseason for the second straight spring,
not even playing in the summertime. And that's that's tough.
You know, like they they needed to change something because
you know, like the the spirit surrounding the team was
just you know, way late and you know, reduced to
rubble by Lebron James and the chas in that second round,
and they can't change all the players that they need
(12:43):
to change. So this is the button that you hit. Um,
I think it's uh, it's it's tough. You know, Dwayne
Casey is the most successful coach that franchise has ever seen.
This is the longest sustained run of success that the
Raptors have ever had. Uh, you know, the the to
to a man, those players you know talk you know,
you know, in glowing terms about what Casey has done
for their development and what he's meant for them, etcetera, etcetera. Um,
(13:06):
he didn't necessarily do himself any favors in terms of
the way he you know, he's managed some of those
the rotations in the postseason, and some of the choices
that he made, uh, you know, not using time at
at certain times, using too many of them at other times,
you know, putting lineups on the floor that might not
necessarily have had the best chance of succeeding, so on
and so forth. But it's an incredibly successful head coach
(13:27):
and a guy who's meant an awful lot to Toronto.
That winds up on you know, the you know, on
the the you know, looking for a new gig because
they have just not been able to get over the hump.
Dan Divine, Yahoo MBA insider with us here on Fox
Sports Radio. Dan, do you think and and maybe I'm
overthinking this, but do you think there's any element of
of an unrealistic expectation for coaches in the league now
(13:49):
because of what Brad Stevens has been able to do
with the injuries that he's sustained this year? I think.
I mean, it's certainly remarkable what Boston has been able
to do in terms of withstanding Gordon Haywards lost on
opening night and then Kyrie Irving going out with about
a month ago in the season. Um, And an awful
lot of credit for that has gone to Brad Stevens,
(14:10):
who you know, uh, you know, draws rave reviews around
the league. I mean, it's also worth remembering though it's
not exactly like he had, He's had a Bear Couveroard
to go to even so, like you know, the the
the the roster that Danny Ainge has built there that is,
you know, deep enough and talented enough to be able
to withstand those losses, you know, deserves an awful lot
of credit to book Ange for building the roster and
(14:31):
those players for stepping into the role roles that they
needed to. Uh, you know, even as Stevens is kind
of you know, created the opportunities for them and helped
them along. That's it. I mean, I think that it's
sort of we've been moving in this direction more and
more over the last handful of years, in independent of
Brad Stevens. It's that, you know, for a lot of
these franchises, if you're not winning a title, then it's
(14:53):
a you know, a lost season. You know, you reach
a certain level of competitive uh you know, sort of
a competition and a certain level of success, and if
you're not able to get you know, grab the ring,
grab the trophy, it winds up. You know that you're
you know, even fifty nine wins doesn't matter. You know,
we saw Lionel Hollands wind up on the outside of
Memphis after the best season a franchise history and a
conference finals run. Uh you know, Doc Rivers and has
(15:15):
an out lost his coaching job, but lost his personnel
privileges after uh, you know, the longest sustained running Clippers history.
It is a really really tough gig um and you know,
this is this is but this is these are the
stakes that these these coaches and the teams are playing for.
When you get to that level, if you don't wind
up getting to the finals, if you don't wind up
winning the title, you've got to reassess and see where
you're at. And you know, suddenly, you know when you
(15:37):
when you think about it in that context, those ideas
of well, when you're tanking, your teams decided to start
tanking for the kind of transformational talent that can win
you a championship, like that's what they're doing it for,
because you know, if you if you land those players,
you land that sort of roster that gives you the
chance to win, then you know you're gonna, you know,
give yourself a chance to stick around for longer than
than not, because if you don't have it, you're gonna
(15:58):
wind up outside. What would have saved in Casey's job
beating Lebron James and the getting to the NBA finals,
I think, and that's and this is one I'm thinking
about because if you're the Toronto Raptors, you have basically
decided that because Dwayne Casey didn't beat one of the
top two or three all time great players, and potentially
meet up with one of the greatest teams of all time,
(16:20):
then he's no longer fit to be head coach. Like
that's crazy expectations. I mean, in this time, in this
day and age, I completely agree with you, but I
think it's I mean, there comes a point where that's
the stakes that that you're playing for. You know that, uh,
you know, great teams, you know, t excellent teams of
of of over however many years. You know, the the
Nicks that couldn't get over the hump against Jordan's bowls.
(16:42):
You know, you know many many examples that are you know,
beyond that when you know you just don't get over that,
you know that rival, when you don't get to the
promised land, even against you know, uh, you know, competing
with the all time greats, you wind up running out
of time. And so I mean, I really with Dwinge Casey,
I really it feels like that's the rock in the
(17:02):
hard place. Messiah Jerry was sort of you know, put
in here or put himself into some degree that like
if you're not you have to be moving in some direction,
and those sort of the last bullet that could have
been fired in that way was when they completely overhauled
their approach, their offensive approach last year. It's not going
to be isolation ball with the Martin Rosen and Kyle
Lowry playing forty minutes a game and taking all the
(17:23):
shots anymore. We're gonna spread the ball out, more three pointers,
more emotion, more, you know, better, trusting of the bench,
you know, bringing up these younger guys and developing them.
Many hands make light work. We're gonna share and share
and share. And they did that and it worked. It
won them fifty nine games. It made them, you know,
at a top five offense, a top ten defense. They
were one of the best teams in the NBA all
(17:44):
season long. And it didn't matter at all when it
matters most. And so when you've completely changed the culture,
when you completely changed sort of who you are and said,
you know, this is the stylistic approach we're gonna take
and it doesn't work out, then the choices are you
get rid of the coach or change the players. And
I think it's just impossible to sit for Messiah Jerry
(18:04):
to say with any certainty he's going to necessarily be
able to change those star players at the core. And
whether or not that would leave them in a competitive
situation moving forward. So this is a choice that gets
made the season. The Raptors were second to last and
assist in the NBA this past regular season, they were
up the sixth, So so that's to your point about
what they changed offensively. Dan Devanna Yahoo Sports joining us
(18:26):
here on Fox Sports Radio. You can find him on
Twitter at your Man divine. Who gets to a conference
finals or an NBA finals first, this Raptors core or
Dwayne Casey somewhere else. Oh, that's an interesting question. Um.
I think it depends on what kind of job Dwyane
Casey takes next. Um. And and yeah, and so I mean,
(18:47):
you know, the most attractive option out there probably is Milwaukee.
That opening where you know, you you walk into having
Jannisida to Kumbo, who is the kind of you know,
top ten caliber player that you know, with all due
respect to Marturozen and Kyle Lowry that Casey did not
have in uh in Toronto. Um, there's obviously a lot
more sort of formalizing and structure that needs to be
(19:11):
we need to be put into place there to you know,
develop an identity in a system around Janice's talents. But
Casey's shown he can do that kind of work, right,
He's you know, he built that franchise or built that
sort of uh that that culture in in Toronto that
has sustained them over the course of the last six
seven years. I think that would be an interesting marriage
of kind of coach and opportunity. Um. But you know
(19:33):
that's obviously it's also going to be a sort of
hotly contested gig and there are other coaches that will
be in the mix there um and whatever. You know,
whoever winds up coming into and following up in Toronto
is going to have some you know, some pretty big
shoes to fill. And the names that we've seen, you know,
spoken about so far, whether it's Mike budenholz Er out
of Atlanta, it's not like he's got a growing resume
of knocking off the Chaves himself coming out of the
(19:55):
Hawk situation. Um, you know, they're face sort of finding
that last, that next boost to get them to that
next level. With the roster they've got us presently constitute,
it's going to be awful tough. So I guess I
would say, just because I have no idea where Casey's
going next to Toronto is probably a higher likelihood. But
if he lands one of those kind of gigs where
you wind up at the top five, top ten player, uh,
(20:15):
you know, certainly an attractive, attractive opportunity there, Dan Devine,
Yahoo's Sports NBA Insider with us here on Fox Sports Radio.
Last one for me, should the Houston Rockets series play
out similar to how the Calves and the Raptors series
played out? Could we see the same thing happened to
Mike D'Antoni based on it's kind of a similar situation.
(20:36):
It's all about getting past the top team in the conference.
This will be you know, a couple of years in
a row you've swung for the fences and come up short.
Is that the next step for D'Antoni? I don't think so,
if only because it's you know, it's d'antoni's second year
in Houston. It's the first year of the Chris Paul
kind of experiment there, their first matchup with the with
the Warriors, with you know, with this kind of core,
(20:58):
this lineup, So I would I wouldn't imagine that they'd
go out and look for a new head coach, right,
you know, this this sort of this quickly if it
didn't go their way against Golden State. Um The other
thing is I said, I would have a really hard
time envisioning Golden I mean, as as good as the
Warriors are, as excellent as the Warriors are going in
and just completely blowing the blowing Uston's doors off and
(21:18):
winning it and four straight. I found, like, I think
that's really really unlikely. Um So, I don't think the
Rockets would be coming off of as sort of dispiriting
the defeat and as difficult situation as Toronto did with
Casey there. But um, I mean Wilson, you know, uh,
Darryl Mori, the GM and Euston has made no no,
no secret that he sort of only things obsessed with
(21:38):
the idea of how do we beat the rout the Warriors,
how do we beat the Warriors? Um So, I suppose
anything is possible, you know, if if they flamed out
in sort of amazing fashion. But I would imagine that
that D'Antoni is more likely to be safe sort of
no matter what the outcome of that series. They give
the Raptors credit. We care more about their off season
than anything that did during this So Dan Divine covering
the NBA for you who sports. Find them on Twitter,
(22:00):
r at your Man Divine. We appreciate it, Dan, and
enjoy the Conference finals. Take care. Fox Sports Radio has
the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all
of our shows at Fox sports radio dot com and
within the I Heart Radio app. He's the author of
his memoir is simple enough. I'm Keith Hernandez, two time
World Series champ at five time I'll star. Keith Hernandez
(22:22):
joins us here on Fox Sports Radio. Hey, Keith, thanks
so much for coming on today. Oh thanks for having me.
I appreciate it. Let's uh, let's start with the reasoning
behind this book that you wrote. What What was the
reason that you wanted to write a memoir and why
was it important for you to cover the early part
(22:43):
of your baseball career instead of maybe the most popular
parts of your life, whether it be time with the
Mets or the the Seinfeld appearance. Why was it important
for you to cover the early part of your career? Well?
I think we uh, writer, my my my co author,
Mike Ponsey. It was a two and a half year
project and we had three deadlines pushed back and we
(23:07):
realized that they wanted a nine thousand word book, which
is around and if we were going to do my
entire life up to present and have any kind of
anything in depth, uh, it would have been an eight
page book and it also would have required another year
(23:31):
and a half. So early on, UM we decided along
with Little Brown the publishing company, that we would focus
on my formative years. Everybody, everything has been written about
eighty six. This is a book about Everybody knows who
(23:52):
I was then, the polished player at that point in
my career, but no one knew my journey from child
d to get there, my childhood dream. So we decided
to do that and focus on the long, hard road.
That wasn't an easy road. A lot of setbacks, a
lot of disappointments, you know, a lot of really depressing
(24:15):
that down times. And it wasn't an easy road. I
got sent down my first you know, in seventy five.
I struggled my first two years in the minor leagues
in Able and Double A. I struggled my first three
years in in in the big leagues, and I didn't
really field that I belonged on the same field and
(24:37):
fully confident that I was a major league player deserving
to be on the same field as Pete Rose, Willie Stargill,
Tom Seaver, Steve Carlton, Steve Garvey until really after April
in night and that's where pretty much the book ends.
And that's why it's called I'm Keith Herni and it's
obviously it's the Seinfeld connection, but it's also I'm Keith Hernandez.
(25:00):
I'm a major league player. I belong on the big leagues.
So I thought that the everybody thinks that the title
of the book is Seinfeld, but it's really Stigma. It's
really uh, it has more meaning to it. And the
book comes out next Tuesday, made a fifteen, so make
sure you check it out. I'm Keith R. Nandez. Keith Nandez,
two time World Series Champion, joining us here on Fox
(25:21):
Sports Radio. So you spent time and had a lot
of success in New York. If you were Matt Harvey's
teammate while in New York, we know everything turned out.
Now he's a member of the Reds after being traded.
If you were a Matt Harvey's teammate in New York,
what advice would you have given him in a way
he could have maybe handled that situation or maybe things
could have gone better for him. I don't know. I
(25:45):
don't know Matt that well. Uh, you know, other than
a purely a player and a media relationship. Um, he
was going to do what he wanted to do. Uh
if I was a veteran player, I would you know.
He put the card before the horse and he wanted
to be Joe Namath. And you know, you've got to
(26:05):
win a super Bowl first and before you can be
the bone devant of town. And I just think he
got caught up in that and it had nothing to
do with nothing to do with affecting his performance. Uh,
he's had serious surgery. He's not the same picture anymore
(26:26):
that he used to be. He may not, he may
never be again. And you know he has to learn
to pitch now. Uh, there's there's nothing that I could do. Uh.
Each guy has his own individual they're grown men. And
what am I going to be there? Daddy? Uh? You
know I got my own worries. You can go ahead
(26:46):
and do what you want to do. Just come to
the ballpark on time and do your work. You had
And we've heard these stories before where people have struggled
to deal with the spotlight in big cities, and you
seemingly didn't have that issue. You're an All Star multiple
times over, you are a World Series champion in New York.
How did you handle the distractions that a big city
(27:06):
could bring and still focus on your job on the field. Well,
when I came to New York, I was already an established,
a veteran. When I was traded in mid season in three,
I was twenty nine years old, had one of World Series,
one of batting title, one little Most Valuable Player gold glove.
I had at timed pretty much everything in my career.
(27:28):
So New York became a new challenge for me, and
that's how I looked at it. And sure, I lived
in Manhattan and it has a lot to offer, but
I wouldn't have want to break in the big leagues
like DRL and Doc Dwight Gooden did at a young age,
great expectations in the big apples. It's a lot more pressure,
(27:50):
a lot more expectations, a lot less patients than when
I broke in St. Louis, where the fans were faced
behind you. It's a very trio. It's a Midwest town
cardinal tradition New York. You know, it's what have you
done for me lately, and uh, it would have been
much more difficult for me. It was difficult enough with
(28:13):
the positive vibes coming from the fans in St. Louis.
I couldn't imagine with the three years that I struggled,
coming up as the heir apparent for replaced Joe tor
I was touted as the next stand musual a certain
Hall of Famer. I couldn't imagine having that that on
my shoulders and trying to break in in New York
(28:34):
Whether the Yankees are the Myths? Ninety nine n L
M V P. Keith Hernandez joining us the release of
his memoir coming out there Tuesday May. I'm Keith Hernandez.
You address in this book your dealings with cocaine and methamphetamines?
Is that? Was that a lifestyle? I never did me.
(28:54):
I'm sorry. Amphetamines, that's that's that's that's am any means.
But when you when you were dealing with that, and
that's my bad strike that for the podcast, guys know
when you're when you're when you dabbled in that was
that young baseball the player? Is that lifestyle? Is that
dealing with the struggles that you mentioned how did you
(29:15):
get involved in those sort of activities. Well, I think
it's it's pretty well documented that the game had in phetamines.
It's been people have mentioned that it was very prevalent
in the game. As I was coming up in the
minor leagues, they weren't any in the A Ball or
Double A. But when I got to Triple A, where
(29:37):
a lot of the players were ex Major leaguers and
trying to get back to the Big legs. I was
twenty nineteen years old in Triple A and twenty and
a lot of the guys were almost almost in their thirties. Uh,
and some were in their thirties. I had played in
the big leagues and they were around, And when I
got to the Big legs, they were around. It was
(30:00):
out of the game and there was nothing that I
did on a daily basis. I didn't hardly ever use it.
When I was young, I didn't really need them. But
when I got a little bit older, I guess, uh,
but it was just a part of the game. So
it's not there anymore. With the steroids that came in
(30:21):
and all that nonsense with the steroids, um, everything has
been you know, these guys got to be squeaky clean.
So and I don't feel that means had the same
effect as steroids, where steroids into means if I didn't
make me thirty pounds heavier, and I'll muscle weight and
(30:46):
not announce the fat on me and hit the ball
six further instead of me. It just got you through
a double header Sunday day game when it was hot
and it was out of your system that night, where
it steroids altered the landscape of the game. It changed
the game, and it still casts its ugly shadow over
(31:09):
the game with this love affair with the long ball
today and the strikeout. Keith r Nandez two time World
Series champion with us year on Fox Sports Radio. Last
one for me, Keith, what is a slump like? Well,
we never know. We'll never play at the major league level,
but I've always been fascinated when you go through a slump.
What is it like? Well, it's kind of inexplicable. Um.
(31:31):
I think a lot of times Leebrock told me that,
uh where Yogi said of hitting his half mental Lou
pretty much said that a slump is mental fatigue and
you're swinging ever changes, it's just you know, you get
a little bit tired mentally. Uh, And you don't realize
(31:53):
it because you're you're a young guy and you're in
great shape. But you know, I played a games a
year just about so, if not more, And there are
times you get a little tired. You don't realize that.
You push through it, but it's just it's just a
matter of timing. It just kind of creeps in and
the next thing you know, you don't feel good at
the plate, and and it can last. Using my slumps
(32:17):
lasted for around sixty at bats. You figure four at
bats a game. Uh, that's around almost two weeks of
not feeling good at the play, coming to the ballpark,
not feeling like you've never sung a bat in your life.
And it's not fun. I guarantee you that. But then
it just as inexplicable when you break out, you get
(32:39):
that one pitch that's been giving you trouble. In my case,
it was the pitch outside I could I was pulling
it and I get that pitch and I hit it
into the less center field gap opposite field gap, and
I go there it is, I'm back. And then you
break out and go into a hot streak. It's just
one of those things that I don't have one or
two slumps a year, and uh a lot of other
(32:59):
hitters I've sure had more than that. And uh it's
it's just part of the process of a season. I
mean I had basically I had three Huh. I think
I had three hundred every month. Uh didn't slump at
all that season. Seventy nine, I had a two thirty
(33:20):
April and then I just killed it the rest of
I had like around three seventy the rest of the way. Uh.
So those were years that I was just starting to
get I had Ted Simmons heating behind me, by the way,
a switch hit or one of the great switch hitting catchers.
So I was a younger guy. Ted was the vetter,
and they were going to come after me. Let me
beat them because I was not yet established. So when
(33:42):
I got behind the count I got, they came after me.
When I came to New York. Uh then they I
was established and they started pitching you differently with more respect. So,
but the stump is just something that I could not
I can write a thousand a word essay on it
and I would probably not make any sense. It's not
(34:04):
your traditional sports memoir. I'm Keith Hernandez on sale Tuesday May,
the five time I'll starting an l m v P
and two TUM World Champion Keith Hernandez. Thanks so much,
Keith for the time. We appreciate it, and hey, good
luck with the book. Thank you so much for having
me
This is the best of the Dug Gottlieb Show on
Fox Sports Radio and John Ramos. Ramos working One Armed
today Boom kr edition if you will of the Doug
Gottlieb Show here on Fox Sports Radio. It's a Friday.
Everybody's excited for the weekend. Everyone except Dwayne Casey, who
(00:24):
lost his job today, fired as the head coach of
the Toronto Raptors after a season where they won fifty
nine games, or the top scene in the East, but
were swept in the Eastern Conference semifinals by the Cleveland Cavaliers.
I am hearing rumblings. Dan guests who's coming back in
Toronto legend Gats Is that his name? Him too? They're
(00:49):
both coming back, Dan. Maybe Rocket Ismail will be the
new head coach of the Raptors is he returns to
Toronto in a different sport like Seto Gaston would shocking
that Dwayne Cason, Dwayne Casey, I've just made up that name.
Dwayne Casey is done as the head coach of the
Toronto Raptors. I don't know. Shocking is because we had
heard rumblings that maybe something could be on the way,
(01:12):
But I was surprised when I heard the news because Jonas,
when you look at the Toronto Raptors, you have an
organization that, let's just say, isn't it doesn't have a
deep tradition of greatness. Came in the league in the
mid nineties, made a conference final for the first time
just two years ago under Dwayne Casey. But in a
(01:33):
span of really a week, Dwayne Casey went from the
top of the world to the unemployment line. And you
look at the four games that they lost to the
Cleveland Cavaliers. In my mind, it is a direct result
of what happened in that series. And in my mind
as well, I don't think it's a majority of the
(01:56):
blame should be on Dwayne Casey. But as we've seen
many times in sports, the player stays and the coach
goes in Toronto for whatever optics reasons they want, ended
up this missing Dwyane Casey today. I was thinking about
this last night when I was on Fox Sports Radio,
and I was thinking about I wonder if how much
(02:16):
Steven's success because you know, in sports, it's always a
copycat league. If if one team mass success doing something,
then another team will try and emulate it. You look
at the Bears this offseason, they're basically just copying what
the l A Rams did a year before. That's that's
the whole goal. Let's see if we can do what
they did. And so when you see teams around the league,
(02:36):
I wonder how much pressure And I was thinking this
and talking about last night to where I wonder how
much pressure Stephen's success with a depleted roster, missing the
two stars, and a young coach in the Eastern Conference,
how much success him having is going to put pressure
on other coaches around the NBA because it's almost set
(02:57):
an unreasonable standard because you have no idea how really
good Jalen Brown or Jason tatumar. You have no idea
whether or not he's working with more talent than we
all realize because they're so young. But because of the success,
no coach in the NBA can say to their owner
while I was dealing with injuries, or I had this
come up, or because they can all go, Okay, what's
(03:18):
he doing because he's back in the conference finals and
we're at home and we can't beat Lebron James to
save our life. And I think I think there's pressure
from the outside. I think what he did benching to
mar de Rozen at the end of that game and
listen for the argument they had. Shack and Charles Barkley
had an argument and when they were going back and forth,
(03:40):
it was about an issue between Dwayne Casey and one
of his star players. Nothing. He's got to repair his
relationship with Yes, he does. You have to because uh
that listen. If you're best player, you've been your best player.
That's not the point. It's the point. You don't disrespect
(04:02):
your best player. Because you don't have a great relationship
with your best player, you're never going to win. He
did not. That's not well in your opinion. No, just
cause you say something, it's just that's not true. Man.
It's not me and part riding ever saw and what
happened to my man, So it's not true. We're not
saying what's your best point. I don't know what you're
talking about. I'm just telling champion, no matter how much
(04:25):
you scream, that does not make you right. If you're wrong,
that's baby stop, baby player. Maybe no point, don't play,
no player. You gotta sit his eyes down here, is it?
Guess what Charles Barkley was right because he and it's
not and it's not that it's right, it's just he
was right. It's not the fact that they are going
(04:46):
to pick the player over the coach. It doesn't mean
doing in case he was wrong, But in that instance,
Charles Barkley was right. I think the writing was on
the wall. It's always been that case. And where Shaq
got it wrong in that argument is that DeMar de
Rosen is not on Shack's level. You can add the elite,
elite players not get along with your coach and end
up having things work out. But this is different. Jonas
(05:08):
for the simple fact of Shack. Sure he had Kobe,
It's sure he had Dwayne Wade alongside him. But Chack
was dominant, especially in those Laker years of of I
I still say that he's the most dominant player that
the NBA has seen in the last twenty years. There's
no way to stop him offensively. When you look at
what Shack was, you know what, you just end up
(05:29):
living with pat Riley and Shaquille O'Neil not getting along
because it's too valuable in Toronto. You're just like, all right,
Dwayne Casey isn't pat Riley, DeMar de Rosen isn't Shaquille O'Neil,
So you've got to figure out some sort of relationship.
Even though this isn't the best I think that this
team maxed out with what they've got, and I think
(05:53):
that's why Messiah Jerry made a move, is that he
realized this ceiling is what it is and the optics
of it, and if there's gonna be apathy with Toronto
not being able to move on, something's got to be different.
And again the coach ends up going. But you have
got a team that has Tamada Rosen with three years
(06:13):
left on his contract, Kyle Lowry with two years left
on his contract, Sir Jibaka has got two years. You're
paying Norman Powell forty two million dollars over the next
four years. There's not a lot of room for them
to go anywhere Jonas with new personnel, so something had
to be done optics wise, And Dwayne Casey ends up
being the fall guy for the simple fact of this
team's ceiling is just not that high, and he's the
(06:35):
one that has to take the out. You can't fire
all the players. It's it's a cliche we've heard all
the time. Dwayne Casey ends up having to deal with
now unemployment because the Raptors are a team that's just
aren't gonna be They aren't good enough to compete for
a title. And I give him credit for what they
put together on the regular season, it's fine, it's fine,
But but when you swing for the fences this many
times they have made. If you look at the three
(06:57):
big moves that they've made, or the three big strategic
moves that they've made over the past year and a half,
it was let's go for broke at the trade deadline
last year, which everybody lauded them for. And remember everybody
criticized Danny Ainge for not wanting to trade with Paul
for Indiana to try and acquire Paul George. They swung
for the fences and they missed. Then in the off season,
(07:19):
they went out, they added pieces, a bokatoo an extension,
they thought they had figured this out, added a bunch
of players, swung for the fences, and they missed again.
And then Dwayne Casey decided, all right, I've got to
try and inject something into this team to try and
get him to to to fire up, get them, get
them going. And so I'm gonna bench my star player,
my best player for the final what twelve fourteen minutes
(07:41):
of regulation in a playoff game. I guess what you
swung for the fences and you missed? Like that's They
have taken high risk, high reward gambles over the past
year and a half, and none of them have resulted
in rewards. But here's the difference that I see is
those risks were front office risks. Oh Day and Casey
make benching demark de Rosen actually worked out, you know,
(08:03):
like he's he ends up being the scapegoat because the
Raptors were actually in Game three, he wasn't the one
to miss all those shots in Game one. All of
the moves you mentioned were of Massija jury the Raptors
front office, and they failed at doing their job. So
then he ends up being the scapegoat and all of
this that's where it's where if maybe it's you know,
(08:23):
in the long run, maybe it's a situation that Dwayne
Casey is gonna get out of and at some point
we'll find a better situation with a core that has
a higher ceiling. But with all of the examples that
you laid out, those were things that Toronto felt that
they set up. It's like trying to win a It's
trying to win a hand of black jack with fifteen,
you know, and the other the dealer busts and Hall
(08:45):
of famer Chris Carter Pro Football Hall of Famer, he
actually saw this coming several years ago. If you got
a fall guy, if y'all got swept, got to have
a fall guy. I am curious on what Massija Jerry
did think Dwayne case He did wrong as he spoke
earlier today. Nothing in particular that coach Casey did wrong,
(09:06):
but I think it was time to time for this toppen.
Oh no reason. Wow, I would have made up something.
I would have I mean that anything. You could just
do what the Redskins did to Scott mccluy and tell
everybody was drinking on the job after he leaves. My goodness,
(09:26):
nothing in particular. We just found that we needed to change.
If you have won fifty games, the only hope, truth
jonas as well, for this team to advance to the
NBA Finals was to get a home courts throughout the
playffs like they weren't going to go on the road
and steal a couple of games and end up making
a Cinderella run to the NBA Finals. They did what
they needed to do in the regular season. The other
(09:48):
thing that I like what Dwyne Casey did is, you
know what, his starting five wasn't good enough to be
dominant in the in the East, but their second five
was pretty darn good. Throughout the season. We talked about
the Raptors bench being the one of the strongest, if
not the strongest, in the n b A, that he
figured out a way for them to get that number
one seed. Now when the playoffs, benches get a little
(10:10):
bit shorter, and maybe it's not as much of an
advantage for the Toronto Raptors, but either as much as
he could for thirty some odd weeks of the season
and the span of a week with nothing in particular
the reason he ends up losing his job, nothing in particular.
Do you think there's anything too that there's sort of
an unrealistic expectation because everybody sees what Brad Stevens has done,
(10:32):
and there could be owners or general managers out there
who think, well, if he can do it, why the
hell can't we I'm more excuses I don't because I
think people realize how good Brad Stevens Is and I
think they realize other coaches didn't. I think that. I
think that's part of the reason why he didn't get
a vote while they voted for Dwayne Casey's because I
think coaches are feeling the heat. I think they see
(10:53):
a guy who's doing it differently than they've ever done
it before. And I think this is the first sign
of that. But remember, when he's coaching, he has Kyrie
for a decent amount of the season, a majority of
the season, and so they improved two games in that
coach's bout, like the coaches that were named, or like
Doc Rivers. And I'm not saying it's the right thing
(11:14):
to do, but I do I do wonder if there
are elements of that out there. Be sure to catch
live editions of The Doug Gottlieb Show weekdays at three
p m. Eastern noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and
the I Heart Radio app. Seven years in the books
for Dwayne Casey, now his tenure with the Toronto Raptors
is over. Trying to sort out the mess that is
in Toronto. He covers the NBA for Yah Who's Sports
(11:37):
Dan Define joins us here on Fox Sports Radio Hey, Dan,
thanks so much of the time, my pleasure, thanks for
having me on. Okay, Massiah Jerry just said that for
no particular reason, they fired Dwyane Casey, So I'm going
to rely on you. What was the reason they fired
Dwyane Casey today? Because it is as difficult as it is,
and you know, Massia Jerry said it was like the
hardest things ever had to do in his career. It's
(11:59):
easier than trying to figure out how to improve the
roster when you've you're paying Surgeonbaka million dollars for next year,
up for the next two years, and Kyle Lowry you know,
some nowhere in your seventy million for the next three
years and uh, you know, and DeMar de Rosen getting
a ton of money over the next few years. Like
they've locked into that roster, and that roster has just
(12:20):
gotten swept out of the postseason for the second straight spring,
not even playing in the summertime. And that's that's tough.
You know, like they they needed to change something because
you know, like the the spirit surrounding the team was
just you know, way late and you know, reduced to
rubble by Lebron James and the chas in that second round,
and they can't change all the players that they need
(12:43):
to change. So this is the button that you hit. Um,
I think it's uh, it's it's tough. You know, Dwayne
Casey is the most successful coach that franchise has ever seen.
This is the longest sustained run of success that the
Raptors have ever had. Uh, you know, the the to
to a man, those players you know talk you know,
you know, in glowing terms about what Casey has done
for their development and what he's meant for them, etcetera, etcetera. Um,
(13:06):
he didn't necessarily do himself any favors in terms of
the way he you know, he's managed some of those
the rotations in the postseason, and some of the choices
that he made, uh, you know, not using time at
at certain times, using too many of them at other times,
you know, putting lineups on the floor that might not
necessarily have had the best chance of succeeding, so on
and so forth. But it's an incredibly successful head coach
(13:27):
and a guy who's meant an awful lot to Toronto.
That winds up on you know, the you know, on
the the you know, looking for a new gig because
they have just not been able to get over the hump.
Dan Divine, Yahoo MBA insider with us here on Fox
Sports Radio. Dan, do you think and and maybe I'm
overthinking this, but do you think there's any element of
of an unrealistic expectation for coaches in the league now
(13:49):
because of what Brad Stevens has been able to do
with the injuries that he's sustained this year? I think.
I mean, it's certainly remarkable what Boston has been able
to do in terms of withstanding Gordon Haywards lost on
opening night and then Kyrie Irving going out with about
a month ago in the season. Um, And an awful
lot of credit for that has gone to Brad Stevens,
(14:10):
who you know, uh, you know, draws rave reviews around
the league. I mean, it's also worth remembering though it's
not exactly like he had, He's had a Bear Couveroard
to go to even so, like you know, the the
the the roster that Danny Ainge has built there that is,
you know, deep enough and talented enough to be able
to withstand those losses, you know, deserves an awful lot
of credit to book Ange for building the roster and
(14:31):
those players for stepping into the role roles that they
needed to. Uh, you know, even as Stevens is kind
of you know, created the opportunities for them and helped
them along. That's it. I mean, I think that it's
sort of we've been moving in this direction more and
more over the last handful of years, in independent of
Brad Stevens. It's that, you know, for a lot of
these franchises, if you're not winning a title, then it's
(14:53):
a you know, a lost season. You know, you reach
a certain level of competitive uh you know, sort of
a competition and a certain level of success, and if
you're not able to get you know, grab the ring,
grab the trophy, it winds up. You know that you're
you know, even fifty nine wins doesn't matter. You know,
we saw Lionel Hollands wind up on the outside of
Memphis after the best season a franchise history and a
conference finals run. Uh you know, Doc Rivers and has
(15:15):
an out lost his coaching job, but lost his personnel
privileges after uh, you know, the longest sustained running Clippers history.
It is a really really tough gig um and you know,
this is this is but this is these are the
stakes that these these coaches and the teams are playing for.
When you get to that level, if you don't wind
up getting to the finals, if you don't wind up
winning the title, you've got to reassess and see where
you're at. And you know, suddenly, you know when you
(15:37):
when you think about it in that context, those ideas
of well, when you're tanking, your teams decided to start
tanking for the kind of transformational talent that can win
you a championship, like that's what they're doing it for,
because you know, if you if you land those players,
you land that sort of roster that gives you the
chance to win, then you know you're gonna, you know,
give yourself a chance to stick around for longer than
than not, because if you don't have it, you're gonna
(15:58):
wind up outside. What would have saved in Casey's job
beating Lebron James and the getting to the NBA finals,
I think, and that's and this is one I'm thinking
about because if you're the Toronto Raptors, you have basically
decided that because Dwayne Casey didn't beat one of the
top two or three all time great players, and potentially
meet up with one of the greatest teams of all time,
(16:20):
then he's no longer fit to be head coach. Like
that's crazy expectations. I mean, in this time, in this
day and age, I completely agree with you, but I
think it's I mean, there comes a point where that's
the stakes that that you're playing for. You know that, uh,
you know, great teams, you know, t excellent teams of
of of over however many years. You know, the the
Nicks that couldn't get over the hump against Jordan's bowls.
(16:42):
You know, you know many many examples that are you know,
beyond that when you know you just don't get over that,
you know that rival, when you don't get to the
promised land, even against you know, uh, you know, competing
with the all time greats, you wind up running out
of time. And so I mean, I really with Dwinge Casey,
I really it feels like that's the rock in the
(17:02):
hard place. Messiah Jerry was sort of you know, put
in here or put himself into some degree that like
if you're not you have to be moving in some direction,
and those sort of the last bullet that could have
been fired in that way was when they completely overhauled
their approach, their offensive approach last year. It's not going
to be isolation ball with the Martin Rosen and Kyle
Lowry playing forty minutes a game and taking all the
(17:23):
shots anymore. We're gonna spread the ball out, more three pointers,
more emotion, more, you know, better, trusting of the bench,
you know, bringing up these younger guys and developing them.
Many hands make light work. We're gonna share and share
and share. And they did that and it worked. It
won them fifty nine games. It made them, you know,
at a top five offense, a top ten defense. They
were one of the best teams in the NBA all
(17:44):
season long. And it didn't matter at all when it
matters most. And so when you've completely changed the culture,
when you completely changed sort of who you are and said,
you know, this is the stylistic approach we're gonna take
and it doesn't work out, then the choices are you
get rid of the coach or change the players. And
I think it's just impossible to sit for Messiah Jerry
(18:04):
to say with any certainty he's going to necessarily be
able to change those star players at the core. And
whether or not that would leave them in a competitive
situation moving forward. So this is a choice that gets
made the season. The Raptors were second to last and
assist in the NBA this past regular season, they were
up the sixth, So so that's to your point about
what they changed offensively. Dan Devanna Yahoo Sports joining us
(18:26):
here on Fox Sports Radio. You can find him on
Twitter at your Man divine. Who gets to a conference
finals or an NBA finals first, this Raptors core or
Dwayne Casey somewhere else. Oh, that's an interesting question. Um.
I think it depends on what kind of job Dwyane
Casey takes next. Um. And and yeah, and so I mean,
(18:47):
you know, the most attractive option out there probably is Milwaukee.
That opening where you know, you you walk into having
Jannisida to Kumbo, who is the kind of you know,
top ten caliber player that you know, with all due
respect to Marturozen and Kyle Lowry that Casey did not
have in uh in Toronto. Um, there's obviously a lot
more sort of formalizing and structure that needs to be
(19:11):
we need to be put into place there to you know,
develop an identity in a system around Janice's talents. But
Casey's shown he can do that kind of work, right,
He's you know, he built that franchise or built that
sort of uh that that culture in in Toronto that
has sustained them over the course of the last six
seven years. I think that would be an interesting marriage
of kind of coach and opportunity. Um. But you know
(19:33):
that's obviously it's also going to be a sort of
hotly contested gig and there are other coaches that will
be in the mix there um and whatever. You know,
whoever winds up coming into and following up in Toronto
is going to have some you know, some pretty big
shoes to fill. And the names that we've seen, you know,
spoken about so far, whether it's Mike budenholz Er out
of Atlanta, it's not like he's got a growing resume
of knocking off the Chaves himself coming out of the
(19:55):
Hawk situation. Um, you know, they're face sort of finding
that last, that next boost to get them to that
next level. With the roster they've got us presently constitute,
it's going to be awful tough. So I guess I
would say, just because I have no idea where Casey's
going next to Toronto is probably a higher likelihood. But
if he lands one of those kind of gigs where
you wind up at the top five, top ten player, uh,
(20:15):
you know, certainly an attractive, attractive opportunity there, Dan Devine,
Yahoo's Sports NBA Insider with us here on Fox Sports Radio.
Last one for me, should the Houston Rockets series play
out similar to how the Calves and the Raptors series
played out? Could we see the same thing happened to
Mike D'Antoni based on it's kind of a similar situation.
(20:36):
It's all about getting past the top team in the conference.
This will be you know, a couple of years in
a row you've swung for the fences and come up short.
Is that the next step for D'Antoni? I don't think so,
if only because it's you know, it's d'antoni's second year
in Houston. It's the first year of the Chris Paul
kind of experiment there, their first matchup with the with
the Warriors, with you know, with this kind of core,
(20:58):
this lineup, So I would I wouldn't imagine that they'd
go out and look for a new head coach, right,
you know, this this sort of this quickly if it
didn't go their way against Golden State. Um The other
thing is I said, I would have a really hard
time envisioning Golden I mean, as as good as the
Warriors are, as excellent as the Warriors are going in
and just completely blowing the blowing Uston's doors off and
(21:18):
winning it and four straight. I found, like, I think
that's really really unlikely. Um So, I don't think the
Rockets would be coming off of as sort of dispiriting
the defeat and as difficult situation as Toronto did with
Casey there. But um, I mean Wilson, you know, uh,
Darryl Mori, the GM and Euston has made no no,
no secret that he sort of only things obsessed with
(21:38):
the idea of how do we beat the rout the Warriors,
how do we beat the Warriors? Um So, I suppose
anything is possible, you know, if if they flamed out
in sort of amazing fashion. But I would imagine that
that D'Antoni is more likely to be safe sort of
no matter what the outcome of that series. They give
the Raptors credit. We care more about their off season
than anything that did during this So Dan Divine covering
the NBA for you who sports. Find them on Twitter,
(22:00):
r at your Man Divine. We appreciate it, Dan, and
enjoy the Conference finals. Take care. Fox Sports Radio has
the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all
of our shows at Fox sports radio dot com and
within the I Heart Radio app. He's the author of
his memoir is simple enough. I'm Keith Hernandez, two time
World Series champ at five time I'll star. Keith Hernandez
(22:22):
joins us here on Fox Sports Radio. Hey, Keith, thanks
so much for coming on today. Oh thanks for having me.
I appreciate it. Let's uh, let's start with the reasoning
behind this book that you wrote. What What was the
reason that you wanted to write a memoir and why
was it important for you to cover the early part
(22:43):
of your baseball career instead of maybe the most popular
parts of your life, whether it be time with the
Mets or the the Seinfeld appearance. Why was it important
for you to cover the early part of your career? Well?
I think we uh, writer, my my my co author,
Mike Ponsey. It was a two and a half year
project and we had three deadlines pushed back and we
(23:07):
realized that they wanted a nine thousand word book, which
is around and if we were going to do my
entire life up to present and have any kind of
anything in depth, uh, it would have been an eight
page book and it also would have required another year
(23:31):
and a half. So early on, UM we decided along
with Little Brown the publishing company, that we would focus
on my formative years. Everybody, everything has been written about
eighty six. This is a book about Everybody knows who
(23:52):
I was then, the polished player at that point in
my career, but no one knew my journey from child
d to get there, my childhood dream. So we decided
to do that and focus on the long, hard road.
That wasn't an easy road. A lot of setbacks, a
lot of disappointments, you know, a lot of really depressing
(24:15):
that down times. And it wasn't an easy road. I
got sent down my first you know, in seventy five.
I struggled my first two years in the minor leagues
in Able and Double A. I struggled my first three
years in in in the big leagues, and I didn't
really field that I belonged on the same field and
(24:37):
fully confident that I was a major league player deserving
to be on the same field as Pete Rose, Willie Stargill,
Tom Seaver, Steve Carlton, Steve Garvey until really after April
in night and that's where pretty much the book ends.
And that's why it's called I'm Keith Herni and it's
obviously it's the Seinfeld connection, but it's also I'm Keith Hernandez.
(25:00):
I'm a major league player. I belong on the big leagues.
So I thought that the everybody thinks that the title
of the book is Seinfeld, but it's really Stigma. It's
really uh, it has more meaning to it. And the
book comes out next Tuesday, made a fifteen, so make
sure you check it out. I'm Keith R. Nandez. Keith Nandez,
two time World Series Champion, joining us here on Fox
(25:21):
Sports Radio. So you spent time and had a lot
of success in New York. If you were Matt Harvey's
teammate while in New York, we know everything turned out.
Now he's a member of the Reds after being traded.
If you were a Matt Harvey's teammate in New York,
what advice would you have given him in a way
he could have maybe handled that situation or maybe things
could have gone better for him. I don't know. I
(25:45):
don't know Matt that well. Uh, you know, other than
a purely a player and a media relationship. Um, he
was going to do what he wanted to do. Uh
if I was a veteran player, I would you know.
He put the card before the horse and he wanted
to be Joe Namath. And you know, you've got to
(26:05):
win a super Bowl first and before you can be
the bone devant of town. And I just think he
got caught up in that and it had nothing to
do with nothing to do with affecting his performance. Uh,
he's had serious surgery. He's not the same picture anymore
(26:26):
that he used to be. He may not, he may
never be again. And you know he has to learn
to pitch now. Uh, there's there's nothing that I could do. Uh.
Each guy has his own individual they're grown men. And
what am I going to be there? Daddy? Uh? You
know I got my own worries. You can go ahead
(26:46):
and do what you want to do. Just come to
the ballpark on time and do your work. You had
And we've heard these stories before where people have struggled
to deal with the spotlight in big cities, and you
seemingly didn't have that issue. You're an All Star multiple
times over, you are a World Series champion in New York.
How did you handle the distractions that a big city
(27:06):
could bring and still focus on your job on the field. Well,
when I came to New York, I was already an established,
a veteran. When I was traded in mid season in three,
I was twenty nine years old, had one of World Series,
one of batting title, one little Most Valuable Player gold glove.
I had at timed pretty much everything in my career.
(27:28):
So New York became a new challenge for me, and
that's how I looked at it. And sure, I lived
in Manhattan and it has a lot to offer, but
I wouldn't have want to break in the big leagues
like DRL and Doc Dwight Gooden did at a young age,
great expectations in the big apples. It's a lot more pressure,
(27:50):
a lot more expectations, a lot less patients than when
I broke in St. Louis, where the fans were faced
behind you. It's a very trio. It's a Midwest town
cardinal tradition New York. You know, it's what have you
done for me lately, and uh, it would have been
much more difficult for me. It was difficult enough with
(28:13):
the positive vibes coming from the fans in St. Louis.
I couldn't imagine with the three years that I struggled,
coming up as the heir apparent for replaced Joe tor
I was touted as the next stand musual a certain
Hall of Famer. I couldn't imagine having that that on
my shoulders and trying to break in in New York
(28:34):
Whether the Yankees are the Myths? Ninety nine n L
M V P. Keith Hernandez joining us the release of
his memoir coming out there Tuesday May. I'm Keith Hernandez.
You address in this book your dealings with cocaine and methamphetamines?
Is that? Was that a lifestyle? I never did me.
(28:54):
I'm sorry. Amphetamines, that's that's that's that's am any means.
But when you when you were dealing with that, and
that's my bad strike that for the podcast, guys know
when you're when you're when you dabbled in that was
that young baseball the player? Is that lifestyle? Is that
dealing with the struggles that you mentioned how did you
(29:15):
get involved in those sort of activities. Well, I think
it's it's pretty well documented that the game had in phetamines.
It's been people have mentioned that it was very prevalent
in the game. As I was coming up in the
minor leagues, they weren't any in the A Ball or
Double A. But when I got to Triple A, where
(29:37):
a lot of the players were ex Major leaguers and
trying to get back to the Big legs. I was
twenty nineteen years old in Triple A and twenty and
a lot of the guys were almost almost in their thirties. Uh,
and some were in their thirties. I had played in
the big leagues and they were around, And when I
got to the Big legs, they were around. It was
(30:00):
out of the game and there was nothing that I
did on a daily basis. I didn't hardly ever use it.
When I was young, I didn't really need them. But
when I got a little bit older, I guess, uh,
but it was just a part of the game. So
it's not there anymore. With the steroids that came in
(30:21):
and all that nonsense with the steroids, um, everything has
been you know, these guys got to be squeaky clean.
So and I don't feel that means had the same
effect as steroids, where steroids into means if I didn't
make me thirty pounds heavier, and I'll muscle weight and
(30:46):
not announce the fat on me and hit the ball
six further instead of me. It just got you through
a double header Sunday day game when it was hot
and it was out of your system that night, where
it steroids altered the landscape of the game. It changed
the game, and it still casts its ugly shadow over
(31:09):
the game with this love affair with the long ball
today and the strikeout. Keith r Nandez two time World
Series champion with us year on Fox Sports Radio. Last
one for me, Keith, what is a slump like? Well,
we never know. We'll never play at the major league level,
but I've always been fascinated when you go through a slump.
What is it like? Well, it's kind of inexplicable. Um.
(31:31):
I think a lot of times Leebrock told me that,
uh where Yogi said of hitting his half mental Lou
pretty much said that a slump is mental fatigue and
you're swinging ever changes, it's just you know, you get
a little bit tired mentally. Uh, And you don't realize
(31:53):
it because you're you're a young guy and you're in
great shape. But you know, I played a games a
year just about so, if not more, And there are
times you get a little tired. You don't realize that.
You push through it, but it's just it's just a
matter of timing. It just kind of creeps in and
the next thing you know, you don't feel good at
the plate, and and it can last. Using my slumps
(32:17):
lasted for around sixty at bats. You figure four at
bats a game. Uh, that's around almost two weeks of
not feeling good at the play, coming to the ballpark,
not feeling like you've never sung a bat in your life.
And it's not fun. I guarantee you that. But then
it just as inexplicable when you break out, you get
(32:39):
that one pitch that's been giving you trouble. In my case,
it was the pitch outside I could I was pulling
it and I get that pitch and I hit it
into the less center field gap opposite field gap, and
I go there it is, I'm back. And then you
break out and go into a hot streak. It's just
one of those things that I don't have one or
two slumps a year, and uh a lot of other
(32:59):
hitters I've sure had more than that. And uh it's
it's just part of the process of a season. I
mean I had basically I had three Huh. I think
I had three hundred every month. Uh didn't slump at
all that season. Seventy nine, I had a two thirty
(33:20):
April and then I just killed it the rest of
I had like around three seventy the rest of the way. Uh.
So those were years that I was just starting to
get I had Ted Simmons heating behind me, by the way,
a switch hit or one of the great switch hitting catchers.
So I was a younger guy. Ted was the vetter,
and they were going to come after me. Let me
beat them because I was not yet established. So when
(33:42):
I got behind the count I got, they came after me.
When I came to New York. Uh then they I
was established and they started pitching you differently with more respect. So,
but the stump is just something that I could not
I can write a thousand a word essay on it
and I would probably not make any sense. It's not
(34:04):
your traditional sports memoir. I'm Keith Hernandez on sale Tuesday May,
the five time I'll starting an l m v P
and two TUM World Champion Keith Hernandez. Thanks so much,
Keith for the time. We appreciate it, and hey, good
luck with the book. Thank you so much for having
me
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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