June 11, 2025 • 14 mins
NYRA President of Communications for Belmont and Saratoga, Pat McKenna, discusses the progress of Belmont, the MLB, and more!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Shoining us on the set is Pat mckennaugh.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
He's the our n y are A president of Communications
Belmont and Saratoga.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Kind of sounds like a massive job.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Pat, You know what is especially the week of the race,
leading up to the race, things like that. How how
busy did your office become pretty busy?
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Yeah, it's listen. It's It's fun to be able to
be up here. I've been up here for the better
part of two weeks. You know, a little more accustomed
to the intensity of the Belmont at Saratoga here with
our second year, but really fortunate to be able to
spend so much time in Saratoga.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
These are the best.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Fans in racing, some of the best fans in all sport.
As you guys have experienced here today.
Speaker 5 (00:43):
I'm sure we do miss the Elmont venue, especially for
this weekend. And you know, this place is wonderful. We
love this place so much. But give us a timeline
of what's going on there and when we're going to
get back to racing in Elmont.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Sure, I was just there last week. The construction is
moving along on schedule. We will open up that facility
in September of twenty twenty six. What we've said from
the beginning is we have a plan that could allow
for a Belmont Stakes and a partially completed facility in
twenty twenty six. But we will have news on the
site of the twenty twenty six Belmont Steaks Racing Festival
(01:21):
probably the next couple of weeks.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
So will the track up there go in last tracks
going first?
Speaker 1 (01:25):
No, we'll started track.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Yeah, So we have let's say new main track, so
new mile and a half dirt main track, two new
turk courses, and a synthetic a mile synthetic that'll be
the winter race track. Because it's important to remember historically
we've had two venues downstate Aqueduct in Belmont. When Belmont's complete,
we will consolidate all of the racing and training activities
to one new, world class Belmont Park. So it'll be
(01:49):
a phenomenal facility. The racetracks themselves will be second to
none in the world.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
You know.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
All the technology that's evolved since the last time Belmont
was renovated in nineteen sixty eight will allow us to
really have just the premium racetrack services for these unbelievable athletes,
horsemen and trainers. And the building itself will be a
dramatic departure from what you guys are familiar with. Down
that enormous one and a half million square foot facility.
(02:18):
If you put that thing upright, it'd be taller than
the Empire State Building.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
So downsize to three hundred thousand square feet.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
It'll be a lively, much more intimate setting and then
a ton of green space. And that's something we've learned
from being here in Saratoga's the backyard, the picnic tables,
to have a spot where friends and family can congregate,
you know, whether it's May or September. Obviously, the Belmont
Festival itself is a huge draw. Also recently announced twenty
(02:46):
twenty seven Breeders Cup. We'll be coming back to New
York for the first time in twenty years at the
new Belmont Park. So really exciting time here in New
York for horse racing, really all across the country. When
you look at the Capitol projects down in Ball Baltimore,
New Pimlico coming essentially a new Keenland, they're making some
dramatic transformations to that facility, continued investment in Kentucky and
(03:09):
then the new Belmont Park. We think will be the
crown jewel of them all, selfishly speaking, but exciting and
please to have you guys here for yet another Belmont
stakes here at the old spot.
Speaker 5 (03:20):
Do you think that this is just the timeline of
things or do you think that all of these tractors
included gets a little boost from the pandemic and just
the way the horse racing has really become more part
of the culture in America.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Yeah, I mean it's always been a big part of
the culture. I think some ebbs and flows there, and
the nineties into the two thousands. I mean, you look
at a place like this. I grew up here in
upstate New York. It's always been what you did in
July and August and afternoon if you could get away,
certainly the weekend Saturdays and Sundays. To be up here
felt like you were a part of something bigger. And
this community has revolved around world class throw red horse
(03:55):
racing since the eighteen sixties.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
But yeah, I do.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
I think that the general acceptance of culturally of wagering,
bringing it out from the darkness and into the light
in so many ways with the rise in sports betting,
has certainly also benefited racing you've seen that in the
first two legs of the Triple Crown, record breaking wagering
and Kentucky and huge wagering down at Pimlicover for the Preakness.
(04:21):
So we're in a very good spot. We hope to
capitalize on that momentum with the new Belmont Park.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Talking to Pat McKenna, he is the NYR President of
Communications Belmont in Saratoga. What went into it took us
back to just even before you started drawing up the
plans for the renovation and stuff like that, Okay, we're
gonna have to move, move to Saratoga. You know, take
us behind the scenes to all of that kind of stuff,
because it just seems like logistically had to have. At
(04:48):
one point you thought it was a nightmare, and then
you made it come to fruition.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Yeah, exactly turned into a dream. And you know, we're
an interesting entity. We're not a state agency, but we
are franchised to conduct racing at the three race tracks,
which are wholly owned by New York State. So this
was a political process, a legislative process. So we received
a four hundred and fifty five million dollar loan through
the twenty twenty two New York State Budget Governor Hokal,
(05:15):
the governor here in New York, has been a staunch
supporter of horse racing, going back even before she was
elevated to the governorship, and she's really been a champion
of this project from the beginning to have a world
class sports entertainment venue on Long Island, to have a
downstate attraction similar to what we have here at Saratoga.
(05:37):
And look no further than the Breeders Cup announcing their
site selection just about a week and a half ago.
So you know, once we had that in place, knowing
that we had this resource essentially here in Saratoga, made
it all possible to be able to shift the Belmont
up here last year round the normal Saratoga meet do
it again this year. We're also going to be back
(05:58):
here for July fourth, and these are temporary changes that
you know, we'll be back to forty days at some
point in the very near future.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
And we're thankful that this.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Community is so receptive and so welcoming to us, to
the racing community year after year. So a lengthy process.
I mean, I recall starting in IRA in twenty sixteen,
one of the first questions I got was you know,
when is that Belmont renovation gonna happen. It's been talked
about since probably the nineteen eighties, nineteen nineties far back.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Absolutely, Dave Orouric our chairman Mark Holliday, you know, really
focused on this as you know, as really a transformational
project for the future of the sport, for New York
State to have a landmark sporting venue that can really
stand aside the new venues downstate, whether it's City.
Speaker 4 (06:51):
Field, Yankee Stadium, the USTA.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
What they've been able to do with the US Open
has been just unbelievable. So we're right there with them
and we look forward to getting back to Belmont twenty
twenty six.
Speaker 5 (07:03):
One thing I don't know if it's because I Andy
communicates this to us all the time, but the one
thing that I know about the NYRA and all the
tracks included, and you even mentioned you call them athletes,
you guys care about the horses, I think more than
anything else in the venue. The surfaces are very important
to you, and that you guys have world class grounds
(07:24):
crew on that and then also talk about the retirement
plans after these horses are done racing.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
The NYRA takes care of them. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Yeah, and it's not only Naira, but you know people
like Nauja on the breeding side. As you'll hear from him,
it's a whole community, like the entire racetrack racing ecosystem,
not only here in New York, in Florida and Maryland,
in Kentucky, in California. It's been a priority for decades
to ensure that these athletes can transition to a second career,
(07:56):
whether that's hanging around a farm or doing other things.
Their racing days are done, hugely important and it's certainly
what they're They're owed after their days on the track
are complete, like any other professional athlete. We hope to
provide them with the secure retirement and that's what we've
been able to do here, especially over the last twenty years.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Talking to Pat McKenna, n y are a president communications
Belmont and Saratoga.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
All right, you wanted to talk a little baseball.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
You know.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Paul O'Neil. Who's Paul and I are tight?
Speaker 4 (08:31):
Yes, I'm a Paul Neil fan.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
I'm constantly texting him during the broadcast stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Yeah, So your.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Thoughts on Devin Williams that trade and how it's worked
out for the Yankees so far.
Speaker 4 (08:42):
Temper myself.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
I know, go ahead.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
Beaver was sensational all last year.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
I mean I'll be during the spring, it felt like
there are some rumblings, the velocities down a little bit.
Devin Williams comes out, struggles mightily with just about everything,
couldn't seem to to get anyone out, giving up home runs,
blowing saves, and then Luke Weavers steps up and is
dominant yet again, unfortunately with the injury. I don't know
(09:07):
what's he done recently. I haven't been able to pay
attention This week.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
He struggled through a save. The other night he got
through it. I was texting Paul, My biggest thing is
is forget his stuff's amazing.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Yeah, it's his mound presence. It looks like he lost
his dog.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
He's out there like vigety and.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
Needs like abdibble mountain.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Yeah, dude, you gotta be like you can't.
Speaker 4 (09:26):
I have a question.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
I've been thinking about something. So it feels like harder
than ever to save games. Do you think that that's
in any way a reflection of the fact that these
guys are facing ninety five plus all the time. So
these guys who used to come in and fire away
like you Yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
Like any of the closers in the nineties that were
so good.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
It was a dramatic change from some of the starters
who were throwing eighty eight to ninety two, a lot
of breaking stuff, And now it feels like absent a
few guys, so many of these starters, and the fact
that they're going four or five innings ending it off
to someone who's throwing absolute gas.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
I don't know. I mean, I was just.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Well, no, it's a great question because you know, when
you look at the progression. When I was coming up,
we had five guys in the bullpen. Now you have eight.
Five of those eight guys all throw ninety five to
ninety eight, so it's like there's no differential. So these
hitters aren't afraid. Nobody pitches inside, and I'm talking about effectively,
like I faced two thousand hitters, I hit twelve. You
(10:25):
know that's you don't hit guys. You pitch inside. And
I was taught that when I was young. I now
teach all of my pitchers how to pitch inside, outside, up, down,
move it all around.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
I don't care how hard you throw.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
So by the time the closer gets out there, these
guys have faced the starter twice. Probably one or two
guys that throw as hard as him, maybe have better
stuff than him when he comes in if he's a
little bit off. And we talk about this all the time,
seventy percent of the time, I never felt good. My
arm was killing me. I was I was taking painkillers
(10:56):
just to get out there. So I'm not always throwing
ninety eight. I'm sometimes throwing ninety three with movement. I'm
throwing a flat slider. So I don't have my best stuff,
so I'm almost willing myself.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
To get guys out.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
I think these guys, and I coach sixteen U seventeen
U baseball, as soon as you hit their best pitch,
they go to two or three, they go to their
next best pitch, their next bet because they're so upset. Yeah,
it's so unsettling for them. That's what's killing I think
the travel baseball, the playing year round, and not being
(11:29):
able to accept failure. Jeter did a great commencement speech
the other day. He's like, you have to understand failure
before you can succeed. So many of these guys have kicked,
but from eight years old through college. Now they get
in the minor leagues, get a little adversity, get to
the big leagues, get a little adversity. It freaks them out.
I honestly, I don't want to say they're scared. They're
(11:52):
scared to fail with their best pitch. Was I was
never afraid to fail with my best pitch. That's that's
how I got.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
To the big league.
Speaker 4 (11:59):
Fun to watch Max Freed, I didn't know what to expel.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
My god, he just attacked the none What a turnaround?
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Down Why seventy percent of the time he's throwing his
bread and butter pass balls. He's painting in and out
and he's like, here, hit this. And I told him
the beard helps because that that kind of presence sculps
a guy. So I think it's like, if you look
at all the Yankee pitchers with the no facial haird policy,
those guys look like they're eighteen years old, right, nobody's.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Afraid of them. You know, with us, we had to
like manufacture.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
You're sure you'd so, but yeah, watching Max Freed, I
mean he's he's Crafty's one.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Thousand percent competent. Yeah, interesting not And I'm telling you
he learned that in Atlanta. Okay, when did Mo Rivera
become a race fan?
Speaker 1 (12:44):
You know, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
I lived down in uh in Cantona, New York, which
is really close to Mount Kisco, where he started the
car dealerships, non sec whatever, But I see I started
he was up here. I want to say it was
two thousand and nineteen, right, and I don't know how
he got connected the races, nogum right now.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
I remember when they retired as Jersey. We were there
the day that it happened. And I golf in some
of his tournaments and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
He's a New York guy. He loves New York.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
Oh yeah, I was at that game seven when he
went what was it eight, nine, ten eleven, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, ridiculous, unbelievable.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
He's crying that.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
That was because two of his relatives died. Remember that. Yeah,
they like drowned in his pool. Yeah, Panama. So yeah,
it's good.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
To have you guys here, no coming.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Thank you for allowing us in here. We love coming
here and.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
It's fun to talk baseball.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
It is.
Speaker 5 (13:38):
How many people are showing up tomorrow? How many people
will be at this venue?
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Fifty Yeah, which for this place, it's you know, compared
to the other compared to Churchill Downs, even Pimlica, certainly
Belmont Park.
Speaker 4 (13:51):
It's a relatively intimate setting.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
So to have forty eight fifty thousand people here, it's, uh,
it's a lot, you know it.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
But I got to tell you, the people that work
here a phenomenal they're oh good they there. They've been
so nice to us and every time we come, whether
it's Belmont, whether it's here, Yeah, I mean they're they're
just unbelievable and it's great.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
It's like everybody is a part of it.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
We just talked to I mean, we've talked to Kate
Masterson about this and stuff like that, and it's like
she grew up working here, you know, and they know everybody,
so they kind of when you're coming here, they I
think it rubs off.
Speaker 4 (14:22):
Yeah, And it takes a village.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
I mean, so many of the people you're seeing here,
the maintenance crew, the facility staff. It's a big venue
that sits dormant all winter long, and we have a
phenomenal year round staff. But still to get this place
up and running it it takes a lot of effort.
And it's a credit to the the folks that are
so dedicated to preserving, maintaining, evolving in this venue for
(14:47):
the next generation.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
So we love it.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Pat, thank you so much for Thank you, guys. I
appreciate it.
Shoining us on the set is Pat mckennaugh.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
He's the our n y are A president of Communications
Belmont and Saratoga.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Kind of sounds like a massive job.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Pat, You know what is especially the week of the race,
leading up to the race, things like that. How how
busy did your office become pretty busy?
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Yeah, it's listen. It's It's fun to be able to
be up here. I've been up here for the better
part of two weeks. You know, a little more accustomed
to the intensity of the Belmont at Saratoga here with
our second year, but really fortunate to be able to
spend so much time in Saratoga.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
These are the best.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Fans in racing, some of the best fans in all sport.
As you guys have experienced here today.
Speaker 5 (00:43):
I'm sure we do miss the Elmont venue, especially for
this weekend. And you know, this place is wonderful. We
love this place so much. But give us a timeline
of what's going on there and when we're going to
get back to racing in Elmont.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Sure, I was just there last week. The construction is
moving along on schedule. We will open up that facility
in September of twenty twenty six. What we've said from
the beginning is we have a plan that could allow
for a Belmont Stakes and a partially completed facility in
twenty twenty six. But we will have news on the
site of the twenty twenty six Belmont Steaks Racing Festival
(01:21):
probably the next couple of weeks.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
So will the track up there go in last tracks
going first?
Speaker 1 (01:25):
No, we'll started track.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Yeah, So we have let's say new main track, so
new mile and a half dirt main track, two new
turk courses, and a synthetic a mile synthetic that'll be
the winter race track. Because it's important to remember historically
we've had two venues downstate Aqueduct in Belmont. When Belmont's complete,
we will consolidate all of the racing and training activities
to one new, world class Belmont Park. So it'll be
(01:49):
a phenomenal facility. The racetracks themselves will be second to
none in the world.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
You know.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
All the technology that's evolved since the last time Belmont
was renovated in nineteen sixty eight will allow us to
really have just the premium racetrack services for these unbelievable athletes,
horsemen and trainers. And the building itself will be a
dramatic departure from what you guys are familiar with. Down
that enormous one and a half million square foot facility.
(02:18):
If you put that thing upright, it'd be taller than
the Empire State Building.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
So downsize to three hundred thousand square feet.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
It'll be a lively, much more intimate setting and then
a ton of green space. And that's something we've learned
from being here in Saratoga's the backyard, the picnic tables,
to have a spot where friends and family can congregate,
you know, whether it's May or September. Obviously, the Belmont
Festival itself is a huge draw. Also recently announced twenty
(02:46):
twenty seven Breeders Cup. We'll be coming back to New
York for the first time in twenty years at the
new Belmont Park. So really exciting time here in New
York for horse racing, really all across the country. When
you look at the Capitol projects down in Ball Baltimore,
New Pimlico coming essentially a new Keenland, they're making some
dramatic transformations to that facility, continued investment in Kentucky and
(03:09):
then the new Belmont Park. We think will be the
crown jewel of them all, selfishly speaking, but exciting and
please to have you guys here for yet another Belmont
stakes here at the old spot.
Speaker 5 (03:20):
Do you think that this is just the timeline of
things or do you think that all of these tractors
included gets a little boost from the pandemic and just
the way the horse racing has really become more part
of the culture in America.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Yeah, I mean it's always been a big part of
the culture. I think some ebbs and flows there, and
the nineties into the two thousands. I mean, you look
at a place like this. I grew up here in
upstate New York. It's always been what you did in
July and August and afternoon if you could get away,
certainly the weekend Saturdays and Sundays. To be up here
felt like you were a part of something bigger. And
this community has revolved around world class throw red horse
(03:55):
racing since the eighteen sixties.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
But yeah, I do.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
I think that the general acceptance of culturally of wagering,
bringing it out from the darkness and into the light
in so many ways with the rise in sports betting,
has certainly also benefited racing you've seen that in the
first two legs of the Triple Crown, record breaking wagering
and Kentucky and huge wagering down at Pimlicover for the Preakness.
(04:21):
So we're in a very good spot. We hope to
capitalize on that momentum with the new Belmont Park.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Talking to Pat McKenna, he is the NYR President of
Communications Belmont in Saratoga. What went into it took us
back to just even before you started drawing up the
plans for the renovation and stuff like that, Okay, we're
gonna have to move, move to Saratoga. You know, take
us behind the scenes to all of that kind of stuff,
because it just seems like logistically had to have. At
(04:48):
one point you thought it was a nightmare, and then
you made it come to fruition.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Yeah, exactly turned into a dream. And you know, we're
an interesting entity. We're not a state agency, but we
are franchised to conduct racing at the three race tracks,
which are wholly owned by New York State. So this
was a political process, a legislative process. So we received
a four hundred and fifty five million dollar loan through
the twenty twenty two New York State Budget Governor Hokal,
(05:15):
the governor here in New York, has been a staunch
supporter of horse racing, going back even before she was
elevated to the governorship, and she's really been a champion
of this project from the beginning to have a world
class sports entertainment venue on Long Island, to have a
downstate attraction similar to what we have here at Saratoga.
(05:37):
And look no further than the Breeders Cup announcing their
site selection just about a week and a half ago.
So you know, once we had that in place, knowing
that we had this resource essentially here in Saratoga, made
it all possible to be able to shift the Belmont
up here last year round the normal Saratoga meet do
it again this year. We're also going to be back
(05:58):
here for July fourth, and these are temporary changes that
you know, we'll be back to forty days at some
point in the very near future.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
And we're thankful that this.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Community is so receptive and so welcoming to us, to
the racing community year after year. So a lengthy process.
I mean, I recall starting in IRA in twenty sixteen,
one of the first questions I got was you know,
when is that Belmont renovation gonna happen. It's been talked
about since probably the nineteen eighties, nineteen nineties far back.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Absolutely, Dave Orouric our chairman Mark Holliday, you know, really
focused on this as you know, as really a transformational
project for the future of the sport, for New York
State to have a landmark sporting venue that can really
stand aside the new venues downstate, whether it's City.
Speaker 4 (06:51):
Field, Yankee Stadium, the USTA.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
What they've been able to do with the US Open
has been just unbelievable. So we're right there with them
and we look forward to getting back to Belmont twenty
twenty six.
Speaker 5 (07:03):
One thing I don't know if it's because I Andy
communicates this to us all the time, but the one
thing that I know about the NYRA and all the
tracks included, and you even mentioned you call them athletes,
you guys care about the horses, I think more than
anything else in the venue. The surfaces are very important
to you, and that you guys have world class grounds
(07:24):
crew on that and then also talk about the retirement
plans after these horses are done racing.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
The NYRA takes care of them. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Yeah, and it's not only Naira, but you know people
like Nauja on the breeding side. As you'll hear from him,
it's a whole community, like the entire racetrack racing ecosystem,
not only here in New York, in Florida and Maryland,
in Kentucky, in California. It's been a priority for decades
to ensure that these athletes can transition to a second career,
(07:56):
whether that's hanging around a farm or doing other things.
Their racing days are done, hugely important and it's certainly
what they're They're owed after their days on the track
are complete, like any other professional athlete. We hope to
provide them with the secure retirement and that's what we've
been able to do here, especially over the last twenty years.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Talking to Pat McKenna, n y are a president communications
Belmont and Saratoga.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
All right, you wanted to talk a little baseball.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
You know.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Paul O'Neil. Who's Paul and I are tight?
Speaker 4 (08:31):
Yes, I'm a Paul Neil fan.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
I'm constantly texting him during the broadcast stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Yeah, So your.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Thoughts on Devin Williams that trade and how it's worked
out for the Yankees so far.
Speaker 4 (08:42):
Temper myself.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
I know, go ahead.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
Beaver was sensational all last year.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
I mean I'll be during the spring, it felt like
there are some rumblings, the velocities down a little bit.
Devin Williams comes out, struggles mightily with just about everything,
couldn't seem to to get anyone out, giving up home runs,
blowing saves, and then Luke Weavers steps up and is
dominant yet again, unfortunately with the injury. I don't know
(09:07):
what's he done recently. I haven't been able to pay
attention This week.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
He struggled through a save. The other night he got
through it. I was texting Paul, My biggest thing is
is forget his stuff's amazing.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Yeah, it's his mound presence. It looks like he lost
his dog.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
He's out there like vigety and.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
Needs like abdibble mountain.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Yeah, dude, you gotta be like you can't.
Speaker 4 (09:26):
I have a question.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
I've been thinking about something. So it feels like harder
than ever to save games. Do you think that that's
in any way a reflection of the fact that these
guys are facing ninety five plus all the time. So
these guys who used to come in and fire away
like you Yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
Like any of the closers in the nineties that were
so good.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
It was a dramatic change from some of the starters
who were throwing eighty eight to ninety two, a lot
of breaking stuff, And now it feels like absent a
few guys, so many of these starters, and the fact
that they're going four or five innings ending it off
to someone who's throwing absolute gas.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
I don't know. I mean, I was just.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Well, no, it's a great question because you know, when
you look at the progression. When I was coming up,
we had five guys in the bullpen. Now you have eight.
Five of those eight guys all throw ninety five to
ninety eight, so it's like there's no differential. So these
hitters aren't afraid. Nobody pitches inside, and I'm talking about effectively,
like I faced two thousand hitters, I hit twelve. You
(10:25):
know that's you don't hit guys. You pitch inside. And
I was taught that when I was young. I now
teach all of my pitchers how to pitch inside, outside, up, down,
move it all around.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
I don't care how hard you throw.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
So by the time the closer gets out there, these
guys have faced the starter twice. Probably one or two
guys that throw as hard as him, maybe have better
stuff than him when he comes in if he's a
little bit off. And we talk about this all the time,
seventy percent of the time, I never felt good. My
arm was killing me. I was I was taking painkillers
(10:56):
just to get out there. So I'm not always throwing
ninety eight. I'm sometimes throwing ninety three with movement. I'm
throwing a flat slider. So I don't have my best stuff,
so I'm almost willing myself.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
To get guys out.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
I think these guys, and I coach sixteen U seventeen
U baseball, as soon as you hit their best pitch,
they go to two or three, they go to their
next best pitch, their next bet because they're so upset. Yeah,
it's so unsettling for them. That's what's killing I think
the travel baseball, the playing year round, and not being
(11:29):
able to accept failure. Jeter did a great commencement speech
the other day. He's like, you have to understand failure
before you can succeed. So many of these guys have kicked,
but from eight years old through college. Now they get
in the minor leagues, get a little adversity, get to
the big leagues, get a little adversity. It freaks them out.
I honestly, I don't want to say they're scared. They're
(11:52):
scared to fail with their best pitch. Was I was
never afraid to fail with my best pitch. That's that's
how I got.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
To the big league.
Speaker 4 (11:59):
Fun to watch Max Freed, I didn't know what to expel.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
My god, he just attacked the none What a turnaround?
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Down Why seventy percent of the time he's throwing his
bread and butter pass balls. He's painting in and out
and he's like, here, hit this. And I told him
the beard helps because that that kind of presence sculps
a guy. So I think it's like, if you look
at all the Yankee pitchers with the no facial haird policy,
those guys look like they're eighteen years old, right, nobody's.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Afraid of them. You know, with us, we had to
like manufacture.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
You're sure you'd so, but yeah, watching Max Freed, I
mean he's he's Crafty's one.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Thousand percent competent. Yeah, interesting not And I'm telling you
he learned that in Atlanta. Okay, when did Mo Rivera
become a race fan?
Speaker 1 (12:44):
You know, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
I lived down in uh in Cantona, New York, which
is really close to Mount Kisco, where he started the
car dealerships, non sec whatever, But I see I started
he was up here. I want to say it was
two thousand and nineteen, right, and I don't know how
he got connected the races, nogum right now.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
I remember when they retired as Jersey. We were there
the day that it happened. And I golf in some
of his tournaments and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
He's a New York guy. He loves New York.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
Oh yeah, I was at that game seven when he
went what was it eight, nine, ten eleven, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, ridiculous, unbelievable.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
He's crying that.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
That was because two of his relatives died. Remember that. Yeah,
they like drowned in his pool. Yeah, Panama. So yeah,
it's good.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
To have you guys here, no coming.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Thank you for allowing us in here. We love coming
here and.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
It's fun to talk baseball.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
It is.
Speaker 5 (13:38):
How many people are showing up tomorrow? How many people
will be at this venue?
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Fifty Yeah, which for this place, it's you know, compared
to the other compared to Churchill Downs, even Pimlica, certainly
Belmont Park.
Speaker 4 (13:51):
It's a relatively intimate setting.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
So to have forty eight fifty thousand people here, it's, uh,
it's a lot, you know it.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
But I got to tell you, the people that work
here a phenomenal they're oh good they there. They've been
so nice to us and every time we come, whether
it's Belmont, whether it's here, Yeah, I mean they're they're
just unbelievable and it's great.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
It's like everybody is a part of it.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
We just talked to I mean, we've talked to Kate
Masterson about this and stuff like that, and it's like
she grew up working here, you know, and they know everybody,
so they kind of when you're coming here, they I
think it rubs off.
Speaker 4 (14:22):
Yeah, And it takes a village.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
I mean, so many of the people you're seeing here,
the maintenance crew, the facility staff. It's a big venue
that sits dormant all winter long, and we have a
phenomenal year round staff. But still to get this place
up and running it it takes a lot of effort.
And it's a credit to the the folks that are
so dedicated to preserving, maintaining, evolving in this venue for
(14:47):
the next generation.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
So we love it.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Pat, thank you so much for Thank you, guys. I
appreciate it.
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