Episode 353: MLB Legend Roger Clemens

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
You're listening to the Mike to New Even podcast hosted
by media personality and consultant Mike Glow. You know, even

(00:42):
if they spent the majority of their career with a
team prior to the Yankees. As someone who grew up
and is still a diehard New York Yankee fan, there's
certain players that, even if they were Boston Red Sox prior,
I remember them as Yankees. Johnny Damon is one of them,
and my next guest will introduce momentarily is also one
of them too. We won't waste too much time getting
into All I'll say is check out the previous episode,
which was also pre recorded as we continue putting shows

(01:04):
in the archive. That one was with Captain Dave Riley,
longtime member of the NYP the Emergency Service Unit, enjoyed
a twenty two year career in the New York City
Police Department. Good going through his career and the different
facets of working in a unit like ESU, which, as
most of you know, half swat, half rescue. Like we said,
won't waste too much time to want to keep my
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(01:25):
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(02:08):
of the Mike the New Haven Podcast. All Right, Like
I said, we'll keep him waiting. My next guest is
widely regarded as one of the greatest pictures of all time.
He's a seventh time cy Young Award winner and eleven
time All Star, nineteen eighty six American League MVP, and
two time World Series champion, winning in nineteen ninety nine
and two thousand with the New York Yankees, and throughout
his twenty three year career he played in six World

(02:28):
Series respectively, which we'll talk about with him. Doesn't need
much of an introduction, the Rocket. Roger Clemens joins us
now on the Mike the New Haven Podcast. Roger, welcome,
how are you?

Speaker 2 (02:36):
Yeah? Thanks for having me man, that's awesome. Appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
Oh no, I appreciate you making the time. You know
you're busy, So we'll get right into it. I mean,
most people would associate you with Texas and being a textan.
You identify as a proud textan. Before that, you spent
your early years in Ohio, So tell me about growing
up there and learning to love baseball.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
Yeah great, I mean I obviously love to speak to that.
I was born in Ohio. A lot of family in
that area, uh Cookville, Tennessee area. We always had a
family reunion down there. Uh backstory, my pops passed away
when I was nine. So I was raised by two
strong willed women, my mother and my grandmother, and uh,

(03:13):
you know, they were the best. I mean, that's uh,
you know, I got my work work ethic from my mom.
Uh my mom. My oldest brother got stationed at fort Hood.
Uh My mom picked up six of us, got us
down to Texas, and the rest is history. Man. She
she put me in a school district where there was
a great baseball program. My high school coach ended up

(03:34):
being like a father figure to me. But uh, make
no mistake about it, my mom, I kind of get
uh my, I get a little you know, I don't
I don't say I get upset. I just had to
correct people. They always say, you know, you million dollar
ball players, or you guys silver spoon in your mouth whatever.
I said. Hold up a second, I said. My mom
worked three jobs, you know, so you know I could

(03:54):
have a sweet glove and a new pair of cleats
every every season, it seemed like. And uh, you know,
I helped their stock coolers in the afternoon and then
we cleaned office buildings at night. But she was a worker.
My grandmother, My grandmother said it best. She said, if
you're going to be a ditch digger, you'd be the
best damn ditch digger in the country. And so, you know,
just great strong willed women. And my mom always taught

(04:17):
me you know, even when I was in my playing days,
my twenty four years of majors. Ever, who you know,
city you're representing on your chest, you do it to
the fullest and and uh so just great work ethics.
Had three wonderful coaches in college. My high school coach
was awesome. All three of my coaches, Coach Charlie Marianna,
my high school coach. I went to San Jack my

(04:38):
freshman year is a junior college. Had a baseball man
there named Wayne Graham, and he went on to take
Rice University to the national championship. And then I played
at the time for the winning his coach, coach Cliff
Guston at the University of Texas, And all three men
were great baseball men, great teachers of the game of baseball,
but also great teachers of the game of life. Stuff

(04:59):
that I was able to carr with me not only
high school, University of Texas and on to the pros,
to the majors. So I was pretty lucky in that sense.

Speaker 1 (05:09):
You get to the Red Sox, of course, in nineteen
eighty four, and everybody remembers their first big League start
rather be as a batter, of course, or in your
case is a starting pitcher. This is the Red Sox
team that it had some up and down years in
the seventies, and there was a lot of pressure on
you at that time as a prize draft pick. What
do you remember most about that debut?

Speaker 2 (05:26):
I remember it was in Cleveland, the Mistake by the
Lake as they called it. There was about five thousand people.
It was freezing cold. Let's see. Let me I obviously remember.
My first batter I ever faced professionally was Brett Butler,
a little, small, left handed leadoff hitter. I walked him
on four straight pitches and my first out was recorded.

(05:46):
I picked him off first base. He was trying to
steal and I picked him off first So that's how
I recorded my first I think my first big league
strikeout was Mike Hargrove. He ended up being a manager
later on, and yeah, so yeah, it was really cool.
I mean, winning winning the National Championship at Texas, beating
Alabama and then getting drafted by the Red Sox, the
only really team that i'd heard that if I was

(06:08):
available at the time, where the Los Angeles Dodgers were
going to select me, and they had to pick right
behind the Red Sox. So the Red Sox took me.
Uh I remember going to Fenway for the first time.
I don't. I think it was pre cell phones, so
I had I was in the back of a TAXI
had my head down in a paper most of the
way from the airport to the stadium. And when the
cab driver stopped, I looked out the window. He goes,

(06:29):
here you go, kid, and uh he had you know,
he had no clue who I was. And you know,
I was new to everything and just barely off the
campus drafted. And I look out the window of the
cab and it's a I see nothing but a brick building.
It looked like a warehouse. I said, hey, mister Cabby,
I'm I'm a professional ball player. I'm going to a
stadium called Fenway Park. And he goes, this is it, kid,

(06:51):
get your butt out of my car and I and
I got out and I saw the breaking. Then I
saw the lights and the team brought me into the stadium,
saw the big green monster, and and you know, like
I said, I love history, and I was fortunate to
play in two historic for two historic teams.

Speaker 1 (07:07):
Absolutely, as we'll talk about as this interview progresses, We're
talking with Roger Clemens here in the Mike Then New
Aven podcast. Now, nineteen eighty six is interesting because that's
when you said you went from a thrower to a
picture and you credited to Tom Sever. Now, just to
read the audience, your numbers that year twenty four wins,
four losses, two point four eighty ra that's your first
sye young. You won your second again a year later.
But just to focus on Sever, another all time great,

(07:29):
someone with so much pedigree behind him. He spent a
partial season with you guys in eighty six, but that
paved the way for what you would go on to achieve.
What do you recall most from learning about him, not
only about pitching, but just about as you said, life.

Speaker 2 (07:41):
Yeah, another wonderful question. I mean, what a what a
treat and luxury is for me as a young player
to have, you know, Tom Sever, Tom terrific gets traded
to us and he got hurt, so he wasn't able
to be in the playoffs that year with us, but
yeah he was. You know, I kept my mouth shut
and did a lot of listening. I mean, I consider
Tom c were the ultimate power pitcher. I always had

(08:03):
great mechanics, even when I was in high school, not
throwing very hard. I was probably better defensive end than
I was pitcher first baseman, but I threw strikes and
that's why I got the pitch. And then I think
it was my freshman year in college. I grew at Texas.
We didn't have a lifting program, so we basically lifted
with the football team so that I gained leg strength.
From that, my fastball jumped to mid nineties to upper nineties,

(08:26):
and then, like you said, had a wonderful pitching coach
named Bill Fisher. Fish to this day, his big stickler
was walking guys. And to this day Bill Fisher still
holds the Major record. I believe it's ninety one innings
without walking a guy. Wow. And Greg Maddix said he
was going to beat it one year. I think Doggie
got to about eighty something walking a guy. But Fish

(08:49):
had Tom sever in Cincinnati, and so when we traded
for him got him. Man, it was just man. I
was like a sponge. I was sitting next to him
when I could listen to him. But again, the ultimate
power pitch, your y're dead on.

Speaker 1 (09:01):
Absolutely and again a great career in his own right
and definitely revered in New York for what he accomplished,
primarily with the Mets eighty six, You know, is a
great taste in both success and heartbreak, especially early on.
Early in your career as an athlete. You had a
lot of success in college. Here again a successful year,
you get to the World Series. Everyone knows what happens
in Game six and Game seven. What did that teach

(09:22):
you early on about how to handle adversity as an athlete?
How did it really fuel your drive to win going forward?

Speaker 2 (09:28):
Yeah, I think I was built for winning. At the
University of Texas. We had a slogan at Texas we
don't rebuild, re reload, and winning the national championship. I
think my first couple of years in the league, it
was about changing the dynamics of my family's life, and
I knew I was going to be able to make
some money, pay off my mom's town home, get her
a new car. Then after that it was about winning

(09:49):
championships again. Everything else will take care of itself. So
I had that mindset. I think bruce Hurst, left handed
pitcher with me in Boston. Hursty said it best. He actually,
after I struck out twenty for the first time, he
gave me my nickname the Rocket, and he also told
me that night. He says two things. Your life just changed.
Our lives as a team just changed. And he goes,
you got to understand before you got here, pitching in

(10:11):
Boston was a second class citizen, and it was all hit, hit,
hit hit. So it was a great It was a
wonderful season. I mean, obviously we didn't win. It was
a heartbreak. I think if you look at the playoff there,
you know you gotta you gotta understand you're talking about.
I was in six World Series. Two of them were
extremely emotional. Of course, I was supposed to pitch on
n nine to eleven with the Yankees, but ye regress

(10:34):
back to eighty six. The week before in the playoffs,
we were one strike away from getting eliminated by the
California Angels. As you asked the question, I still can
visualize in my mind looking across the field with one
strike to go, and I see Reggie Jackson with his
arm around Gene Mock, the manager, getting ready to celebrate.
Of course, Dave Henderson, my teammate, hit the big home

(10:55):
run and we went on. When I pitched the Game
seven to get us into the World Series, against them,
and then you know, like I said, a week later, uh,
we're one strike away on about five hitters, uh to
clinching that. I remember the scoreboard accidentally there at Chase Stadium,
it flashed real quick, congratulations to the world champion Boston
Red Sox. Uh. I had gone in in the eighth

(11:18):
inning of that that game six uh to. Uh I
got done ice and I was changing shirts and they
already had the champagne there opened up. They had the
World Series on the TV platform, the plastic in front
of the lockers, ready to go. So I was like,
you know, I've never seen the World Series trophy and
there it was sitting right there. So we all know
what happened.

Speaker 3 (11:37):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (11:37):
They talk about the play with Billy buck I tell people,
you guys have no idea. We would not be in
the position we were in without Billy Buckner. He basically
had bone rubbing on bone on his ankles. He was
wearing if you can visualize high top cleats, well known
like Johnny Unitis, you know back in the day, you know,
he's the only on wearing high top cleats. So but yeah,
I mean it was uh. He he worked his butt

(11:59):
off to be out us, but it was a good
learning experience. I thought it was going to be a
way of life that we're going to be in the
playoffs a lot.

Speaker 1 (12:07):
Yeah, and it's amazing not to jump ahead, but life
comes full circle. You went from being on the losing
end in Chase Stadium in eighty six fourteen years later
on the winning end in two thousand, as we'll get to.
So there was a happy ending in that front. But
you know, you know, I will say this division races
for those of you who are younger in terms of
following baseball back then, had a lot more importance to
them because there was no division series. You had years,

(12:28):
especially for the Yankees in the eighties with Donnie Maddingly
and Ricky Henderson they'd win ninety seven ninety eight games.
Today that gets you at least a wild card. Back then,
if you didn't win your division, you went home. So
it made winning the division in eighty eight in ninety
a lot sweeter and ninety five as well, because that
was the ultimate incentive you were into the Alcs. And
even though you guys came up short against Oakland in
those two years, Oakland, of course were loaded in those days. Again,

(12:51):
more learning more experience and adding more to your drive.

Speaker 2 (12:54):
I absolutely, I mean it was just great again again.
It was all about winning when you played base on
the East and the tradition at with the Red Sox Yankee,
which I still considered, you know, the biggest rivalry in sports.
Lakers Celtics are right there, but I still think Yankee
Red Sox are one of the top rivalry.

Speaker 1 (13:13):
Well, of course, fast forward to nineteen ninety six, you
reached the end of your tenure in Boston. A lot
was made about that in the press that year, and
he ended up with the Toronto Blue Jays for a
couple of years. People forget about that because, of course
what would come with the Yankees. But ye had two
great years there ninety seven ninety eight. You win the
cy Young both years. You had a triumphant return to Boston.
So even though the Blue Jays weren't exactly a contender

(13:35):
at that time, they did win eighty eight games in
ninety eight. They weren't a championship contender though quite yet.
Think about the guys you played with for a little while.
Carlos Delgado was on the come up at the time,
Green was on the come up at the time, so
what did you enjoy or what was unique about getting
to play with these guys and getting to play in Canada.

Speaker 2 (13:51):
Yeah, so, you know, just for the record, as you
guys know too, it was made like that I left Boston,
I would have. I wanted to finish my career in Boston. Yeah,
and I thought it was going to be about four
more years, and they got a new GM guy came in,
wished me well in the twilight of my career. Thank goodness.
It was a long twilight. And uh, but you're right.
So I hit it off with mister Beeston. You know,

(14:11):
he was the team president at the time, and Beast
he came here to Houston and basically was and you
got to let me regress again. You got to understand
the Yankees. When I was with the Red Sox eighties,
late eighties, maybe early nineties, the Yankees weren't very good.
They had Donnie Ball Game and yeah, and and so
they weren't The rivalry really wasn't there. The team that
we knocked heads with were the Blue Jays, you know,

(14:33):
late eighties, early nineties. They won a couple of championships.
Beston mister Paul Beaston came down here and he said,
you know, I'd like to for you to come pet.
We're gonna rebuild the team. We're gonna go back to
those championship ways. So I had a four year deal.
Beasty left to go to the commissioner's office. Kind of
changed the whole complex of my my my contract. And
then once they knew that, uh, something was going to happen,

(14:56):
I was going to get possibly traded. Uh you know Steinberg,
Mister Steinbergy started. He actually came to my house twice
and once I said, oh yeah, I've been trying to
get you forever. You want to be a Yankeer, don't you.
But uh again, the players. I had some great young
guys pitching with me on the pitching staff in Toronto,
some great young players. Uh. It was a lot of fun. Man.

(15:16):
We got after it. Charlie O'Brien caught me. I think,
you know, I still stay in contact with a lot
of my catchers. They're they're my bread and butter. Those
guys paid attention to detail because I called about ninety
ninety five percent of my game from the mound. So
I was PitchCom before PitchCom and these guys said, these
guys had to pay attention because I was doing a
lot of it with my eyes, calling the pitches with
my eyes, and Charlie O'Brien was I think Charlie put

(15:39):
a book out cy Young Catcher. I think he caught
eleven seasons where the guy he caught one the Cy
Young and uh just had tremendous hands, quiet hands, could
frame the ball beautifully. And then, like I said, mister
Steinberger came calling and and they said, we've got to
do this trade, and we got to do it quick. So, uh,
that's kind of how that that's all went to the

(16:00):
next year.

Speaker 1 (16:01):
And this is what I wanted to ask you about,
especially growing up as a Yankee fans. So let's set
the context. Spring of nineteen ninety nine. The Yankees aren't
just coming off a championship where they swept the Padres.
They're coming off arguably the greatest season in the history
of the sport. One hundred and fourteen regular season wins,
adding eleven during the postseason. One hundred and twenty five
and fifty was their record combining the playoffs. And on

(16:22):
top of that, David Wells was great for them that year.
He threw a perfect game for them that year and
you get traded for him. He was a fan favorite.
So people know your pedigree, people know what you've accomplished
at this point. But it's still a lot of pressure.
So just tell me about the two This is the
two part question. One the moment you found out that
trade was official and that you were gonna be a Yankee.
And two just the pressure you had internally to really

(16:43):
prove the New York fans that you belonged here.

Speaker 2 (16:46):
Yeah, I mean I was. I was always you know,
you know, you always are trying to perform at a
high level. So it was it was put the pin
stripes on. It wasn't any different than you know, being
in Boston or playing in Texas. I mean, again, you're
in situations where you get to Omaha and win the
College World Series or it's a it's an off year.
Same thing with Boston, and but even I will give

(17:07):
you that. It's you know, Derek Jeter and I you know,
we both preached it. You know, if you get to
the World Series and lose, it's you know, I'm gonna
go down and do some work with the Yankees this spring.
And that's the first thing I'm gonna say. I hopefully
you guys remember what happened last year. I hope that
still sticks with you, to go that far, put all
that time and work in and then come and come

(17:27):
up short. So you know, that's what it was that
was all about. And you know, we had I had teammate,
I had great teammates. I had great pitching mates, and
we just kind of fed off each other as we
got going. And uh, I tease people, but it holds true, guys,
when I'm out in these celebrity golf events or whatever
and everybody's, hey, he's got a pressure putt or pitching

(17:47):
for the Yankees. You know, there's all kinds of pressure
in this game. Pitching Game one in the World Series,
I pitched a bunch of Game sevens. The pressure of
the pressure of the pressure, I go, guys, let me
tell you about pressure. With my four boys when they
were little. I would come home on an off day
in the Major League Baseball season and you go to
Dad's pitch and you get six pitches to try, and
you're basically you're the dad. The dad or the coach's pitch.

(18:09):
The guy that's pitching is really dictating the game. You
have to hit the kid's bat for us for them
to hit it and run and score. And you only
get six pitches. On the six pitch the kid strikes
out or you know, he gets a hit or whatever.
I can't tell you how many times that. I mean,
you're talking about pressure. I'm stepping and trying to throw
a ball thirty miles an hour and hit this little

(18:30):
guy's bat so he doesn't start crowding. I don't want
to strike out twelve, you know, twelve twelve year olds,
and I'm trying to hit his bat. And on the
last pitch that I know, I've got to hit his
bat right before I throw it. One of the moms
are in the dance going, Jesus, you're a professional throwing
my kid a strike. Gee, that is pressure. That pitching

(18:51):
Game seven for the Yankees in the World Series, that's pressure.
So let me just tell you try and your viewers
and the dads that know that and what I just said,
they know. I guarantee you.

Speaker 1 (19:01):
Oh of course, of course, especially in all with the
amount of cops and fireman we have on this podcast.

Speaker 2 (19:06):
I'll guarantee you they know what it's like to do
Dad's bitch.

Speaker 1 (19:09):
Yeah, yeah, they definitely know that feeling for sure. Ninety nine.
That first year, you go through the regular season, fourteen
and ten record that year, playoffs, you pitch great against Texas,
you finish off the Rangers in Game three, Yankees win
the Alcs over Boston in five games. You get to
the World Series and game four, heading into that start,
it's on YouTube, but it's entire the MLB Classics uploaded.

(19:30):
You rubbed your fingers on the Babes plaque. You go
out there, you give them seven and a third or
I think it was seven and two thirds of one
run ball. A tremendous effort by you. Clinched the championship.
That night, you leave to a standing ovation when Chad
Kurtis caught Keith Lockhart's final out, and you realize that
that was the one thing that was missing to that
point in your career. The World Series ring. You're finally

(19:51):
a World Series champion. Take me through those emotions as
you're running on the field to celebrate.

Speaker 2 (19:56):
Yeah, you're bringing back remembory lane here trying to remember
some of this stuff. But I mean, I think I
said it best when when you know it's kind of
strange saying it now because the guys are only going
four and five innings these starters. But you know, we're
trying to finish what we start, you know. But as
long as I can eat innings after the seventh inning,
maybe eat one or two in the eighth, I've got
the best closer in the history to close, you know,

(20:17):
in the history of the game out there warming up,
Mariano Rivera. So if I can get the bottle, mo
And I always told people there's two things. They always say,
there's two things for sure in this world, death and taxes.
You can add a third one there, Mariano Rivera. Yeah,
And I mean, the dude is he and he's got
the coolest jog in from the from the outfield. You know,
he's got his glove in his other hand. He's got

(20:37):
the coolest jog there is. You're right. I always kept
Babe Bruce Monument nice and shiny with my sweat on
his forehead, and uh so, yeah, I just remember watching
Moe out there and thinking, man, this is freaking gonna
really happen. And when it did, I think I went
out there, I went my hands in the air and
I was almost lost. You know. It's just an unbelievable feeling.

(20:58):
I know that we had a couple team parties that night.
I think I went right from the team parties to
all the morning shows, you know, New York City at
its best, and uh, but it was a tremendous film.
You're right. It was just another uh, you know, another
you know, cool moment to go along with the career.

Speaker 1 (21:15):
I had had a trip down to the Canyon of
Heroes too, which I know had to be equally as member.

Speaker 2 (21:19):
That was that ticke A Tate Parade was awesome.

Speaker 1 (21:22):
Yes, yes, it was. Fast forward to the next year
thirteen and eight, three point seven zero. You finished second
and cy Young voting that year, some guy named Pedro Martinez.
I don't know whatever happened to him.

Speaker 2 (21:31):
They gave him. When anybody can win one, they must
have gave him.

Speaker 1 (21:34):
Yeah, they must have gave him. So you go into it.
And that was a tougher playoffs because at this time
the Yankees people forget you know, three and fifteen in September.
It was not an easy road to the playoffs. Yankees
had a lot of injuries that year. Oakland pushed you
guys to the limit. They were on the come up
at that time. Seattle pushed you guys to limit. But
then there was that start in game four where people,

(21:55):
let's let's set the context again. That lineup in two
thousand for Seattle, A rod still there. It's just his
last year with them, but he's still there. John Olrud
a heck of a hitter, and you faced him when
he was with the med Sand with their Ricky Henderson's there,
a young roul of Banyez is there, Mike Cameron. This
is a good team. And all you did to them
was fifteen strikeouts and one head for complete.

Speaker 2 (22:15):
And that was this two thousand. This was two thousand games,
I believe. See I don't had a boat. Didn't they
have like one hundred and fourteen wins? Something like that
was the next year to next year. Okay, so yeah
they were a good team. But you're right that game,
my boys, you know, I don't look at my numbers
a lot over the pay attention to them. I tell
people that's what I did for twenty four years. Not
who I am as a person, but I was locked

(22:36):
into it. My boys remind me of that game all
the time. They still think that that's probably even with
the twenty strikeout games and a bunch of other really
good games playoffs or regular season. They say, that's probably
the best game that I've ever thrown. And it was electric.
I was on, Both fastballs were on. I had a nice,
nice wipeout slider and a devastating split that night. So

(22:57):
it was Yeah, that was a fun game, man. Everything
was clicking and was good.

Speaker 1 (23:01):
Of course. And one thing I wanted to go back
and talk about your catchers. So you spent a part
of your twenty four year career he was catching you
for the majority of those times with the Yankees. Horne
Posada was such a great game general behind the plate,
so intense, had the same fire, you know, he would
have been a heck of a pitcher in his own
right if that's what he chose to pursue. Because of
the intensity that he had. What was it like to
have him catching you?

Speaker 2 (23:22):
Jorge was great. I mean, people don't understand again when
I talk about my catchers, how fond I am of
my catchers. And he was probably the best two way
to hit her and catcher, you know, because he could
he could hit, and it was great. We had a
great working relationship. When I was a little lethargic on
the mound. He would come out and get after me
a little bit and get my emotions going to get going.
And if he was moving around too much, you know,

(23:45):
a guy like guys that sit still and quiet and
trust their hands, and you know, he had to catch
you know, guys like El Duke Kohne, different guys that
threw a lot of frisbee curveballs, and I'd have to
remind you, hey, hey, my man, you're moving because in
my movement I go, yes, it's still. And but yeah,
he was. He was a great game caller. He knew,
he paid attention when I was calling games from the mound,

(24:07):
and just just just fun to be around. He was
tremendous catcher. You guys don't understand. I throw an extremely
heavy ball too, and by the second inning, if you
saw his hand where it's black and blue and then
just think to try and go up there and hit
bare handed. He didn't use batting gloves and so but yeah,
he was one of the best.

Speaker 1 (24:26):
And it was such a well rounded rotation at that
time because this is pre Mike Messina. Mike Mosina only
added more to it when he got through the next year.
But you had you mentioned El duqu you had Andy Pettitt,
you had David Kohne. David Wells came back eventually in
two thousand and two. So in those days, the Yankee
rotation you had three to four some of yours, five
legit bona fide aces and one rotation every bit.

Speaker 2 (24:47):
I remember doing a Sports Illustrated thing where mister Steinberner
got in the middle of us and there was six starters,
and then the caption was never gonna have too much pitching,
and we had guys in role played, you know, out
in the bullpen for the seventh and eighth guys to
get it to MO. Everybody kind of knew what was
going on, so uh, and then you know, Joe Tory,
I mean, Skip was great. We called him to Godfather. Uh,

(25:10):
you know, I think I think he got fired five
times or something. I think when the Yankee signed him,
the headline said clueless Joe instead of shootless Joe or
something like that. But what Joe did famously, he handled
our person He knew our personalities. He knew that, you know,
I was pretty aggressive and locked in, but he knew
our personalities and what he did famously, he handled the
media beautifully. In New York if they got a little

(25:31):
below the belt, and you know, we had stand up guys.
If we didn't play well or perform well, we pretty
much told people, hey, we stunk it up tonight, and
uh but if it got below the belt, he would
he would clean that up. He had a wonderful bench coach,
a baseball lifer. I don't think Don Zimmer. I don't
think Zim ever cast a check outside the game of baseball.
And then again, I very much enjoyed working having a

(25:53):
pitching coach, Mel Stotomar.

Speaker 1 (25:54):
Mel was terrific, you know, and that Yankee know how
back then, from those days where guys were gamers, and
even the guys you brought in, David Justice knew all
about postseason played from all his years with the Braves.
He blended in perfectly. In two thousand. It helped because
that World Series with the Mets was tight, and I
remember Derek Jeter saying, if we lose this World Series,
I don't think I could leave my house. He didn't
have to worry about that. You guys were able to

(26:15):
win it in five and it came full circle and
it was a scare even down to the end. Piazza
when he first hit that ball off Mo in Game five,
looked like it was going to go out, but thankfully
Bernie caught it, and you were a two time champion.

Speaker 2 (26:25):
Yeah, it was awesome. I mean, you know, somebody like
Piazza is like a Jim Rice, a Carlos Delgatto. When
he hits the ball, it sounds like a twenty two
going off, you know. And but yeah, there's no way
we could lose the Subway Series with mister Steinberger. And
we got mister Steinbergner. We had him when he was
a little more yellow mellow. He wasn't the George Steinberner

(26:46):
to the seventies. You know where he was. You see
him and Reggie going at it, or you know Billy
Martin Ridgie. But I tell people, mister Steinberger, if you
needed a player and he only had five bucks in
his pocket, that player called ten. He was going to
get me. And I can't tell you how many times
before certain big games, I would be in the trainer's
room doing my little five pound arm weights, getting my

(27:08):
shoulder loose, and he'd roll in with his jacket and
turtle neck, and he goes, I brought you here for
a reason, and I'm like, yes, sir, I love calling
him boss. But I was always smiling at him, even
in situations there's nothing funny, but he's look at me,
What do you smile at? I go, just you, Boss.
I mean, it's great being here, you know, and so
just great, good fond memories. I mean, it's just so

(27:29):
much history. I tell people, New Yankee Stadium is cool.
It's like going to a mall and there's a baseball
stadium there, Old old Yankee Stadium. You know, we had
ghosts run around that place. I mean, our comeback from
comeback wins that we had, it was it was crazy.
But you're right, we you know, you know, I thought
I was intense, an intense player until I ran into

(27:49):
Paul O'Neil. And if you know, if you met Paul
on the street, he's the sweetest guy. You hear him
announcing games, He's the sweetest dude during the game. I'm
not been around to anybody's more intense than Paul O'Neil.
I'm just all right now. Yeah, absolutely, pauly warrior. Paul
was a warrior.

Speaker 1 (28:06):
He was he was. There were many water coolers were
relieved when he was tired.

Speaker 2 (28:11):
I was just gonna say that. I stopped short of
saying that, And it was a it's a half hour ago.
He struck out a half hour ago. And we be
in the dugout. I'm sitting next to Zim, and all
of a sudden we hear the water cooler at the
end of the dug out, just getting war out, And
I was like, Zim, he hit like a half hour ago,
didn't he? But uh, yeah, some poor some water coolers
really uh really took a beat. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (28:31):
Absolutely, I mean again, it was a team of gamers.
I mean, look at the infield. You had behind you
for most of it, Brocious at third we talked about
beside earlier you had Jeter at short, Nab at second,
and later Soriano and then Tino at first.

Speaker 2 (28:42):
Yeah, you know, a great, great infield, and you know
somebody like Brocious Scotty, you know, lay in the weeds
hitting six, seventh to eighth. Hold. Maybe you forget about him.
He could plint, he could he could hurt.

Speaker 1 (28:51):
You, and he did sure did, especially in nineteen ninety
eight against San Diego and again in two thousand and
one against Young On Kim in Game five. Now, let's
get to that year before we get to the emotional aftermath.
At nine to eleven, you start twenty and one. This
is perhaps one of the finest seasons of your career.
And as you mentioned earlier, nine to eleven, before everything
that happened that day happened, you were slated to pitch

(29:12):
the night before had been rained out, so this was
a makeup game. And then eight forty six the world changes.
So tell me where you were that day when you
got the news of what was going on.

Speaker 2 (29:22):
Yeah, I mean, this is something that's always in the
forefront of my mind, you know, Like I said, I've
done some stuff with the military guys, the late great
It just when you passed a year ago. Toby Keith's
a great friend. Toby puts his heart and soul into
the military. Yeah, I mean I was. I was always
trying to sleep in. You get back from a night game,
so we did have a rainout, so I'm trying to sleep.

(29:46):
I used to sleeping until about eight o'clock. Get up,
get my body moving, doing things like that. My buddy
that shares the same floor of our ar condo knocked
on my door and said there's been a mishap at
the World Trade Center playing now, uh, outside my breakfast
window on the twenty fifth floor, we're not far from
the World Trade, so we have a lookout deck on

(30:06):
top of that. They let us after turf and we
can kind of barbecue and do stuff like that. The
place let us do it. But outside my breakfast window,
we'd all were close to the Hudson so we always
saw like four seaters that would take guests on like
a tour of the Statue of Liberty. So I thought
maybe this would act, because no, it's much bigger than that.
So anyway, we all all hell broke loose. We know

(30:27):
what happened. We saw the second building go down. We
couldn't comprehend what was going on until the second one.
Then the dormant came up and he knows a rocket
you need to get you guys need to get out
of here. They're shutting down bridges and everything. And the
only way I was able to leave the city by
vehicle with my buddy, and we're going to his place
in Danbury, Connecticut to just see what's going to happen next.

(30:50):
And we knew we're going to be playing baseball or
sports for a long time. But the only reason I
was able to get through some of the checkpoints. Is
when I rolled my window down, the office has recognized
me as you know, New York Yankee, and they just said,
get going, get out of here, and uh so uh
once we resumed what was it twelve fifteen days later.

(31:11):
I'm not sure you guys know better than I what
it was, but it was. I thought it was a
couple of weeks. I ended up I ended up not
being in the fly for everybody's panicing Houston. By the way,
my brothers and sisters, everybody's so end up taking my
car and uh, all of us piled in the car
and we drove twenty four twenty about twenty three hours
to Texas. And then once we got the call that
I was going to pitch again, it was going to

(31:32):
be in Comisky Park against the White Sox and what
is usually a very tough environment to pitch in, especially
as a New York Yankee. There were signs of love
and New York and everything. I remember, you know, putting
on the the NYPD hat to pitch in that look
to my left on the mound. We were doing all
the ceremonies, the pregame ceremonies to Joe Torrey's crying. I'm

(31:55):
starting to tear up don Zimmer's crying. I mean, it was,
it was, It was a it was a tough, tough deal.
I ended up going down close to where I lived
in New York. We had my Jersey numbers. Kind of ironic.
It was fire Station twenty two and they lost I
think seven or eight guys in the world trade stuff.
But you know what came of it, men, is probably

(32:17):
the coolest thing that's ever happened to me in my
life is that my agents went to high school with
General Myers. Jenneral Myers was a four star general at
the time, and he called my agents and asked him
if I'd go to the Middle East to see some
of our men and women. And said absolutely, And we
loaded up, went into the Pentagon, got our marching orders.

(32:38):
We were over there, I don't know, seven eight days.
Probably said about fourteen thousand of our men and women
over there. I tell people, I consider myself a huge
team player. I met during that trip. I met the
ultimate team players. I met Red Sox fans, Yankee fans,
Blue Jays, Longhorn fans, Houston Astro fans. I had some

(32:58):
gloves and baseball. As I took over and we played
a little catch and I was trying to write my
my my speech down what I was going to say
at each each base that we went to. But it
was unbelievable experience. We asked Drew Carry, the comedian, to
go over with us. But you know I had, like
I said, my brother served in Vietnam, my oldest brother,

(33:20):
he since has passed away, and I had five uncles
that served. So anytime I'm in the environment i'm doing.
I'm getting honored at the College Baseball Hall of Fame
here next week up in Kansas. I'm going to make
mention to the military people that will be there. So
just yeah, like you said, it was, it was gut wrenching.

(33:41):
Our lives. All of our lives have changed since then,
and but we'll never forget absolutely.

Speaker 1 (33:47):
And that segues into well that run in October of
two thousand and one, again Oakland get you guys fits again,
but you came back. Derek Jeter's playing Game three, turn
the tie to that series. You came back. You pitched
in Game five, Yankees were able to get that win
four to three, and you gutted that one out because
I know you're at that time your hamstring was bothering you,
but you toughed it out. Went into the next round
against Seattle. This was the year they won one hundred

(34:09):
and sixteen games. Yankees made quick work of them in five.
And that brings us to that game three. So Shilling
and Johnson had dominated games one and two. The Yankees
are down two to zero. First World Series game back
in New York since then, President Bush throws out the
first pitch.

Speaker 2 (34:22):
So securities on good memories right here.

Speaker 1 (34:25):
And I think this was, besides Seattle, perhaps the finest
game you pitched as a Yankee. You went out there,
he gave seven innings when the team needed it. You
thrived under pressure, and I think this was your finest display.

Speaker 2 (34:36):
I appreciate that that that game was emotional. You know,
we're friends with the Bush family here in Houston. Forty
one more than forty three, even though forty three. Throughout
the pitch, I got I have a horsesh you pit
in my backyard because of forty one. But yeah, that
that game was I got caught off guard a little
bit because I didn't realize that mister Steinberner was bringing

(34:58):
back about three hundred and women, fire police officers, you know,
first responders. They were all in the tunnel and Yankee
stadiums kind of like a locker rooms, like a little dungeon,
low ceiling, and I never like to warm up in
front of the fans. I like to come out at
Yankee Stadium. You come out of the locker room, go
to the right about one hundred yards and our weight
facilities there. So I would get on the treadmill and

(35:19):
do my work, do my cupboard get super loose before
I went out to play long toss. Eventually get to
the bullpen and do my warm up session. Well, when
I busted through the clubhouse door to go down today,
these people are all lining the hallway and they were
already getting really emotional. People were still tearing up, and
we're seeing people and I just start hugging people and

(35:41):
you don't have words because they've lost family members and
you could just see the stress in their eyes. And
then when you pop out there in your uniform, it
kind of gives them a little bit of a break
and takes them away from things. But anyway, I remember,
and you guys have seen this probably on a web
page or some videos somewhere that they did it when

(36:04):
President Bush came in, When forty three came in, I said,
first of all, we have a New York Yankees logo
in the middle of the locker room. It's on the carpet.
You don't walk over it, you walk around it. As
the first hand time, I know you're the president, but
you still can't walk across the inner locking in. Why
and the Secret Service guys with him, and he's like
he looked at a rocket. He goes, you know, I

(36:25):
need a Is there anywhere I can throw because he's
putting a bulletproof vest on. He had a bulletproof vest
on underneath that jacket he had on. So I said,
miss President, if you go out, you go about two
hundred yards right, it's our hitting cages underneath the stadium.
Pasada and Jeter be down there, so you probably see that,
and you can go down there. There's mounds you can
warm up and practice whatever you need to do, which
I loved because he wanted to look great when he

(36:46):
went out there on the main mound in front of
the world. It just won the stadium in the fifty
eight thousand whatever it was at the Yankee Stadium in
the backstory, which I got later, and again you guys
may have heard it or seen it. He got down
there do his eight or ten warm up, and there's
Derek and he's got obviously the president got cameras and
film running and to make small talk. He looked at Derek,

(37:07):
said Derek. He goes, any port is for me tonight.
Derek goes, well, mister President. He goes, uh, you know
you can't throw from the grass. You got it. Can't
throw from there. You got to get up by the
mound and throw up full distance. You know rocket's gonna
be you gotta throw full distance. He goes, okay, no problem,
I got that, and he goes, what else. Derek goes, well,
mister president. He goes, if you bounce it, you're in
New York they will boo you. And he goes, okay,

(37:29):
Now I'm nervous. So fast forward. I was out in
the bullpen with mel stottamar and warming up. Here comes
the President right out of the dugout. And I had
the best view you could have because I had the
whole silhouette, the half shell of Yankee Stadium. I'm in
the bullpen looking up. I can see about six or
eight snipers on top of the stadium. You can see
the little dark silhouette of a sniper. And Mel goes

(37:52):
everything all right because I stopped warming up. I said,
turn around, I want to watch this. This whole stadium
is gonna light up like a Christmas tree. And President
Bush wound up through a perfect strike to Todd Green.
I think Todd was catching him that night, and perfect
strike to him, and the place lit up like creating
them and it was it was electric. I mean I
got goosebumps on that. Fast forward to the game and

(38:16):
the game situation skip. Joe Torri had always pitched me
in a certain game where he might be a swing game. Well,
this game three is a swing game. And it was
a game that I could not go out there and
have a hiccup because we're done if we lose Game three.
And so I knew that there's no way I can
go out and give up runs early in that game
and get us behind. And so a little bit of

(38:37):
stress there, but thank goodness, my arm felt well, I
was in the strike zone. A lot of my stuff
was electric, and and we won that game to get
back in the series.

Speaker 1 (38:46):
Yeah, And it was people in credit to Brian Anderson too.
Brian Anderson threw a great game for Good that night.
You know, he went toe to toe. But you know what,
you took on a tough Arizona lineup that had the
likes of Luis Gonzales off the career, your correct council,
very good hitter, Steve Finley, another underrated hitter who contributed
a lot. So definitely not an easy lineup to face.

Speaker 2 (39:05):
Mark Yeah, no great contact guys who usually pose problems for.

Speaker 1 (39:09):
Me, yep, you know, but not that night, thankfully, So
you know I will ask. Obviously, of course Arizona was
able to win the World Series. Ultimately they earned it. It
was a tough loss, but you know, at credit to Arizona.
They you know, they were a great team in their
own right. In retrospect Games four and five, though, you
went from being on the mound for one of those
games to witnessing feats that we've never seen before, back
to back Knights and probably won't see for a long time.

(39:31):
Tito and broch Us, back to back Knights. What was
that like to see in the dugout?

Speaker 2 (39:34):
Well, let me just tell you those two games. I'm
glad you brought them up because I've never heard the
stadium louder. And if you lived a mile away from there,
you thought an earthquake was happening. I thought the stadium
was gonna fall down. The people in the upper deck
jumping up and down. I'm like, this is crazy. And Andy, Andy,
Andy Pettan, Andy the lefty was standing next to me,
and I'm like, okay, you got to win games. Just

(39:56):
get the ball to me. For Game seven. You know,
we were going around and around and a big homer
and you know it was those two games were again,
I've never heard the stadium louder.

Speaker 1 (40:07):
Yeah, two great wins. Of course, two thousand and two,
Yankees win one hundred and three games. The Angels just
went on the run of a lifetime that October. But
two thousand and three, you know, despite the hiccup the
previous year, back in the World Series, deep into the
playoffs again, another one hundred plus win year. You win
your three hundredth game that year. Now, let's stop on
that for a second before I get to the playoffs.
That at that point nineteen years in the majors, a

(40:29):
feat that very few have achieved. And then finally, you know,
you're added to that list. So when that final out
was made, much like I asked you earlier about winning
the World Series for the first time in ninety nine,
what was that like where you looked around the stadium
and realized, oh my god, I've won three hundred games.

Speaker 2 (40:43):
Yeah, it was funny. My friends were getting on me
to get it done because they were tired of chasing
me around the country because I think it was on
try and number three. But it was fake to get it.
I mean, if I was going to get it, I
get it at historic Yankee Stadium. I think sever got
his three hundredth in Yankee Stadium. He didn't think it
was a light sock, wasn't they was. So that's pretty
cool in its own right. But yeah, so you know,

(41:07):
the first thing that I realized at the time was,
you know, getting my fourth outand strikeout in the same
game and Joor coming out to the mound for that,
and then to be able to you know, turn the
ball over to Mo again and realize you're going to
get your three hundred twin, which is obviously going to
be rare, and I think it's even more rare now
where the guys, you know, going four or five innings,

(41:29):
so Yeah, that was special. To get it in the
pinstripes at Yankee Stadium, it was. It was heaven sent.

Speaker 1 (41:36):
And then of course we get to the playoffs. You
go through the Twins in four games. Twins had some
good teams back then, but the Yankees always had their number.
And then that war with the Red Sox now set
the stage. Red Sox, it's not like they were coming
out of nowhere. Two thousand and two, they had won
ninety three games. They were a good team. In two
thousand and two they came back again. I think they
won about ninety five games and No.

Speaker 2 (41:54):
Three.

Speaker 1 (41:54):
That's David Ortiz's first year in Boston. Pedro still in
the prime of his career, so you knew that series
was going to be a dog fight that really intensified
in Game three and then later on in Game seven.
But Game three, you know Fenway Park very well. You
pitched the majority of your career for the Socks, and
obviously majority of your career in the al least, but
just with everything that went down that day in the intensity,

(42:16):
that series was on overdrive to begin with. How much
more so after a.

Speaker 2 (42:20):
Came like that. Yeah, you're right, good boy, it was
on the overdrive. For sure. It was a war. And
you got to understand when I when I got traded
to the Yankees, and then the Red Sox were brutal.
They changed ownership and they got very competitive again, and
that made the rivalry great again. Still probably wasn't as
nasty as the you know, seventy five, you know, seventy

(42:41):
seven whatever, but it was you're right, got it got
intense quick, and it's you know again, it's you know,
the fans are the fans. I mean, we love them.
I mean I could be on the street and the
Red Sox fan when I was a Yankee, they could
be wearing me out of thing and they're coming up
wanting a photo or an autographed So you get it. They're fanatics.
And but that's great because that's what we're supposed to

(43:02):
do as athletes. We like to, you know, stroke the
emotions of people. And I love it that they're coming
to watch us perform. And uh but uh yeah, Game three,
what was you saying? Game three? Was that the Don
Zimmer and Pedro was yeah, yeah, yeah. We saw a
ball headed guy go flying. I'm standing on the mount
with Geet and we saw a ball had a man
go flying. We thought David Well was over there getting
his butt kicked for a minute, you know, and uh

(43:24):
we look up and it's Zim and Zim's gotta fire
at his bill. I love that man, and uh we
miss him man like I said, a baseball a baseball lifer.
But he had enough of Pedro talking smack to the
dugout and next thing you know, he was out there.
But yeah, Pedro, I think hit Kareem Garcia in the
back or somewhere or over him. And you normally guys

(43:45):
don't when they come when I'm pitching, they don't really
get around me too much. But when they come sit
next to you, I know something's up. And I'm saying,
what's up. You got a problem with this guy, and
to go, yeah, I got a problem with him, And
so I kind of had the magic bullet. I mean
it was like third or fourth early in the game,
I believe, And uh, I think Manny, like I said
on a couple of the shows I did, Manny was
gonna eat one and he knew it. And he was

(44:07):
the hitter at the time. I wound up to a
good hard fast we'll probably be a strike now with
the strike zones now and uh and and he went
he went crazy. So uh we we kind of exchanged
some verbal words and uh then Pedro did the ola
on Zim and it just went to another level. So
you just really got to in those kinds of situations,
you got to focus and uh and bring your focus up.

(44:29):
So uh, crazy crazy game, crazy series for sure.

Speaker 1 (44:34):
Yeah, and you did you know Yankees were able to
get the win in that one four to two. Jeter
hit a big home run in that one. Uh, but yeah,
it got nasty fast forward to Game seven. You know,
talk about the full depth of the emotional spectrum. I
think you felt it because down early you leave it's
for nothing. I know you weren't feeling good coming off
the man. You must have felt great by the eighth
inning when they rallied back, and even greater when Aaron

(44:55):
Boone sent it out in the eleventh. So just again,
you were You heard Yankee stadium loud, pretty loud that night.

Speaker 2 (45:01):
Yeah it was. I gave up a couple. I give
up some runs early on breaking balls. I hung a
split which is really a VP fastball, and I think
the other one was a breaking ball, was a slider,
So I should I should have trusted my fastball a
little more that night. But when I went in to
change and ice a little bit, I went back in
and got on a stationary bike, and I was trying

(45:22):
to get some frustration out. And I really couldn't hear
the announcing, the announcing that was going on, but I
could hear all of a sudden the stadium it changed.
I could hear people like standing up out of their seats,
jumping up and down. So I knew something was happening.
And so by the time and then once you realized
we were making a comeback, not being superstitious, I don't

(45:43):
want to move. So next thing you know, I'm in
a sauna where I pushed the stationary bike and I'm peddling.
I'm going to drop about thirty five pounds if I
keep pedaling this bike in the sauna. And I came
out switch Church and ended up going down in time
to see to see Boonie hit the home run. But yeah,
that very fortunate. The guys you know that I don't know.
I can visiitalize when I'm thinking about it. I hit

(46:05):
that pasada. He didn't hit it well, but it fell
in two runs score and I think it's the one
of the I don't know that I've ever seen the
emotion that emotional Jorge Pasada at Seca Base and uh
and you know which kind of correlates back to the
other game where Pedro and Georgie were. Pedro's pointing like
I was going to hit him in the head or something,

(46:26):
and they're exchanging words. They were pretty intense after each other,
so I'm pretty sure that Georgie was happy to to
get that clutch hit. They obviously the deal was they
they were they were griping about leaving Pedro in too
long that Grady Little left him, and I think you
want to go with Pedro Martinez if he says, he's
fine as long as you can.

Speaker 1 (46:45):
Right, I mean, it's kind of damned if you do,
damn if you don't. I always felt bad for Grady
for that, because you can blame him. It's Pedro Martinez.
You're gonna leave him in and I ultimately Yankees rallied
scored those three runs, went to the World Series. This
is an interesting point in your career that I wanted
to get to World Series. Florida wins it in six
you came back. Originally people thought that was last year.

(47:05):
You came back, which was fine, but you had to
take Andy pettit away from us. I'm a little mad
at you back then. That's okay, we forgive you.

Speaker 2 (47:10):
I will say.

Speaker 1 (47:11):
I want to ask you this, howd the Yankees want
it in three? Would that have affected your decision to
retire ultimately and stay retired or did you just have
the itch regardless to want to keep going.

Speaker 2 (47:22):
I was good, I was done. I remember throwing the
first pitch in Florida. The place lit up. I remember
giving up some runs early to young Cabrera and I
was like, as he was round the base, I was like,
there's no way I'm going out like this. I remember
coming to dugout and telling the guys that's it. If
you guys can rally beat, they're not getting any more runs.
And so after I think I ended up going six

(47:44):
or seven, I went to Joe Tory's office and just
had a little moment, knowing that that could have been it.
I knew I was going to be have to be
available out of the bullpen, which I was. I was
out in the bullpen for the other games, and then
after it was over, I was good. I was content.
With hutting it down and just the out that happened,
and Andy Pettitt said something after he signed with the Astros.

(48:04):
You know, this is Andy's hometown too, in Houston, and
he made a comment and then next thing I know,
I got about eighty fans outside my gate and then
I get another call from a rock radio station. I
did some morning shows with them, you know, baseball programs
with them, and they're crazy. They got word that that's

(48:25):
when the new Hummers came out, the big Hummers, and
there was a white one that my wife wanted. And
next thing, you know, the rock and roll station purchases
the hummer, puts it outside the gates, said it's your
wife's car if you come pitch for the Astros. So
you know what she said, she said, start running and throwing.
You're coming back. So but I was like, I was

(48:48):
a little worried because you know, I'm in my forties
and to try and be a little bit you know,
it was it was I don't want to say it
was easier. It was different pitching in the National League
because the first couple guys are not going to hurt.
The seventh eighth hitter is not gonna urch you and
then you face a picture. So I was fortunate. And
then I putt in Asy Young down here in my
hometown team, so that was a joy. The only other
time I pitched here was my first All Star game

(49:10):
was in the Astrodome and I got the pitch at home,
sleep of my all in bed and it was cool
playing and sleeping at your own house and driving twenty
minutes to work. I was on one year deals. I saw.
I said, after that, oh, four seasons, I said, I'm done.
They said, uh, Drake McLain was the owner, and Drake said,
I got to have you back. Came back for that

(49:31):
and we go to the World Series No. Five, which
is fun, and it was a joy for me too
because the guys I watched Bagwell who got traded for
Larry Anderson way back when I was a Red Sox.
Baggie was a Red Sox. Ye he got he got
traded and playing with Vigio Lance Bergman. Of course Andy
was down there. Andy's you know, it was a you know,
Randy was a great, great pitcher, and so it was.

(49:51):
And then we joined Roy Oswalt, so there were three
of us. We had Oswald and Pettitt, and myself and
I was the senior of the group, but it was
it was a lot. We flipped the town at that
time was a football town here in Houston to a
to a baseball town. I mean we we were sold
out every night. It was incredible at at Minute May
Park to see the fans that turned out for us.

Speaker 1 (50:12):
Those were some great teams and producer Victor and I
were talking about it before you signed on people forget
and I missed this rivalry because one of the first
that I remember Astros Cardinals and No. Four oh five.
You guys had some wars with them. Those were some
great series.

Speaker 2 (50:25):
Great You're dead, You're dead, dead dead, right man? That
was we got after Pool Hols and those guys. You know,
you know they were good and we had some great
battles and Carlos Beltron had a playoff for the Ages.
Couldn't get him out and uh, we just had some
great battles. Like I said, when you can run pettitt
Oswald out there and then and fire me in the

(50:47):
mix when when I was right, it was it was
a lot of fun.

Speaker 1 (50:50):
M One thing I did want to ask you about.
You had some wars with the Braves in those years too.
Now producer Victory, he's a brave sand will forgive him,
you know, and he's a Diard Braves fan. Two thousand
and five, that game four that when eighteen you pitched relief.

Speaker 2 (51:03):
There's one that's a top five game. Yeah, unbelievable. I
wasn't even well. I remember we had they did. There
was no batting practice on the field because they painted
the playoff logo, repainted it, so nobody was going to hit.
They were doing all their work in the cages. It
was a late report time. Pettitt was supposed to pitch
if we don't win the game. Pettitt's supposed to pitch

(51:24):
in Atlanta the next day. My number three had a
playoff football game, so I did that. I got this stadium.
I had an eight all day and I remember getting
there looking trying to find somebody. They didn't have any
spread or anything out, and I don't wear my jersey
or their my spikes. In between starts, they lock them
up because my jersey started getting stolen and my stuff

(51:46):
started getting stolen, people doing a grab and whatever, so
they would lock my stuff up. And we start going
through this game and it starts to get a little
crazy and uh phill Gardner, our manager I scrap On
was running out of players, and he thought if somebody
got on one of the pictures that, you know, I
might go up and bunt or pinch bunt. But anyway,
I'm standing next to him. I got my tennis shoes on.

(52:08):
He goes, hey, go get your spikes on. Where's you
got your jersey on? Underneath that? Jack? I said, no,
skip they lock it up. He goes, whyon't you go
get it? And I go really, He goes, yeah, I'm
not kidding, go get it. So I go down. I
put my spikes and stuff on. They go. Then the
game changes again. Now it's getting deeping out. I think
Austin's hit a home run off the chalk line out
there and center or something to tie the game up.

(52:30):
And now Hickey's like, hey, and I look around, and
Pettit's nowhere to be found. I go, where's Pettit at?
They go, well, that's what we're going to tell you. You
might be pitching if this thing doesn't work out. You
might be pitching tomorrow on short rest in Atlanta. Because
Andy's got the flu. Can't take his head off the
pillow he's sick. They go, how does your armfield? I go, well,
you know, I haven't touched the baseball. I just got here.

(52:51):
I said, I'm actually looking for something to eat. I'm starving.
And I said, well, let me go find out. So
my family's up in the box and I called my
oldest one who got drafted by the Astros and he
can catch. So I asked Kobe. I got on the phone.
I call have him called the suite. I said, tell
Kobe to come down the back of the stairs of
the stadium. Meet me in the far back hitting cages.

(53:12):
I gotta throw. So Kobe's like, are you really bad?
So he comes down. I start playing catch with him
and he's a hitter. So I throw about twenty pitches
about half speed, and I go, I think I'm fine
if I got to pitch tomorrow, and he goes, really,
you're going to pitch tomorrow, and he goes, hey, there's
a bat right here, and it was like Lance Berkman's bat.
And Kobe's like, Dad, throw me like ten pitches, right,

(53:33):
I want to hit. This'd be fun for me to
hit here in your cage. His first time doing it.
So I start throwing to him without realizing. Next thing,
you know, he and I are in a father son match.
He had a couple of balls really good and flipped
the bat on me in the case. I go, no, no,
get back in there. I start winding up. Excuse me,
I'm throwing gas. I'm throwing ninety ninety two ninety three

(53:54):
to him, and I'm trying to break and I finally
break the bat. That's the only thing that stopped it.
But I realized, I'm wedding like crazy. Now I just
threw an entire game. I threw like ninety pitches, and
I'm like, I don't know if I get even pitched tomorrow.
Right now, I got a heartbeat in the back of
my shoulder. I just might have messed this up. I
go through the weight room. The street guy sees me

(54:15):
and I'm sweating, and he goes, where the heck have
you been? I, oh, you know, I was just stretching,
stretching my arm out in the cake. I get down
there and pitch go sees me. I'm I guess, sweat
coming down my hair. He goes, you, where have you been?
You've been on a treadmill. I go, no, I was
in the back. I was just stretching and throwing a
little bit. I didn't want to tell him I just
threw a ninety pitch game, right, boom boom boom. Games

(54:37):
tied up, scrap iron. My manager looks at me, goes,
can you if I pinch? But if I pinch? But
you you know, I've only got two pitchers in the bullpen,
Wheelers out there, and I think lydge He goes, can
you we might need you on the Mountain day right now.
And I'm like, I don't want to tell him what

(54:58):
I just did. I just threw an entire and there's
no I'm forty. I don't know, I'm forty four years old.
Whatever I am. At the time, I said, all right,
I'm gonna get my cleats on. I'll go to the bullpen. Well,
I went underneath the stadium. I didn't want to walk
across the field with fans in ESPN broadcasting game whatever.
So I come in. I come in through the bullpen
and some people see me. I sneak in there and
I'm looking around and I think Wheeler is the last one.

(55:21):
Now I'm talking to the bullpen coach. He goes, I go,
I don't know what I'm doing. It's inning. Let's see,
I pitched the sixteen seventeen eighteen. I pitched three innings,
so it's about the fourteenth, thirteenth to fourteenth inning. Now
I tell our guy down there, I go, man, if
I'm getting this game, I got to eat something. So
I called down and tell the bullpen kid, the bull

(55:42):
the guy on the dugout the dugout kid bat boy said,
run me out of power aid and two bananas. Because
all the I was looking for the bag of stuff
that the guys take out there. They take candy and
gum and food. The relievers take one guy, the rookie
takes the pink backpack or whatever, and it's full of stuff.
I go, worse that bag ad He goes, oh, that's
gone in by the third inning. They throw what's left

(56:04):
over into the stands to the fans. So here comes
the kid. He's running me out. I'm looking at the
lineup on the board to where this could possibly happen.
The pitcher spot's coming up, and it's the fifteenth inning,
and I now the bullpen coach is watching me throw,
and I'm already loose. I don't even have to warm up,

(56:24):
but I got the catcher down the and I throw
like eight pitches about eighty miles an hour, and I go,
I'm good. And the bullpen coach has no idea what
just happened that I threw a full game underneath the
stadium an hour ago. And he's calling the dugout saying, hey,
don't bring rocket and there's no way he's not gonna
get anybody out. Here's nothing on his fastball. And so

(56:46):
I sit down, look at the board. I see that
my spot will come up, and Wheeler or relieve guys.
Never bunt, you know, they're relief guys. Somebody pinch hits
for him. Whatever. So I get the bananas down, drink that,
and I tell the bullpen coach I said all guard that, hey,
if my slot comes up, I've been butting all year,
tell him to pinch hit me now. If he's gonna
bring me game, I'll butt. He calls down and gar said,

(57:08):
you know, there's a mess. Everybody's paniccking. We're running out
of players. His scorecard looks like a crayola you know sign,
and uh, he goes, no, tell him just to worry
about getting ready to pitch. Hangs up, not thirty seconds later,
he goes, no, send him in here. He's gonna but
we're gonna punch pinch mon him. I go, okay, that's
why I figured. So I go down there, I think

(57:30):
I'm in the game, and I pinch bunt and uh
end up three innings, said Chris Burke. Doesn't come up
hit that home run. We're probably still playing that game.
That the game was crazy. Then the boys love it
for the backstory. Come to find out, I get called
in the managers office. I go, you know, we won,
We're going to the next round, and uh, the pitching

(57:52):
coaches in there, the owners in there, two other guys,
They go, can you please tell us what happened when
you were you were so when you were sweating you
I go, yeah, I threw a full game. I didn't
want to tell you all that I've already spent that.
I can't go to the wolf in and pitch so
but it was, uh yeah, my boys, everybody, all my buddies,
they love that story. That was. I know it was
a long story, but it was a good.

Speaker 1 (58:13):
Oh it's worth it. I'm glad you lived one. That's
one of the best playoff games of the twenty first century.
So you know, let's say, and you were a big
part of it, so I'm glad you lived it. It
was sure was two thousand and six, of course, your
last year in Houston, and it seemed like you were
done at that point. But Andy comes back to New
York early on the season. Yankees got a lot of
entries to their rotation, so they're struggling. They need help,

(58:34):
and as you infamously said from the press box, they
went and got me out of Texas. So what was
George's pitch to get you back to the Bronx for
one more go round?

Speaker 2 (58:42):
Yeah, it was mainly Cash. I have a great relationship
with Cash. Love that man all he goes through, you know,
ups and downs and being threatened to be fired six
times during the season, you know. But uh, yeah, I
made my garage. I think it's mid April, and uh
you know the you know, Cash always wants me in
the rotation. But like I said, I'm a pretty cut

(59:04):
up guy and fun guy in the in the locker
room to keep everybody on an easy, happy note. But yeah,
I'm in the garage and and deb comes out the
phone rang, she goes you know, Joe Tory and Brian cashman,
are on the phone, want to talk to you? I
go what, She goes yeah. I go sure, So she goes, yeah,

(59:26):
I know their voice. And I talked to them. They
they've already said they're pleasantries to me. I go, what's
the call about? And she goes, they didn't tell me,
And I said, well, I just watch them get swept
by like Cleveland or lose a series in Cleveland. So
it must have been going too well. So I get
on the phone and the skipper Joe Torri. Joe's like, rocket,

(59:47):
how you doing? What are you doing? And I'm like, hey, skimming.
It was kind of like loose and light and real
background voice, serious cashman, How long would it take you
get ready? What are you talking about? Cash? He goes,
I want you in my fourth or fifth hole on
the mound, but I need you in the locker room.
Get everybody loose enough or not? I said, you guys
kidding me? He goes, how long would take you get ready?

(01:00:07):
I go, I'm going to need just a couple of
days to give yes or no. I took off to
a place that's got a three mile running track here
close to the house. I got to go off all
my legs are I'm forty. I'm forty five years old,
so that was pretty nerve wracking. Once I got ready
and we agreed to do it, they said, hey, we're
going to send a plane to take you to Tampa.

(01:00:28):
And I said, great, because I need to run and
throw down there and get this thing. Started to see
where I'm at. And then Cash said, but first we're
going to the plane's going to bring you to New York.
We're gonna announce it during the game. I said, no,
I'm not doing that. He goes, no, we're doing it,
and he goes, nobody knows. And like they told me,
once they told me that this was going to happen,
they said, do not tell any of the players. Don't

(01:00:49):
tell anybody you and your wife only. Don't even tell
your kids. And so we didn't tell anybody until you
saw it. I went up there and Susan saw Susan
Walden saw me in the George's box and went crazy.
And I had no idea what I was going to
say that What I said was, you know, right off
the top of my head. When I went in there,
I said my piece. I waved to the guys in

(01:01:11):
the dugout I didn't even go down the locker room
after the game, went back to the parking lot. They
had my car running, took me to the airport, and
I was jogging about three hours later around the minor
league fields there in Tampa and the football stadium, Tampa
Bay Bucks Football Stadium where I was doing my distance running.

Speaker 1 (01:01:29):
It did a great job that final year seven and
six four point three zero year race, So you were
definitely very serviceable to the Yankees. They turned it around,
it would make the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (01:01:36):
That year.

Speaker 1 (01:01:37):
Didn't go well against Cleveland, unfortunately, but nevertheless you pitched
in Game three. I know your hamstring was bothering around
this time as well, but the Yankees were able to
rally and win that game. So at the end of
that year, walking off the mound for what turned out
to be the final time, I imagine by this point you
were truly done. You felt that there was nothing left.

Speaker 2 (01:01:54):
Yeah, I could tell my body and I just I
couldn't do the work. I have a saying, and it
holds true. My only day off is the day I
pitch and the work I was doing in between, and
I was having to cut everything in half. Distance running,
my cuff work, any any kind of lifting and all that,
and I could my body just was not responding and

(01:02:16):
getting ready to pitch on every you know, fourth day.

Speaker 1 (01:02:19):
Yeah, totally sensical. A couple more questions for you before
we reached the conclusion. Since then, you've kept busy. Of course,
you're just as busy in retirement as you were when
you were playing. I've seen you make a few appearances
and documentaries and podcasts, including this one. You got a
son in the majors now struck out show healed tiny
not too long ago, which you're very proud of.

Speaker 2 (01:02:36):
So put it in there. Put us in an atmosphere
or record book. He's talking about all time, all time
father son, strikeout leaders.

Speaker 1 (01:02:44):
Now exactly, there you go.

Speaker 2 (01:02:46):
But he struck out a big one. I mean, he
struck out Otani. That's pretty that's pretty good in itself,
right right, this generation throwing sixty miles an hour, I
was doing it all wrong. I think I could go
through sixty right now.

Speaker 1 (01:02:56):
Well, there you go. You know, saddle up. The Yankees
could use you, so settle up. And indeed, so when
you look back on your career, I mean I imagine
there's so many great moments that we've talked about in
the last hour and change. If you had to define
it in a sentence or two, how would you define it?

Speaker 2 (01:03:12):
Uh, just just it feels like it's gone by in
a blur when when we did it. And uh, I
just think about the wonderful people I met, the backstories,
meeting the presidents, getting the opportunity to go to the
Oval Office. Uh, getting the opportunity to play Augusta National
because of the career I you know, the career I had.
So but it still holds true with my my my

(01:03:34):
teammates and my friends that I played at college with
or whatever. You know that it's fun hearing their stories
because they get to see me when I'm not intense
and locked in or behind that glove, you know, locked
in behind that glove doing my doing my thing, you know,
trying to make making a living that I was able
to make. So just feel very blessed. It's fun now
working with guys. I do work with the astros. Like

(01:03:56):
I said, I'm going to Yankee spring training, I'll visit
with those guys. When when one of these guys ask
a pointed question, I try and give him a pointed answer.
And like you said, my youngest ones with the Philly
so I'll get to go watch him. He's he's doing
something pinch hitting and he's like a hybrid. Now he
can play two, three, four positions. So but all my
boys play. They're all very very good at what they did.

(01:04:16):
They took a lot of pride in it. And you know,
like I said, I think my two young ones graduated
with honors from the business. I tell him it's great
they played professionally, but as a dad, I'm more, you know,
I love it that they graduated and with honors. Now
I'm poppy rocket. I got the eight year old twin
grand boys, and they're running me around like a farm animal.

(01:04:38):
So they keep me busy. Like my grandmother said too famously,
there'll be no grass growing underneath your feet. So yeah,
I got the foundation. We just celebrated thirty years. We
helped hat risk children, under privileged kids. So it's it's
fun seeing that. And but yeah, I got I got
a lot of cool people with my foundation to push

(01:04:59):
me out there and and for me, they're the real
heroes because people like Diana, who you guys admit, they
do all the work.

Speaker 1 (01:05:06):
Yeah, and thank you, thank you to Diana for helping
set this up. She was a big part of the
reason why three of us are having this conversation right now.
That brings us into the concluding segment. It will be
the rapid fire five hit run questions for me, five
hit and run answers for me, you could say pass
ifin answer doesn't come to the top of your mind.
The first one is you play with a lot of
funny guys. Who would you say was the funniest teamate
you ever had?

Speaker 2 (01:05:26):
Well, I would say probably David Wells. Boomer's pretty funny.
I mean he's got some stories to back it up.
I think that's what makes him pretty funny.

Speaker 1 (01:05:36):
Yeah, through a perfect game, slightly inebriated, which may be
the greatest accomplishment anybody's ever done in the sport. Second,
you faced a lot of tough hitters. Who was the
hitter you dreaded seeing coming into the batter box the most?

Speaker 2 (01:05:49):
I didn't have a problem with face anybody. The contact
guys were difficult for me, But I'll just say this.
The main guy I wanted to get to the big
leagues fast the face was Jackson, and I got the
face Reggie and when he was a California Angel but
it was awesome.

Speaker 1 (01:06:05):
Yeah, I can. I can definitely imagine. Third. You can't
say Yankee Stadium, you can't say Fenway, and you can't
say Minute Made favorite stadium to pitching easy.

Speaker 2 (01:06:14):
It beats them all Anaheim, Okay, Yeah, the weather's unbelievable.
Great golf courses out there when you're not pitching. By
the way, the infield outfield grass was Augusta. Like I
tease people that you could throw your turkey sandwich in
the outfield grass and pick it up and eat it.
It's perfect. And also I think over the years, like

(01:06:35):
they've been voted ballpark food like top one or two
every year in ballpark food and fan experience.

Speaker 1 (01:06:41):
I gotta get out there. Fourth second to last question,
the rapid fire. Fourth question of the five. I don't
know if you were a pregame meal kind of guy,
but if so, favorite pregame meal a half.

Speaker 2 (01:06:50):
Pasta and chicken, no doubt about it. Back when they
had to eat the wind kind of theory, and I
would only eat like I said, I'd have maybe a
protein shaker early in the early morning when I was
waking up, when I would shower, I'd go through the
lineup in my mind, and then I'd eat about two
o'clock and that would be burnt pretty good. And then
I'd have a couple of bananas and you know, some

(01:07:11):
kind of power drink during the game to get to
give me through the game.

Speaker 1 (01:07:15):
There you go. Fifth, and finally, across all sports, not
just baseball, young athlete just coming into the league, there's
a lot of doors opening for them, especially financially. Based
off your experiences twenty four years in the bigs, what
advice would you give them.

Speaker 2 (01:07:27):
It takes no talent to hustle. You don't have to
have any talent to hustle. And you know, when you
ask me that question, I think about. We have a
children's ring at Memorial Herman here in Houston. Did it
up real nice for the mods to bring it to
try and bring some ease to when they have all
their kids there. I've got to I tell guys, when
I see him hit a ball and loaf down to

(01:07:49):
first base, all you have to do is picture somebody
like Derek Jeter. Derek Jeter hit a swinging bunt to
the pitcher and he's breaking the tape going through first base.
There's chalk coming off the bottom of the shoes. I
tell guys, we have two kids down there. One of
them's missing a hand, ones missing a foot. They would
nothing more love to take a full swing in the
batter's box and hit a dribbler and be able to

(01:08:09):
run down to first base. They're never going to get
that opportunity, so don't take it for granted. And then
it takes zero talent to hustle love it.

Speaker 1 (01:08:17):
It's a good way to end. Thank you so much
for your time. We appreciate you making the time stick around.
We'll talk off here. You guys will hear this. Of course,
sometime in the summer where loading shows into the vault.
I was informed that for me, for those of you
that are keeping track, Fire Academy down here in New Haven,
Connecticut will start February eighteenth years truly, So in the
meantime we'll keep throwing shows into the vault. I'll go

(01:08:38):
to the academy hopefully, and once we finish that up
and I'm on my schedule, we'll release these episodes accordingly.
But thank you very much to producer Victor on the
Ones and TUESDA did a great job. This was a
lot of fun. Like I said, we'll talk off here
Roger on behalf of Producer Victor and the Rocket, Roger
Clemens a Mike Colombe, and we we'll see you next time.

Speaker 3 (01:08:55):
To everyone, a little bit of loneliness, a little bit

(01:09:27):
of disregard, halfull of complaints.

Speaker 4 (01:09:29):
But I can't help the fact that everyone can save
these scars and what I want you to want, what
I want you to feel. But it's like, no matter
what I do, I can't convince you to just believe
this is real. So let go watching you turn your
back but you always do face away and pretend that
I'm not.

Speaker 2 (01:09:44):
But I'll be here because you're wrong.

Speaker 1 (01:09:45):
But I got down till now.

Speaker 3 (01:09:50):
I'm not gout. I love me, not.

Speaker 4 (01:09:57):
Down time. No, I'm knock down.

Speaker 3 (01:09:58):
I love a.

Speaker 4 (01:10:03):
Little bit insecure, a little unconfident because you don't understand
and do what I can. Sometimes I don't make sense.
You never want to say, but I've never had a doubt.
It's like, no matter what I do, I can't convince
you for what's just to hear me out.

Speaker 2 (01:10:16):
So let go watching you and turn your.

Speaker 4 (01:10:18):
Back if you always do face away and pretend that
I'm not. But I'll be here because you're all but
I got don't turn knelt back down me.

Speaker 1 (01:10:31):
I love me and not, don't try to knut back out.

Speaker 4 (01:10:38):
I love me, I get it. Don't and you're back

(01:11:00):
on me.

Speaker 1 (01:11:01):
I wild, pray and yard, got.

Speaker 4 (01:11:06):
A bay, a shelter.

Speaker 3 (01:11:09):
Not back down Theorry, I well free.

Speaker 4 (01:11:11):
And ards.

Speaker 1 (01:11:13):
It says, don your shelter out back down that way?

Speaker 4 (01:11:17):
I well free and no, don't just know my job?

Speaker 3 (01:11:24):
Orry, I well free.

Speaker 4 (01:11:25):
And Nord s.

Speaker 1 (01:11:31):
Son back to night.

Speaker 4 (01:11:33):
I love free and dolls

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