on leash Are you listening? Can you hear me?
Hear me? This is on leash.
Are you listening? Can you hear me?
Hear me? This is on leash Are you
listening? Can you hear me?
Hear me? This is on leash Are you
listening? Can you hear me?
What's going on everybody BT unleash with you on this
Wednesday special day. My buddy Michael K is going to
join us in a couple of minutes. Can't wait.
Michael's the 2nd guest. I mean, so we had Salon and we
are rolling out the big dogs. No disrespect to Sal, but you
know, Sal's different. My partner, whatever, my former
partner, but Michael will join us in a can't wait get a hit A
lot of stuff with Michael. Obviously the season's
approaching so we'll jump into it.
Michael, probably about 10 minutes or so.
How about the Soto home run last night?
You know, for those of you who don't like the WBC, and I
understand that, you know, you're worried about injuries,
it's an unconventional stoppage to spring training, dude.
Get over yourself, man. If you can't appreciate that,
him hitting a 431 foot home run in the Dominican Republic, Santo
Domingo against the Tigers, and how about that line up to my
God, You see some of the guys on deck waiting for him.
I mean, you got Vladdy, you got Machado.
My God. So I'm into the WBC, It starts
tonight, right? Chinese Taipei and who the hell,
I think they're playing Australia.
And then you get 2 games tomorrow and then we get what
we're really looking for from United States point of view.
You got eight games on Friday and that's going to be
televised. USA versus Brazil.
That is pool B. It'd be a lot of fun.
All right, so I'm going to actually ask Michael about this
in a little bit. But did you guys see I, I don't
want to take for granted that you're actually sitting there
with bated breath, although some of you nut jobs probably are
watching, you know, every pitch of these Mets spring training
games and Yankees as well. By extension.
Did you see this Mets pitcher yesterday, Jeffrey Yan?
I mean, I've never heard of the guy before yesterday and the
celebrations are are absolutely, I mean there's somewhere in the
middle of awesome and absolutely ludicrous.
So he's a guy. He's what, 29 years old?
He's been in the miners for like 7 years.
I think his highest levels AA throws gas, you know, high 90s
lefty, incredible energy out there.
He's he's like, he's like there's somebody on stage or
Broadway and he's very wild. I mean, I'm not going to get
into a detailed scouting report, but when you throw cheese and he
can't throw a strike, generally, that's why you hang in the
miners. And I think he even bounced
around internationally, whether it was Mexico, whatever he was
doing. Yeah, you got to respect the
grind here. Yes.
Six years of the miners, three years foreign ball.
And and and I think it's his numbers were in totality like
six walks per night. So but that's not even the
story. He did a celebration.
That's one thing. When you end the game where he
basically almost did a somersault and did a Michael
Jackson impersonation. I've never.
I mean, do you think Chapman and some of these other guys go go
nuts? This was insane.
And I, and I got to tell you, and you know, those of you who
have listened to me for years and watch the show, you know
that especially with the baseball, just giving the record
book and all that stuff. Most of my views are rooted in
Mure and in, in more of a, of a pure sense than not.
But it's interesting because I'm, I'm in my, I'm in my early
50s and most guys my age really. That's why I'm curious what
Michael thinks about this. Michael's a little bit older,
but what, you know, most, most of the older generation kind of
resists and some people resent like the new age athletes, the
celebrations, the over over the top stuff.
And, and I'm OK with it to an extent because if I get you out,
you know, you have the ability to come back and knock me around
next time. It's, it's a battle, you know,
it's showmanship and really baseball, it's probably the last
sport where swag has really entered the game.
I mean, the NBA going back to like Iverson and those guys, the
baggy shorts, Jordan with the sneakers.
We've had that in the NBA forever.
Going back to the ABA, the great documentary, which was
phenomenal. The four, three parts.
I think it was the maybe 4 on Netflix, which was phenomenal as
well. Baseball, a little slow to the
party. We've got the antiquated
unwritten rules for baseball. God forbid you have a little bit
of fun. So I'm not that guy whoever
tries to suppress that. It is a hard game.
It is monotonous. It is a very long, draining,
mundane season. I was just talking on the show
the other day about, you know, because many of you just, you
know, you flip on the game at seven O 5, whatever it is on yes
or S&Y. And you just, you know, you see
your favorite baseball players play a game.
Maybe you stick around and watch the post game and you call it a
wrap. But these guys get to the
ballpark. They're like 3 O clock and, you
know, you grind and you're going through hitting meetings and
pitching meetings and you're, you know, getting loose and
stretching and then playing a game that does not have a time,
as we know, even though it's been speed up.
So it's, it's a grind. So who the hell am I to say not
to have some fun? And, and even, you know,
watching my son, I know Michael's son.
I want to see if he's still catching as well.
I, I think he, I think Michael told me at a Rod's party, had a
couple of drinks in me. So I've got to make sure I have
this right, that little Charlie's throwing on the tools
of ignorance and hopping behind the dish.
So Michael knows when, when you go to a youth game these days,
you know, between all the drip, the three chains, right, the arm
sleeves, you know, the hat tilted a little bit.
The now they've got my son got these this year for the first
time when I was in College in the mid 90s with that, that was
when like Griffey and some of these guys were starting to wear
the pants really low and the high tops, the Nike high tops
kind of hit the scene. So that was our look.
And then you started to see, and I like this look, the side, the
pants going higher. Now they actually have these
pants that are almost like football pants and you see
football players wearing it as well where they come up like mid
thigh. And then they've got these socks
that basically go up to your thigh.
So if you're around youth baseball, you're not surprised.
Like this is the new wave of energy and the drip is it's it's
real. I mean, some of these, my son
must have 99 baseball like lifestyle sweatshirts, not to
throw free pops out there, but the bright cold colors and the
bold stuff. The younger generation loves it
and they feel it. And I'm not, again, I'm not here
to diminish the enjoyment, but I mean, this guy on the mound,
last night's got to get a grip because Soto or Lindor, God
forbid, is going to take one in the Dome if you do that to the
wrong guy. Now, I don't think that he's
going to even make the team. It will be a really good story
if he could find his way into the bullpen or, you know, some
role at some point. But you got to see this.
I mean, Jay Rod, I mean, you're a young cat, so you're OK with
the celebrations. But this guy was doing dude, I
just watched the clip. Oh my God, I just watched the
clip. What do you do?
A split and like a Superman punch into the ground or
something amazing. I mean, listen, if he if he
can't make it as a baseball player, he could join the circus
or do something on the tightrope because he's incredibly nimble
and maybe be a wrestler like he's incredibly agile.
But that was that was a lot right there.
So I saw I saw that yesterday. I did enjoy the home run by
Soto. So listen, let's not waste a lot
of time. But it's a Wednesday, so it is
time for let's slap it up there. Mr. J Rod, before we get to the
great Michael K Yup, the Johnny's report brought to you
by my friends and Sullivan propane.
All right, obviously Sullivan Propane, one of New York's best
personal injury law firms, according to U.S. news and World
Report, get fired up with Sullivan Propane at every St.
John's home game this year at the Garden.
Remember the name Sullivan Propane?
The website ofcoursetriallaw1.com that is
trial law1.com. Remember the name Sullivan
Propane. So St.
John's. They begged their 24th win last
night. All right, so you've got the
regular season finale Friday at Cedar Hall, which is going to be
a mosh pit of energy and Shaheen Holloway that that team's going
to be ready to play. It's going to be a street fight
9:00 tip that's coming up. And then it's the Big East
tournament, which is always a blast.
And on Sunday night I will unveil here on BT unleashed.
I'm not going to go live with that.
I'll I'll drop it in separate content.
My old time Big East team and the amount of work and not that
I'm looking to get patted on the back.
I mean, but the amount of research I did a lot of it was
top of mind, but I didn't honorable mention.
I mean because they're the Big East was born in 79 and then I I
know there's some glaring omissions.
I know it's going to spark a little conversation.
I can't wait for that. But last I little worried
watching St. John's doing the game with Mink.
They they just there was a malaise.
You know, senior night. That happens sometimes.
They were down by 8 at the half. Georgetown is not good, but they
played hard. So anyway, St.
John's does come back there 17 and two.
God, think about the years, the lost years, the diminishment of
the brand, 17 and two and then obviously trying to get 18 on
Friday night and then it's the tournament right now probably
about A5 seat or so. So the revitalization of the
brand continues with Rick Zubi being out of last night was
phenomenal. Listen, and Rick said this as
well. They got to retire his number.
They must get that name in the Raptors at some point.
Because you know, when you think about the the restoration of the
brand, of course, it started with a commitment with money to
to hire Rick and you get what you pay for.
I mean, St. John's many years was trying to
cut the corners and be cheap and save money and operate like a
mob and pop shop and it wasn't working.
Well, it's working in a big way now, as we know.
And of course, Rick is the impetus behind that first and
foremost. But you need a star player and a
great leader with great character and he's going to wind
up going back-to-back biggies player of the year awards.
So that's to me that's it. Is that enough of a resume to
get that number up there at some point?
Saddened by the way, was great last night as well.
He's been a big disappointment this year. 15 points off the
bench and shooting it. So that is the St.
John's report. Of course, the John's report
brought to you by Sullivan Propane.
Remember the name Sullivan Propane.
All right, so let's get him up. It's an honor to welcome him to
BT Unleashed. I've known him forever.
He's an absolute icon of the business.
He's a great guy. He's kept this humility and a
lot of these guys who make it, you know, I'm not going to name
names, although maybe at some point I will.
I don't want to put Mike in a rough spot, so I won't do it
now. But there's a lot of people out
there. They hit a certain level in
their industry and they forget where they came from.
And this guy never has. A Bronx boy always wanted to be
the voice of the Yankees, and he has been that, and he's going to
be in the Hall of Fame someday. I tell him that.
He pushes back the great Michael Kay, of course, also on 880
doing a show everyday. Mike, what's going on, buddy?
How you feel, man. I'm great, Brandon, let's name
names and I am never going to be in the Hall of Fame unless I
drive there, so I'm never going to be there.
You want to name names? All right?
Maybe. Maybe.
Maybe Costas. No, I'm just kidding, all right?
No, I like Costas good man. I know, I know and he's one of
the all time great broadcasters, no doubt.
I'm I'm not going to waste time telling you why you're going to
be in the Hall of Fame. Just accept it.
I'm saying it you can you can accept this humbly and move on.
You will be at some point. All right, so here's The funny
thing, right? So I saw Mike at a Rod's party,
saw his beautiful wife again, who got to meet my wife.
Great night, awesome party. Some random people there as
well. I mean, Curtis Martin flowing
through it was awesome. And I obviously text with Mike
and I've known Mike for a long time.
And then I said, hey, Mike, shoot me your e-mail because I
can hook you up with J Roddy, get the link in for the show,
blah, blah, blah. And he sends me back an AOL
account and I have an AOL account and I get clown for it.
I mean, can you at least tell everybody the reason behind the
AOL? It's just really out of
convenience because if you get a new one, all the contents and,
and the contacts and everything's about pain in the
ass. You are an AOL guy.
And I'm proud of that, Mike. I'm an OG.
You're an OG. You know, that's how I got into
the Internet. So I had an AOL account, like
you said, that everybody that knows me has that account.
So if I change it, then some people might not have a way to
get in touch with me. But the funny part about the
story, Brandon, up until about 12 years ago, I paid every month
for the AOL account, which you used to do when you first got
it. And I was talking to Bob
Kloppish and I think he has an AOL account as well.
And he said, you're paying for it.
I said, yeah, I I don't want to give it up.
He goes, just call them and say you don't want to pay for it.
I said, but they'll take it away.
He goes, I guarantee you they will not take it away.
I call us. I don't want to pay that.
OK, you could keep it. So I mean, I I was paying for it
for 10 years. I didn't even have to.
What a horrendous business model.
Pay if you want, don't pay. How do they make any money?
I don't, I don't know. I mean, there's AOL even in in
business anymore, but somebody's running the the emails.
It's probably a bunch of bots at this point.
So let me let's start here. But you heard me doing the St.
John's Report, the John's report, and a lot of you don't
know this now. A lot of you do know that
Michael started as a writer, always aspired to be the voice
of the Yankees. What an amazing dream to have
and actually come to fruition. But many of you don't know that
Michael was doing Seton Hall radio back in the day.
And those were the days, I mean, and you were right after they
got to the Final Four, but that was still the apex of the Big
East. That was your first big
broadcast job, right? Well, I think I got it.
You know, I looked it up because you asked me about it.
I think I got it right around when I got the Yankee job, which
is in 1992. And I did five years of Seton
Hall and if you sell was a play by play guy and I was and I was
the analyst. And those are those are fun
times. I started with PJ went to George
Blaney and I actually became friends at the time with a a
young kid named Danny Hurley. So I mean, he still remembers
that as well. Those are great times.
And Warren, if you sell is legendary.
He's no longer with us. He used to be the voice of this
week in baseball after Metal Allen and he was he was
different Brandon like he did not have a television.
He does not how to drive And he no, he had a television.
He bought a television because he wants to watch game seven of
the 1975 Red Sox, Reds World Series.
And he, he watched the TV, little TV, and he put it in his
closet and never used it again. And he was just, he was locked
in. He was just like an old time
guy. I loved them.
And we used to have a great time doing the games together.
I think they were on WABC at the time.
They were. Wow.
So he treated you well. So it's funny because you're
you're older than me. Not, not, not by your time, but
you're older. So when you're coming up and and
you have these Yankee broadcast aspirations, I always wanted to
be on the radio. I never really thought about
doing games. And ironically, I've been doing
St. John's for a long time time.
But there were some sports radio shows back in the day, right?
Art Rush Junior, a couple of Dave Sims was doing some stuff.
Were you just a newspaper guy? Like how were your dreams?
I'm very curious, outside of watching the Yankees, how were
they fostered? How did you practice?
Like how did you, how did you, how did you dream this big dream
and then try to pursue it with without a lot of radio shows and
stuff going on? Well, I, I loved the Yankees
when I was a kid. I mean, I was the type of kid
that, you know, from the time I was nine years old, I would
watch or listen to every single game all year.
I was a kid with the transistor under the blanket listening to
the West Coast games, much to the chagrin of my parents.
And at 9:00, at nine years old, Brandon, I was very rational.
I was definitely afraid of getting hit by baseball when I
hit. So I said I'm never going to be
a Yankee and I want to be. I wanted to be involved with the
Yankee some way. So I was a nine year old, you
know, who knows if it's realistic.
I said, you know, I want to be the Yankee announcer because
there were 4 male voices in my house, my dad, Phil Rizzuto, Joe
White and Frank Messer. That's it.
You know, my sister and my mom obviously were the women in the
house and I would watch and listen to every single game.
But I want, I don't have like the story like like Marv Albert
where I'd sit there with a recorder and stuff like that.
I probably do play by play in my head, but I, I, it was just a
dream. It was like an aimless dream.
I'm sure so many kids out there have it.
And then as I got closer to, you know, college, I started, let's,
let's pursue this. And when I got to Fordham,
Brandon, I really he sounded like Vinnie Barbarino.
Up your nose with a rubber hose. Oh my God, I had, I had the
worst New York accent and I was on WFUV, but I started writing
them as well. I never wanted to be a writer
and I just thought, well, maybe this is another way into the
business. And I ended up getting the job
at the Post. And through many, many steps
after that, I was at the Post and I covered the Yankees for
five years, first at the Post and then the Daily News.
I ended up getting the Yankee gig on radio, but I never had
any aspirations whatsoever of doing talk radio ever, ever,
ever. I used to listen to Art Russ.
I listen to a little bit, ironically enough, of John
Sterling when I was really young.
But the only reason I got into talk radio was a guy that you're
very familiar with, Tim McCarthy.
I was the best. He said you'd, you'd really be
good at this. You're opinionated, blah, blah,
blah. And I ended up taking that as
like a side gig right before I got the Yankee job.
And you know, I've been doing talk radio now for 25 years.
You still loving it? I really do there.
I mean, we, we obviously people might not know this.
We're, we're friends and you know, I've gone back and forth.
So like 3 or 4 years ago, I told you I was done.
I was, I was out. I, I said, and you said really,
I said I'd say 95% chance and I just was worn out.
You know, I'm getting older and I have young kids and I, I said,
this is just too much to do that and the Yankees.
And then there was like a second wind.
I, I got and I stayed with the afternoon show.
And then after the afternoon show with Don and Peter, I
started to feel like exhausted again.
I said, I can't do this. And the people with good karma,
they, they run the radio division of ESPN Radio.
They said, well, how can we keep you?
I said, there's, there's no way to keep me.
I can't, I just can't do 4 hours in the afternoon and then do a
Yankee game. I'm, I'm going to kill myself.
And I said, how about a shorter show that you do by yourself?
And I said, OK, I think about that.
And they put it together, like, why don't you go on from 11:00
to 1:00? And.
And Brandon, I love working with Don.
Yeah, in those years, I know. And Don's a great friend and I
love working with Peter, but doing the show by myself, it's
kind of re energized me. Two hours.
It's like it's unbelievable. It goes by so fast and you know,
the callers are there and I get, I get guests because I know
people in the business. It's been great.
I could see myself doing it for a while.
Now wow, a Full disclosure, when I sent you that text inquired
about you know what you were going to do.
I was just hoping that I might have a place to land if things
went sideways at the fan. I didn't give a shit if you
stayed or went, I just. I figured that, yeah,
absolutely. I thought, I thought that you'd
be absolutely a good a guy that would be able to like slide
right in with Don. You have a great relationship
with Don. And you know, you obviously be
good with Peter as well. But I ended up staying, I think
after I showed that I'm staying two more years on the afternoon.
And then I was, then I was cooked again.
But good karma made it so easy for me to stay.
And I love it. I really do.
And I might think about this. There's a different pressure.
You're doing a show by yourself. Like there's just days where
it's simple, like, OK, judges on a heater, the Knicks get
destroyed by the Pistons. That's a layer.
But I don't want to say anybody could do that.
But that's about as easy as it gets for somebody like us who's
been doing it for a long time. And, and now I'm by myself and I
do some other stuff, you know, where, where I'm with other
people, but primarily day-to-day, it's just me like
you now as you transition away from Don and Pete, The, the,
the, I don't want pressure, sure, but the responsibilities
different on a slow day. You know, you got to get those
wheels cranking to come up with some interesting content.
Do you find that a challenge because you've never really had
to do that because you've always had Don, who's an animal at a
sports radio life rate? If things are slow, you guys can
still create a spark. Yeah, it it got me a little
nervous at the beginning because, you know, we moved to
880 so we left the the FM stick, which was, you know, really a
fire breathing stick and had had good reach.
So that got me a little nervous because the first first week or
so, people didn't follow me right away because we were not
being simulcasted on Yes either. That was a big part of the
audience, you know, the Yes network simulcast.
And then after about a week, it started to come back.
And, you know, as long as you have phone calls, you can create
content. But like you, you're talking
about slow time. Right now.
We're in the middle of a slow time.
I know this isn't great. I mean, when the Knicks aren't
playing, nobody cares about the Nets, The Rangers are awful, The
Jets and the Giants with, you know, the combine.
So you, you, you got to come up with different ideas and
creative ways to, to spark conversation and not going to be
a little nervous at the beginning because when you have
somebody there like you had Sal and I had Don and Peter, even if
there's nothing to talk about in sports, we could just be.
About stuff I was in the I was in the car yesterday.
I was listening to Don Peter and Alan Hahn and you know, they're
talking about music and stuff like that.
I said that's the beauty of being with somebody because you
can go back and forth. Otherwise, if you're alone, as
you know, and you're doing this, you're talking to yourself and
you're doing this right now without phone calls, which I
give you unbelievable props. It's like there's no, there's no
safety net. The phone calls, the safety net.
If you need I I actually call the listeners my Co host.
You know you can go to them and they could create content.
But yeah it's different when you're doing it alone.
It's all on you. So the, I think the toughest
thing doing a solo show is to be funny.
Like, how do you like? It's almost impossible.
Like you almost have to be almost wacky because you can't
really set up your own joke. So I think that that energy and
that theatrical presentation comes from either a hit piece
when you RIP somebody, which obviously people enjoy because
it's good radio, but it's hard to be funny when nobody's next
to you. Yeah, because you don't know if
you're being funny. I mean, you can actually be
funny and there's no laughter, you know what I mean?
There's no audience. So if I was funny with Don and
Peter, I'd get a laugh out of them.
And I figure if they're laughing, then people that are
listening or laughing, but you have no idea when you're doing
it alone, sometimes you feel like you're speaking into the
wind. And it's that's.
I'm glad you brought it up because I told the people at
good karma. They said what's the hardest
thing about? I said the hardest thing is to
be funny. I mean you could be provocative,
you could have sports takes. You could be strong in in your
takes, but in order to be funny, I, I don't know, you just don't
know if you're funny. You feel like Rupert pumpkin
half the time you you doing it in your basement.
You don't even know. Is anybody laughing at this?
So I figure if I can get a giggle out of it, maybe somebody
listening somewhere on the stream or watching on YouTube,
they're laughing as well. But it's a hard thing to gauge.
I'm. With you.
Yeah. All right, So you talk about
like, you know, speaking into the wind, like, is anybody
listening? My earliest frustration when we
were starting at 10:50. Now you started, you guys
started well, Don started right after 9. 11 Don was the first
voice. I know he was.
Was that right after or before 9/11?
I think it was, I think the week after 911.
That's what I thought, OK, And then you come in and I came in
in April of O3. Timmy McCarthy, you may love
him. One of the best, One of the
absolute best people and programmers and salesperson.
He is just a home run human. He's the fucking best.
I love him. So the early days of 1050, it
was very frustrating because if you look at our roster, we had a
lot of guys who went out to do a lot of stuff.
Stephen A came in, You're a star.
I'll leave myself out of it. Don's a star.
But it was so hard to get traction.
And we all wanted to at least compete with WFN because we're
all competitive people and we knew our product was really
good, but nobody could hear us with that shit signal that we
had. I know it was a massive
frustration for me doing night shows, doing weekends.
How about you, in the middle of the day trying to, you know,
make waves? It's tough.
It it was it was frustrating. This 1050 was not really a
strong signal and I don't think we really took off until we went
to 98.7, but we started to get traction at 10:50.
But just remember one thing, you're going up against the
Yankees and the Cowboys when you're going up against FANI
mean, people grew up on FAN. We still, we see people now
where where they talk about, you know, they're like Geo, a
boomer. And Geo, he was a listener.
You were a listener to FAN before any of this went on.
So people grew up with it. It was hard to change their
habit. So when we finally broke
through, I mean, it was really one of the proud moments of my
career because nobody thought we could do it.
I mean, Mike Francesa, you know, famously said, well, they're a
pea shooter, stuff like that key shooter.
And nobody knew. I mean, we, we'd sit there and
we'd get frustrated because we knew we were putting good
content together, but you didn't know if anybody was listening.
And then I, I think to this day, even though we ended up winning
at times, I think radio ratings are ridiculous.
I mean, you're judging 8 million people in an area by like 6 or 7
meters. It's, it's a joke That's so
inexact. And, you know, we get frustrated
because that I, I think the turning point for, for at least
the afternoon show for us is when they dropped Francesa on
yes. And they simulcasted us and I
think that brought in another audience as well.
And then we ended up beating him before he retired.
So yeah, at the beginning it it was tough, but you know, Tim has
great ideas. He's great with promotion and
stuff like that. He just knew how to program a
station and and he knew talent, too.
Yeah, he did. All right, So I, I mentioned
Stephen A You think he's going to run for president?
I know you follow what's going on in the world like I do, and
he's on Hannity, he's on The View, He's Chris Cuomo's his
buddy, like he's everywhere. You think he's going to actually
make a run at some point? Well, I mean, he might have
golden handcuffs because he makes so much money from from
ESPN. You know the rumors about 20
million a year. Yep, we'd have to give that up.
You know, if he, if he was running, but you know, it, it
seems now from if you watch the political spectrum, you guys can
make a lot of money if you're president.
But I'm not, I'm not sure that, you know, I'm not sure if he
could win. I'm not sure if he has to cross
appeal. But he's got something, you
know, a lot of people, if you said 15 years ago Donald Trump
was going to be president, they would laugh at you.
I think, I think it's more of a celebrity thing now, a
personality thing. So Stephen A has a shot because
he certainly has the he has the connections and he has the he
has the voice and he has the reach.
About this, they were over this past weekend, we were talking
about about Stephen A and, and whether he's going to, you know,
make a run. I said, I said, listen, I think
he wants to get on the debate stage.
That's what I think because I don't I don't, I don't know I'm
going to have Stephen on the show.
So I'll ask him, but I don't think he's ultimately, that's
just my opinion that he'll run for president.
If he does, I don't think he'll win.
Certainly won't embarrass himself.
But what's interesting with him is that he's even said he's he's
fiscally conservative. He would run as a Democrat.
But I think for a lot of reasons that we don't need to get into,
I think I think it on a lot of ways, Mike, he's more appealing
to the right than he is to the left.
I feel like he gets a lot of backlash from the left, and the
right kind of almost embraces him, which is an interesting
dynamic if you're trying to run as a Democrat.
He's doing stuff right now, Brandon, that that is so fraught
with peril because I'm telling you, when when our show in the
afternoon took a downturn, it was right around COVID and the
three of us got very, very political.
And people don't like people don't like that because
especially in talk radio. And you know, Peter is very,
very liberal. You know, he doesn't hide it.
And and Don and I at that time lean towards some liberal
things, although I wouldn't say we were liberal and people got
turned off. I think a lot of people are
listening to talk radio are male conservative men and we lost a
lot of people because we're going up against carton at that
time. And he leans the other way.
And I think I think that really hurt us a great, great deal.
So that's that's my if if any young kid is on talk radio,
sports talk radio, asked me what I said.
Just stay away from politics. I never tip my hand whichever
way I lean, whatever and like they go.
Don't, don't, don't we deserve to know what you feel.
No, you shouldn't care what I feel.
If you would vote because of what Michael K feel, you're an
idiot. You don't deserve a vote.
I'll vote the way I want to vote, and you don't have to
listen to it. And I never ever tip my hand
ever about which way I lean on things.
That's a small philosophy. You ever tell Peter to tone it
down during some of those times? Yeah.
Well, yeah, Tim McCarthy really thought it was going to hurt.
And. And for the most part, people,
people look at Peter and they don't like Peter because they
might be on the other side of the political spectrum.
And Peter is very, very, very, very liberal.
And, you know, after the COVID stuff and there's so many things
that you you can lean one way or the other.
You know, Tim kept saying you got to stop.
You got to stop. And for the most part, Peter
just stop. But it's hard to separate the
personality on the air and the guy that's on Twitter, because
he's also there's a morning show with Ebro.
And on that he's very, very open about which way he leans.
So he might not talk about it on the sports talk show, but
everybody knows which way he leans.
But for a long time there, we got, we got away from it and we
got we got a lot of the audience back.
But Brandon, some of them never forgot.
I hear you. I got you.
Let me, Let me ask you about this.
So I've talked to you about this privately, a lot of text, you
know, and, and, and along the way, I think you have said that
you've got fairly thin skin with certain things.
Is that is that a fair assertion?
Yeah, it's almost translucent. OK, why?
Why do you give a shit what somebody says on Twitter?
Why? I don't as much as I used to,
but I'm not going to lie and say that I I I totally don't.
I'm the type of person that if I'm walking down the street and
99 people say they love me and then one person goes you suck,
that's the one that will stay with me.
I don't know why. It's some wiring in my brain.
I don't need, I don't need one person examining me
psychologically. I need to go to Vienna and have
a full room of people 24 hours a day.
I don't think they could crack the code.
I maybe, maybe they're self loathing, maybe they're self
doubt, stuff like that. Maybe there's something in me
that has some kind of imposter syndrome.
Where do I deserve to have all the success that I've had?
And then there's that one person who says you're not good or
you're a fraud. That sticks with me.
Not as much as it used to. Used to drive me nuts and I used
to go back and forth with people to get me in trouble.
For the most part. I'll go back and forth having
fun now, but I don't get into any serious back and forth
because you can't win. Because if you have, if you lay
the big punch right, then they go, oh, look, you big tough guy
punching down. And then my answer is, I don't
feel like I'm punching down. You're equal to me.
Who am I? I'm not better than you.
So if you're going to throw a punch at me, I want to throw a
punch at you. I know that in the business that
we're in, you can't win that. That's why I scratched my head
at Kevin Durant. Although I understand that what
Kevin Durant is at the top of his industry and there are
people in their mom's basement with Cheeto dust in their
fingers saying that he's not a good player and it probably
drives him nuts. So he does burner accounts and
he answers people back. But then you kind of, but you're
Kevin Durant, You're one of the greatest players of all time.
But I know where he's coming from.
OK, I'm going to take a stab here at amateur psychologist,
all right, because you didn't grow up, you know, affluent and
and the way you grew up, blue collar Bronx grinding,
scrapping. I think you touched on it maybe
unknowingly to an extent. I think that that deep down you,
you, not that you don't think that you should be here, but
you've almost kept that, that Rocky mentality.
And I don't mean Rocky when he's in the mansion and he's got all
the money. I mean Rocky when he's hanging
out with the loan sharks, wearing the leather, hitting a
little paddle ball. I think there's, there's a
massive chunk of you that you can't, you can't like relent.
You just can't. You can't ignore that.
It it, it, you're just incapable of remembering where you came
from and you perceive A criticism or shot.
You take it probably more personally than most people.
And I think it's rude. Again, just to stay up here.
You tell me if I'm nuts. I think it's really rooted in
the way you were raised and how hard you had a fight to get to
where you got. Well, I was raised by, you know,
a dad who was really, really tough.
And, you know, he used to say, don't take any crap from
anybody. You know, I'll tell you a quick
story. We used to live on the 8th floor
of this 20 story building in the South Bronx.
And there was a kid that said something like from, you know,
he was in the parking lot, I was on the terrace.
And he, he said something derogatory toward me.
And I, I was up there. I didn't, you know, I didn't
react. And my father was in the, the
living room and heard it. And he said, did that guy just
say that? I said, yeah.
He goes, well, what are you going to do?
I said, what do you mean, what am I going to do?
He goes, you got 2 choices, he said.
You go down there and you kick the shit out of them or you stay
up here and I kick the shit out of you.
Those are your choices. That's freaking awesome.
Man, so I, I went downstairs on how to fight with the guy.
I, I think that you touch when you say humble beginnings,
Brandon, we didn't have money at all.
We, we would be, if you would look at you say we were poor,
really. I I never want to be poor again.
You're not going to be. So you're you're good in that
regard. But but in my mind, one person
jumps me and I what if and listen, there's people in our
industry that are really smart. There are some people that are
bosses that aren't smart and they listen to the way the wind
blows. So if one guy get like I would
push back at mush Nick and raceman and all that, because
there's one person, you could change their mind and all of a
sudden you're out of your job and all of a sudden you're
really, really poor again. I don't ever want to be really,
really poor again. And I think that's what drives
me. That's why I continue to work
the way I work. When I'm in my 60s, I should be
able to relax a little bit, but I don't want my kids to be poor
and I don't want to go back to that either.
What? What did the kid call?
Did he call you big head? What was he getting on you for?
I got a big ahead of that. I think it was like, you know,
it was something like a, it was like Kay is gay is something
like that. And my father said you go down
there and you kick the shit out of him.
And because that's just how my dad was.
My dad was a really, really tough guy.
And I, you know, I didn't want to, I didn't want to have him,
you know, going at me. So I went downstairs and I had a
fight with a guy. There, there's a third choice,
though, he said. You know, you either kick the
shit out of him or I kick the shit out of you.
But the third choice is, and this is really more about life,
you could go down there and you could get your ass kicked by the
kid, but at least you stepped up and you tried.
But. That's fine.
That's what I'm saying. You all know he, as long as I
fought, I mean, you know, he, he phrased it, you could go kick
the shit out of him. But the bottom line was I had a
fight. If somebody was going to say
something to me like that, yeah, You can't just let them get away
with it. And maybe 50-60 years later, I
still think like that. If somebody's going to say
something pejorative about you, how are you going to just sit
back and let it happen? But I, I, I've been better at
it. But it you know, there's times
that you still want to go down stairs and kick the shit out of
the person. By the way, scintillating
vocabulary, pejorative. Look at this guy.
The word, the words always flow for you.
Did you read a lot as a kid? Like I mean.
Yes, you did. Yeah, I did.
I did. I read all sports biographies so
that that's what that's what really interested me and my son
loves sports and I keep telling him I keep giving him books to
read and but he's always on his iPad looking at sports centered
stuff where he's learning that I said, Charlie, you got to read,
you got. But kids today, I don't know if
it's with you, your daughter and son as well.
Similar hard time sitting down and reading because there's so
many other distractions. Yeah, it's funny.
My son, they're very different person that you've met my son,
you haven't met my daughter yet. You met Colt a couple times, but
he is like, he'll still do a lot of old school stuff.
Like he'll go in the playroom and he'll just crank up like
ACDC. His music is eclectic, a lot of
old school stuff, which is great.
He'll even go on YouTube and I'll hear the Saint John
starting lineup and then I'll just hear him ripping down the
Nerf hoop dunking like so he's not on the odd now he's eating.
We got him a phone, which was a debate in the house and he just
turned 11. We got it.
Whereas my daughter is probably a little bit more of a swiper,
not that he doesn't, but I also, I put an end to it.
Like, you know, we sit there and we say parents who say, well, my
kids always on the iPad, we'll take it out of their fucking
hands. You're the parent.
Like, I don't understand. And I know it's easier said than
done because there's such a connectivity to the brain and
there's, you know, doctors can talk about this better than me
and there's such an immediate reward and gratification for
swiping and seeing these visual things that explode off of a
screen. But any parent who is
incessantly complaining about the the the screen time, do
something about it. You're the parent.
Well, the the thing that we've done, if we have, we have a 13
year old daughter and Charlie is 11 and she's the only one of her
friends that doesn't have a phone.
We will not give her a phone because it's poison.
It really is. And we are with the Antichrist
to her you're embarrassing me. All of my friends have phones.
I said, well, your friends parents are idiots and and Jody
yells at me and she said they're going to she's going to tell
them. And I said, but I want the
parents to come to me. I want them to and I want them
to say, why would you give? Because there's only bad things
on the phone. So the the way we relented was
so she can have contact with us. We got her an Apple Watch and
she hates it. It's not cool, it's not cool.
I said, but the phone is can you get in contact with mom and dad
if you need to be picked up? And half the time she doesn't
wear it. So I said the more every day
she'll ask for a phone. I said every day you ask,
there's five more days that you're not going to get it.
So we are the last ones that have held out without giving her
a phone. God bless you, the last one.
And the other parents go, I don't know how you do it.
I said they're kids, just tell them no, that's how.
You do it. That's what I'm saying.
Yeah. So I want to go back to
something you said before about, you know, the grind and, and
protecting what you have and how, how hard you had to fight
to get it and that underdog mentality and your dad and
everything that's rooted in you. I, I was thinking about this
when I, when I knew you were going to come on the show and
this could be a completely erroneous take or, or
positioning. I don't take this the wrong way.
I worry about you when you're done with the Yankees and like
you don't play golf. I remember you tell the story on
the radio once that you played, I think you were doing a four to
men IT game and you went you play golf and you were wearing
cowboy boots. So I I think that is.
Wow, you have some memory. I remember that man.
I mean the Bronx kid wearing boots.
In West Virginia. West Virginia.
Yeah. And like Michael Kay, I know
Jody's amazing and I, I you've got money, you're fine.
But like, without a lot of your identity is the voice of the
Yankees. It just is.
I mean, what are you going to do when you're not doing this
anymore? Are you going to be happy?
You know what people always say that you know, you'd be bored.
I, I'm never bored. You know, if you have an active
mind and there's so many things now that are out there that
could, you should never be bored things that you could read
things online, then I mean, there's a constant source of
information. I, I love laying around doing
nothing. I would be, I think I'd be fine.
But I, I, you know, I don't think I'm going to keep up the
grind of doing both jobs for a long time.
But I could see at some point, you know, saying, listen, I'll
do all the home games and I'll go to Boston anytime I, if I
don't have to get on a plane, I hate getting on planes.
So if I can do that, then I do 100 game.
Like what Howie Rose is doing that That's that's the perfect
solution. So you could do it for a long
time now. You know, I, I saw something
when Noah Eagle said, you know, if I'm still broadcasting at Al
Michael's age, you should slap me.
And I, I shook my head. I mean, I'm close with I and I
don't know Noah. Don't say that, man.
You don't know. You have no idea.
And I remember I, I'm a big Bruce Springsteen fan and Bruce
Springsteen when he was like 40. I'll never be doing this.
Well, you are, you're 70 and you're still touring, so I'm
never going to say never. I don't think I'll be doing
games at, you know, 84 like John Sterling was.
But I don't know. I have no idea if you're in good
health. You know, I, I, if I was ever
going to leave Brandon, it would have been now because of my kids
age, because I, I want to see them grow up.
And the, the way I reconcile it is, you know, the show I have
now on radio is, is 1 to 3. So they're in school.
I am here constantly during the winter, every single day.
How many dads could say that I'm there to pick them up from
school? I do all of their events,
everything. I, I'm part of it.
It's during baseball season where I disappear a little bit
and Charlie loves that and Cali doesn't.
But but in five years or six years when they're both in
college? Do I want to sit there and stare
at Jody all day, or will I still want to work?
I mean, she's pretty good looking.
What I understand, but after a while, you know, you stare at
the Mona Lisa, you're going to look at warts.
So I just, I just look at it and go maybe in five or six years
when they're in college, I want to continue to do it.
So I, I love the saying, you know, God laughs at those that
make plans. I'll just take it day by day.
There you go. That's a smart way to do it.
All right, let me ask you this. So when Soto jumps to the Mets,
you know, you know, God, the stuff that I had to put up with
Sal, I'm like, this is going to be torture, you know, And it is
what it is. It's fun and and you got to lean
into it. I, I really think I know that he
can, he can opt out of the Mets can match that in a bunch of
years by adding more money, whatever.
So if they don't want him to leave, he's not.
But I think that they're going to lament that like every
eventually, like every long deal that is lamentable.
But I, I think in a weird way this is going to sound crazy,
maybe not for this year or last year, but I, I think almost the
Yankees or I don't want to say the word lucky that he chose the
Mets, but going to enable them to do a lot more.
Do you do you think that that's crazy talk or is there something
to that? Well, I think it's crazy talk
for the these five years. Obviously he's, he's one of the
best hearers that we'll ever see.
And I and they wanted him. I, I, I think that how went far
and above what Brian was willing to do.
And but I think you hit on something really, really good.
Most long term contracts end poorly.
They just do. I mean people now without PED's,
they actually age and father Time beats them up and that's it
and you're done. The Yankees offered one more
year than the Mets. It was a 16 year deal.
So what's want? Soda going to be at 42, but I
don't think he could worry about that stuff.
I mean, Steve Cohen is closing it on 70 years old.
Do you think he's worried about the end of Juan Soto's contract?
So I, I think that was a, a big move for the Mets.
I think it was a loss for the Yankees and I think they pivoted
quite well. But I'm, I'm not going to sit
here and say it was a good thing for them because the, the
combination of Soto and Judge was, you know, once in a
generation sort of stuff. It was Ruth Gehrig.
It was that sort of thing. And I think Howe realized it,
realized the value of it. So for, you know, the first
seven years of that contract, I, I think they're going to miss
the fact that they don't have them.
I got you all right. So you know, everybody says with
Soto and and I'll, I'm he's an amazing hitter.
He's he's great, right? Generational, transformative,
transcendent. Come on, man.
Now, I'm, I'm not saying that there aren't elements of that
that are true beyond base prowess and all that stuff, but
come on, we've seen so much baseball.
The guy who's truly generational is the guy who it's 3:20 with 40
bombs or 348 like Mickey or what Judge is doing.
I mean, generational, can you hit 310?
I mean, honestly, don't you think that some of those Soto
stuff is a little overstated, Mike?
Yeah, but I mean, I would push back and say you look at his
statistics, there's numbers that only Ted Williams has done.
I mean, his on base percentage, he's a different bird.
You know, he's he's not I I hear what you're saying.
He's not your prototypical guy that you'd say that's a
superstar 50 home runs. But I, I think I still think
those are going to come. I really do.
He had a great year hitting in front of Judge.
I mean, that was unbelievable protection where that was one of
the few times in his life that you go, I think I'd rather pitch
the Soto then have to deal with Judge.
Judge has never had that protection and still has been
amazing. So I think Judge is better than
Soto, but but you know, just overall, he's a much better
player, a much better hitter. But Soto, Soto is special.
He he is special, I'm not going to lie.
And you don't want to piss off those BET fans again.
What is you with the you and the Mets fans?
I mean, you, you always have something going on with the Met
fans. Anything that I say about the
Mets, because, you know, Don and Peter hit me with Yankee Boy and
stuff like that, so they think that I'm jaundice.
And anytime. I mean, the Met fans have such
unbelievable love for their broadcast crew.
Yes, that that any, anybody else is just trash.
And so they look at me and they go, who is this guy?
He's not Gary. How could he open his mouth?
He has no, he has no, he has absolutely no right to say that.
And I, I tell him, this is not a Yankee show.
This is a, a sports show. I'm going to have comments about
the Mets. I mean, the thing that got me on
their bad side, Brandon, was when the, the, the, the Mets
came to Yankee Stadium from the, the Subway Series last year.
And I know a lot of people on the Met.
I mean, I'm close with a lot of people on the Mets without
getting specific about it. And I was told Soto's miserable,
man, he's miserable. And I was told that he wanted to
come back to the Yankees. And the family said, no, it's
got to be the Mets. And so I said this stuff and Oh
my God, and to this day. That was big.
That was a big, that was a big story, man.
And it and it was true. It was true.
Have you heard some of the stuff that Carlos Mendoza has said
publicly? You know, there was a time
there, he said that he was very down.
And yeah, it was transitional. I didn't say it was going to
last forever. It was tough.
It was, I mean, the Mets are completely different animal than
the Yankees. And if you look at Soto, Brandon
Soto is a businessman. He's very serious about his
craft. And the Yankees are very serious
team. They come in, they prepare, they
overwork, they, they, they, they, they, they cover every
single base and you go into the Met clubhouse over the years,
not just in the last year or so, they're more fun loving, they're
freewheeling and stuff like that.
Sonos all about that game, that night, his forward bats and the
Yankees are a perfect situation for him and he probably realized
that. And also he could be great and
Aaron Judge was going to get all of the shine and Soto didn't
care. But with the Mets, he is the
guy. So it was a little bit of a
different adjustment, but I think he's going to be fine.
Yeah, he's definitely be fine. You mentioned the Mets broadcast
team and I, I think what hurts, not the right word because the
broadcast is still great, But one of the things that I think
puts you at a bit of a disadvantage, and I'd love to
hear your thoughts on this, is when Gary shows up, he knows
he's got Ronnie and Keith or, or one of the two.
You show up. And, and, and I won't name
names. Some I think are much better
than others. I know that yes, kind of changed
the roster going into this year, but I think your job is
inherently tougher because you're working with so many
different people. Well, it's funny because at the
beginning of yes, we had, you know, remember the old Naked Gun
line where they, they had people in the booth and Doctor Joyce
Brothers, there was like 9 people in the booth.
And you know, they felt like it kept it fresh when yes first
started that, you know, all these different voices kept it
fresh and you didn't know who you were going to get.
And, and there's some validity to that.
But I think also baseball announcers are like your buddy.
You're with them the whole summer.
You know, you're with them when you're on the radio on the
beach, you're with them in in the house at night.
And I think sometimes it got a little, it flustered people a
little bit, but I think it worked.
I, I and people go, isn't it tough on you?
Well, that's all I know. I mean that, that's all I know
since I went into TV. That's all I know.
This year it's going to be different.
It's just going to be Coney, O'Neill and Girardi.
That's it. It's just going to be 3 guys in
the booth. And so when you tune in the
game, you're going to know it's going to be one of those or two
of those guys with me. And, and for 15 games that's
going to be Ruco. So I, I, I, I just think that
people like Gary, Ron and Keith because it's a great booth.
But it's funny because I think Met fans love their broadcasters
actually more than they love their team at Time.
Can you blame them? Half the time the team sucks.
Well, well, the funny part is, is Gary, Gary is, is a fan and
he's, he's very critical and I think he is, he's the voice of a
lot of met fans like, so when he gets kicked off, it's obvious
that the fans are kicked off as well.
So I think that that they feel closer to the broadcast team
than they do to the team. Yankee fans.
I, I think they like the broadcasters.
I think they like John, I think they like me, but we're not
their be all end all. I think Met fans would actually
go to war for Gary Ronneke. Yankee fans aren't like that.
They're just not. There, there's a lot of truth, I
think that that comes out of that.
I don't disagree. All right, let's get to judge
here. I listen, I was doing something
on the show the other day and I was trying to find the origin of
like when legacy conversation entered sports radio and
everybody's vernacular and I, and I, I actually to me, it's
not so much Michael Jordan, LeBron to me, it's really Tiger
Woods and Jack because Tiger was doing what he was doing before
LeBron burst on the scene. That's just my opinion.
I don't know if it's right or wrong.
And you know, one of the things that has spawned from legacies,
if you don't win a championship, you can't be considered an all
time grade. Or if you get 2 championships as
a quarterback, you're better than the guy who had won, even
if he was out a lot better as a player.
I listen. I hope he gets one.
If Aaron Judge never wins a World Series, I don't want to
hear from any, including you. I don't want to hear from
anybody that he's not rude, that he's not Manuel, that he's not
Garrick, that he's not DiMaggio, that he's not Yogi Berra.
There is nobody on this planet that can tell me that those guys
were better than Aaron Judge. I don't want to hear it.
Well, it's funny, on on the show yesterday, I talked about how
he's underappreciated. He really is as great as he is.
I think he's part of the furniture and we take him for
granted. And on the radio show, you know,
I get a lot of year, but because he hasn't won a championship
now, I think he shut a lot of that up last year when he hit
600 in the post season. You couldn't get him out.
But here's the way I look at it, Brandon.
Yeah, you want to have that title.
I know that. I know that's a big part of
things. But I can't put that all on one
person on a team sport. If you don't win a Grand Slam in
tennis, it's on the tennis player, nobody else.
If you don't win the Masters or the US Open in golf, it's on
Phil Mickelson, it's on Rory McIlroy.
If they don't win the World Series, you can't say it's on
Aaron Judge. You can't say it was on Don
Mattingly. Don Mattingly have enough
pitching on that team. I mean, one of the greatest, the
greatest hitter of all time is Ted Williams.
He didn't win a World Series. I mean, Banks didn't win a World
Series. I'm sorry.
Yeah. Is that a line on his resume
that would be empty? Yes, it's not his fault.
No, it's not his fault. He's been as great as you could
possibly be. I agree and listen, I I think
that there's also an elevation or or like it romanticizing.
And listen, Willie Mays might be the greatest of all time and
Ernie Banks, other names that you mentioned, Ted Williams, the
greatest pure hitter. But people are very selective.
And I went back and I looked at the numbers like everybody, like
there's never a bad word. Not that there should be said
about Willie Mays. Willie, Willie Mays small sample
granted had a sub 700 OPS in the postseason.
You know, Ted Williams obviously was flying planes, fright and
fighting for our country. So he missed time at his prime
with World War 2 and he had a limited sample as well.
His post season numbers were not very good.
Like there's an illumination, there's a penalty to me of being
a modern athlete. Everything was better back in
the day. This guy was better.
That was better. In a lot of ways the world may
have been better, but specific to sports, I think it's a crock
of shit and I think that the guys today, the great players,
they are so micro analyzed and scrutinized that it's an
unwinnable situation for him. It, it is it, it's, it's
amazing. And, and I think in baseball,
more so than any of the other sports, if, if you're a
quarterback and you want to be and you want to RIP a guy for
not winning a Super Bowl, the quarterback does have the ball
in his hand. If you want to say, well, LeBron
hasn't won as many championships as Jordan.
He does have the ball in his hand at the end of the game.
And baseball, and I think this is this is a flaw in baseball
that hurts it. The best players on the team
might not come up in a game where you're trying by one run
in the ninth in and. By the way, like even if they
do, you might walk them. That's right.
And you could pitch around them
without walking and then they expand the strike zone.
I mean, you played in college, you actually know what the
game's about. There's ways to get around guys
where where they can't hurt you. So I just think of all the
sports, baseball is the Ultimate Team sport where if you don't
have pitching, if you don't have other hitters around you, you
could be the greatest player in the world.
You could hit 1000 and you still might not win a championship.
So I'm not going to hang that on him.
I'm just not. And you know, even before last
year, the narrative was he wasn't good in the postseason.
He had a lot of big hits in the postseason.
The home runner for Class A was a huge hit against the Guardians
in the year that they went to the World Series.
So it would stand it as well. That was phenomenal.
Absolutely so. And then last year he finally
did it all, hitting 600, but it still wasn't enough.
Because you know why it wasn't enough?
Because Rodan and Freed got slapped around in the series
against the Blue Jays. So if they had done their job,
maybe Judge would have been in the ALCS against the Mariners.
And then he gets to the World Series.
Again, we have no idea. So he's still, he's one of the
greatest players that we'll ever see and I think he should be
really greatly appreciated. And he's he's about as high a
character person as you could possibly have.
He is tremendous. And it's unbelievable, too.
Yeah. The big, the big thing.
Yesterday, he was getting ripped.
He didn't give a great emotional speech.
That's what I'm saying. He's not Winston Churchill, OK.
And the the guy was beloved in New York City is Derek Jeter.
Derek Jeter was not any guy either.
And everybody saw what a great leader.
And he was a leader because people could follow the way he
worked. But the the the the guy who was
his consiglieri was Posada. I mean, you you can be a leader,
but you have to have a guy who like will get up in somebody's
face and grab him by the neck. That was Posada.
But Posada didn't have the the captain's title.
So I look at that stuff and I laugh at it.
You know, they tell him stand up and say something to the team.
First of all, he doesn't even know all of them.
So he is he going to give a fire and brimstone speech?
But again, we're always looking to pick apart everything about a
guy who's about as close to a perfect player as we've seen.
Yeah, there's no doubt. I mean, he does everything and
and the other thing too. I got a couple of quick hits
before I let you go. All Yankee stuff, right?
Some roster things and then quick projections for the year.
But you think about like the 777018.
They couldn't stand each other, but Thurman was an ass kicker.
Lou Nettles, I mean, they held each other accountable.
Goose, right? Obviously the dynasty teams 96
and so on. Tino was an ass kicker.
Posada the 2 championships after Girardi was the catcher.
O'Neal was a firecracker. I don't, you know, my God first,
I don't know if the Yankees are good enough to win the World
Series right now. I don't think that they are
right now if Cole comes back healthy and that that could
change things. I don't know if they got enough
dogs on the team. Like do they have enough of
those guys that, you know, when when things really get tense and
tight and tough and they got to shred somebody in the clubhouse
or there's a fight or anything, Do they have enough of those
guys? I don't think that they do.
Do you? I, I, I think that's a little
overblown because if you look at the, the Dodgers, who's the DAWG
on the Dodgers? I mean, they're just really good
players. So I just think that when you
show up in postseason, people think you're a dog.
And if you don't show up in the postseason, people who think
you're a DOG. So I, I don't, I don't know what
to say. I think they're good enough.
I think that if they if they played a cleaner game, they
would have been the Champions in 2024.
You know, game one and game five turn the whole series around.
I think they're good enough to win the American League.
I don't worry about the Dodgers. They get to the World Series.
Let's say they win and right now I've got them low 90s.
That could be more with the pitching because the rotation, I
think the rotation could be the best in baseball by middle of
the season forward when guys get back in and they reclaim their
stuff. And I love them and you know, I
love them and I'm friends with them and I know you love them as
well. If if there's a quick bounce
from the postseason. Is this it for Boone this year?
It could happen. I mean, I, I think it could
happen. He has only one year left.
How doesn't like to pay people for not working.
And I never thought he was going to let go last year.
You know, people, people on my show.
I don't know if it was like this with you and Sal in order.
They hate Cashman, they hate Boone.
And then how? Yes, that's that's the order
that's universal. And I think the how criticism is
ridiculous. Oh, he's cheap.
He's not cheap. Oh, he doesn't want to win.
He desperately wants to win. He's just not his dad.
That's a hard act to follow. I think Boone is a good manager.
I think it's tough to win. I think, I think it's just
really, really, really tough to win.
And he has sometimes he's had imperfect teams.
I think if you asked him which one he takes the hardest, it
would be last year, you know, just sitting next to him on the
bench before games, You know, in September last year, I've never
seen him so pumped up. He thought that team was going
to win the World Series. That was the best team he said
he's ever had. He said it.
I know. And so I think he feels the same
way now because you add a full year of Schlittler and, and you
know, Rodon, not Rodon, but Cole comes back in June.
So he's got to feel the same way again.
You know, people criticize them for running it back.
Well, if you really love the team last year, why wouldn't you
run it back? So they've run it back and
they've added Weathers. And you know, I think that they
did their heavy lifting last year, Brandon at the trade
deadline, that was their offseason.
They got Bednar, they got Duvall, they got Bird, they got
Rosario, they got they changed the team a lot and that's why
they loved it so much. So I don't think they felt like
they they would have had to make a pivot if they lost Bellinger.
And I think that the thought of losing Bellinger made them give
the qualifying offer to Grisham because they couldn't have lost
both of them. That would have been two holes
to fill. Don't get me going on Grisham.
I I know what he did 34. I know he can't bat lead off.
There is no way in any universe Trent Grisham could be the lead
off hitter on a team that's going to win the World Series.
You just can't have it, Mike. He can't be the lead off hitter.
I. Just think he but I think lead
off hitters are different than they used to be.
I, I know, I I've heard. Not for the Dodgers.
They got Ohtani. The Yankees have Grisham.
Yeah, I, it's I, I told Boone about it.
He goes, well, who do you, who do you think should lead off?
I said. So somebody like a Ricky
Henderson, he said. You just brought the greatest
lead off hitter in the history of baseball into the
conversation. That guy doesn't exist.
Yes, we don't have Ricky Henderson, he said.
Of all the people we have, we think that Grisham is best
suited to lead off. Yeah, I I respectfully disagree.
Boone tells me that he'll text me.
He's like when I'm getting on Grisham and and I love the guy,
but I'm never going to agree with him on that.
All right, couple of quick hitters.
This one's going to be easy because I know the answer.
Jones not making the team right. No chance 0.
No. None.
OK, what about Dominguez? No.
That's good. You see, that's what fucking
drives me nuts about this. I know he doesn't hit as a
righty. I know he was a bit of a butcher
in the outfield. He stole 20 bases.
He didn't hit 209. He basically at 2:50.
I thought there'd be some more easy power last year, which I
think will come this year if he ever gets called up again.
But to me, like, that is one of my fundamental inherent issues
with the Yankees. They either overvalue prospects,
right? Or, or, or they just don't give
guys enough of, of a runway to show what they got.
How are you going to send? I know the I think that you're
right, but how are you going to justify sending him to the
minors? He's a Major League player,
Mike. He is a Major League player, but
you've you've got $20 million into $22 million into Grisham,
42 and a half, $1,000,000 into Bellinger and then there's Judge
and then you got there's no place to play him.
So the reason why he goes to the minors, you're going to retard
his growth. If you bring him into the big
leagues and he has 125 played appearances.
That's not good for him either. He's only 23 years old.
And I, I agree with you. I love his base running.
He's energetic, he's got a great attitude.
I think he could still be a very, very good player.
I think the biggest strike he had against him, and it's going
to sound dumb and I think Joel Sherman wrote about this couple
weeks ago, he got saddled with that stupid nickname, the
Marshall and everybody thought he was good.
And it's almost the same thing with the Knicks.
We judge McHale Bridges because they gave, they were stupid
enough to give five first round draft picks for him.
If they didn't, you wouldn't think he was that bad of a
player. We love the fourth option,
right? We try to make him measure up
the five. We try to make Dominguez measure
up to. The Martian, He's not the
Martian. He's a good player.
He could be a really good player for a long time.
Is he a superstar? I don't know.
If you can't hit righties and you can't play defense, I don't
think he can be a superstar. No, I agree.
All right, Few quick hitters here.
When Volpe comes back, Caballero's going to get some
run. I know McMahon's taking some
reps at shortstop. It's obviously going to be
different this year if Volpe does not radically change his
approach and his numbers. I mean, you, you can't.
And I love the kid. You can't keep running them out
there. I mean, the leash has to be
shorter this year, right Mike? I would think.
But they do love them. They do.
They just love them. I mean, the the Boone's one of
the nicest guys you've ever met, and I think you'd feel the same
way. So it was at Citi Field last
year and Meredith asked him a question about Volpe because the
defensive metrics were down. And he answered the question.
He got really, really angry on the podium.
And then he's walking up the podium and he looks at Meredith
and he goes, he's effing elite. Do you understand me?
He's effing elite. So he feels very strongly about
Pulpy. So I asked Boone over the
winner, talking with him privately.
I said, what happens if Caballero's hitting 350 at the
end of April and then Judge is ready to come, Pulpy's ready to
come back. Is Volpy getting a job?
He said let's see when Caballero's hitting 350.
Yeah, I mean. I think Volpe still gets the job
and and what they will say is Calvaro's values that he plays
all around. He'll still get a batch.
Which I don't disagree with. I mean, I remember his first
game, one of his first games in Tampa, he let that pace hit go
under his glove in the outfield like, but no, he he can run,
He's got good value grinder, good energy.
I like Calvary. Heard from people in the
Yankees. I don't claim to have the the
contacts that you do obviously, but there's no way they are
going to sign Jazz to a long term extension.
The element of trust is not quite there.
I agree with that. He's always swinging for the
fences. It's one thing to aspire to go
5050, but what are you leaving on the table in terms of on base
and average as you pursue that? I don't think he's going to be
with the Yankees many more years.
Do you disagree with that? Well, when, you know, I did a
spring training game with Girardi last week and he said
the 5050 scares me for the reason you just said, because
then you you're not going to do the things that you should be
doing. He said just accept being 3030
and if he gets to 4040 and still be that player, that's amazing.
Jazz might be the best athlete on the team.
I don't disagree. He's phenomenal, great athlete.
But he's very, you know, he's a different bird.
And when he came out in spring training and said that he
expects an 8 to 10 year contract at $35 million a year, He's not
he's not getting that from the Yankees.
And remember one thing, Brad. You know, from anybody, Mike.
When they when they got him from the, when they got him from the
Marlins, there wasn't any teams lined up to get him.
I know the Yankees took a chance and said, listen, you could be
yourself. And it's, I think it's worked
for both parties. He's been great with the
Yankees. He really has.
But there there's no way they would commit to 8 to 10 years of
that kind of money. Over under to just give me quick
answers Over under Austin Wells home runs 2525 or less.
I think he's going to hit 24. Judge is healthy.
This judge hit 55 or more. That's so hard to do.
I'd say hits 53. Garrett Cole, does he look at
some point this year like the old Garrett Cole, like Cy Young?
I I agree with that. Cam Schlittler, who's he reminds
you of? That's a tough one cuz if he was
a lefty, maybe Randy Johnson. It's like, you know, cuz he's
longer. That's a tough one.
I don't even have a real great comp.
Anybody pop into your head? Almost like just features wise.
Mark fidgets going way back the bird.
Yeah, but I I think Schlittler could be really special.
I don't, I don't think he's a flash in the pan.
The only thing that could get in his way if he's not healthy.
Yeah, I I actually think between Schlittler and McClain with the
Mets, like, listen, you know, back in the day, like when
people would walk up and buy ticket sales, like when Fernando
was pitching or Doc Gooding. I don't know if it's quite going
to be that way because both stadiums are pretty much always
full at this point. The the Mets fans showed up last
year and the Yankees are always there.
But when those guys pitch it, it's it's going to be like a
rock concert. I think they're both the real
deal. I totally agree.
To me, I don't know if it's going to happen right away.
Ben Rice should be hitting third.
I think Ben Rice is a future star with the bat.
Where you at with that? So if he's hitting third,
where's Judge hitting clean up one second you can.
Put him two and then put Belly. I know you got Lefty lefty if
you go Rice and then Belly 4, but how about how about this?
How about Bellinger hit first? I know that they won't do this,
but more so than Grisham. Belly 1, Judge 2.
Rice 3. Stanton four.
And then fill things out from there.
Why not not not bad. I, I have high, high aspirations
for for Rice. I think he could be really,
really outstanding. The Yankees have a diamond in
the rough. Yes.
I, I never liked to hit even even when it comes to Grisham
getting back to what you said, 34 home runs and if you put
Bellinger at the lead off spot, what he had 29 last year.
I've, I've, I said this to Boone.
I said, why do you want a guy who's leading off being a home
run hitter that 1/4 of his bats during the year he comes up with
nobody on 1/4 of his batch is leading off the game.
He. Said, well, you could.
You can also get out to A1 nothing lead in the game.
I said, yeah, I I get it, but you're leaving a lot of RBIs on
the table. I mean, they they, they played
around with Judge leading off too.
I don't want that. I just don't want because if, if
there's a weakness to the Yankee offense, the bottom of the order
is not as stout as the beginning.
So that means that the the lead off hitter is coming up without
anybody on base. True, true.
We all know it's Bobby Mercer, your all time favorite Yankee.
Rest in peace, Bobby. I would assume Bounty's too.
Who's your next favorite Yankee all time?
That that that that you watched play or covered?
Not like Ruth or one of those guys.
Wow. Probably Thurman.
Thurman. I never saw Thurman play.
You know what's ironic about that?
I never recollect watching Thurman play a game.
I just don't. I was 5 when he when he passed
away and when he was killed on in 79.
But what I do remember very vividly, like it was almost
yesterday, sitting on my parents bed and watching the ceremony, I
guess was on pix at that point and seeing the empty home plate
and then Bobby having the game winner off.
I think they were playing the Orioles that night if I'm not
mistaken. And isn't that crazy?
I never and and I remember watching like a little bit of
Reggie, like little snippets of medals and and Guidry and Goose.
I don't remember Thurman ever taken in that bat, but I
remember the ceremony when he got killed.
Yeah, because, you know, growing up a growing up a Yankee fan,
you know, nobody could ever call me a front runner because when I
really started liking the Yankees, they were awful.
And he was part of the transition.
He was on that team that was awful.
It's almost like what Bernie is with the later day Yankees.
Bernie was on the one. They were awful.
And then he was a big part of it.
And for people that are younger listening, and maybe I'm sure
you've seen it, the the home run that Thurman hit in the playoffs
against the Royals and Doug Byrd, it's unbelievable.
I mean, that's when Monument Park was like 450 three feet
away and the ball just kept going and going and going and it
was a huge home run. And that's one of those guys,
Brandon, that I'm glad I didn't cover because he was really
prickly. Yeah, he was heard.
He's not great with the media, so that I'm glad I got to just
enjoy him as a fan And I and I've become really close friends
with his wife, who is the sweetest woman that you'll ever
want to meet. And you know, she keeps his
memory alive with his foundation and stuff like that.
But I never really got to know Thurman at all.
I love when I see her getting the flowers at Old timers.
Diana. Diana writes.
Her name? Diana, Yeah.
Are you a Reggie guy? Do you like Reggie?
I liked him as a player. He's, you know, sometimes he's
difficult to get along with. The times that I talked to him
and like you, you just go, I'm talking to Reggie Jackson.
It's so great. And there's times that, you
know, he gets in moods and stuff like that.
But you know, I think he was, you know, he was an unbelievable
player. He's one of those guys though.
I just don't think that somebody who played five years for a team
should have the number retired. But I agree, have the number
retired. Yeah, we're getting a little off
with this. Now, I'm not going to disparage
CC, but you can even make the, I don't know if you could, you
could make a little bit of a case that even that's except
like what? Come on.
Well, he did win a championship with them and he was with them
longer than you would think. I think it was 12 years.
He was a Yankee. He was a big part of that team.
So I, I don't have that much of an argument about his not
because once you start retiring guys that, that you've, you've
put up on that wall that, that they're, they're not Ruth,
Garrett, DiMaggio, Mantle, Whitey Ford.
Then I think you've opened the door for guys like CC and Paul
O'Neill and and Posada and and Bernie to get in.
You know, you, you, there's a lot of people.
I think only people are in the Hall of Fame that won
championships should be up there, but they've gone beyond
that. Fair enough.
All right, Last thing. So I'm sure you passed this for
the most part, but when there's a big moment and you know the
whole world's going to hear you call, you know it like it the
strikeout or a judges up guys on World Series, you get nervous
like in your mind you're like, man, I got to nail this.
Have to. I do.
I do, and I not for the reason that you think I get nervous
because that call is going to be attached to that person for the
rest of their life. And if I screw it up, it's going
to be that I screwed it up. That's going to be part of the
conversation rather than just their greatness.
The last time I felt like that was Judge's 62nd home run.
I mean, I, I didn't, I didn't enjoy that at all.
I was nervous. I just thought, you can't blow
this. You just can't.
People are sending me emails of calls that I, I, I never plan a
call. I just think that you screw up
if you do that. Yeah, I've heard you say that
before. I believe it.
Not everybody does, but I've heard you say that.
Yeah, and you know, and there, there are great broadcasters in
our industry that you could hear it.
They plan the call. I mean, it's written down on a
card in front of them. I I've never done that and
luckily I haven't found anything up.
But yeah, the judge, when I felt I felt more nervous about that
than even doing World Series games.
And the best compliment I got was he hit the home run.
It was the day before the last game of the year.
And we were in Texas. And I went down to the clubhouse
that day and he was talking to a couple of reporters.
And he he he told the reporters, excuse me.
And he walked up to me. I was in the middle of
clubhouse. I didn't go down to talk to him.
I just went down to, you know, and he said, you did a great job
on that. And I really appreciate that and
that that meant the world to me because I don't want to screw up
their moment by being stumbling or bumbling or saying something
stupid. So I'm I'm not looking to be the
story at all. I just don't want to be the
story on the negative end where I take away from there, Sean.
Well, listen, I'm trying. It's been a phenomenal chat, but
not an interview. Great conversation.
You know I love you. Since I'm starting out this new
platform, I could use a little poppy or make some news.
You talk about scripting stuff, Gary Cohen script anything.
I don't know. I've never I, I don't think so.
I, I don't think Gary Scripts did.
I'll tell you one thing that came close to a script for me.
You think Gary Scripts did? I don't think he does, but if if
you if I found out that he did, I wouldn't be surprised if it's
something. And he's great.
Mechanically, he's terrific. Sometimes it sounds a little
scripty. Yeah, I, I, I, I've never sensed
that with him. I've never, I mean, I sensed
that with, you know, some national guys, which I'm, I'm
not going to disparage them, but the closest I ever came to
scripting things was Jeter's 3000 hit.
Now you're going to think I'm out of my mind.
So that was. That was something that was on
my mind leading up to the time, but I didn't want to script it.
And who would know that he was going to hit a home run right
for a 3000 hit? And the night before I'm
sleeping and I'm dreaming that he hits a home run for a 3000
hit. I have a dream and I'm
announcing the game in my dream and in the in my dream, when I'm
announcing it, Brandon, I say history with an exclamation
point. Wow.
I wake up, go to the ballpark, he hits a home run and all of a
sudden I go back and I'm thinking about what I dreamt
about and it comes out of my mouth history with an
exclamation point. But it wasn't written.
It wasn't written. It was a plan.
I had dreamed it. How freaky is that?
I had dreamed that I was going to say that.
And he was going to a home run for a 3000 hit.
Yeah, by the way, man, like, I remember, remember that.
You can't tell this. Remember the time I walked into
the bar on crutches, that time Joey was there when we were up
on the Upper West Side. I I, I know and I remember I
said something when I walked in the ball.
You you know the story that I'm maybe it, maybe you're
forgetting it. So I say that because talking
about your dreams, I know you off the air and you're a
freaking crazy cat in a good way.
So I'm sure some of those dreams are fucked up.
Not just not just the Jeter home runs.
We got to get some other of those dreams on the record at
some point. But I'm gonna let you go.
I have to go myself as well. I got to get out to Saint John's
and record the show with Rick. So I can't thank you enough.
Dude. It's been a pleasure.
It's been an honor. You know, I consider you a
friend. It was great seeing you at
Alex's party. And you know, the trolls, fuck
them. Everybody knows that at this
point. Just keep doing what you do and
you're going to be in the Hall of Fame someday.
You know, don't even answer that.
You're going to be. Well, I will tell you this, just
give me a second. I, I am so proud of the way
you've pivoted. You know what was done to you
and Sal, I said it on the air. I couldn't believe how you guys
reacted to two weeks knowing it. And you did unbelievable shows.
And then when I saw you at Alex's party and you had already
started this, I said, dude, you just, I can't waste time.
I mean, the way you've pivoted, it's the way Brian Cashman
pivoted when they lost Soto. So I'm really proud of you and I
hope this is a huge success for you.
I appreciate that. Thank you.
Mike, don't get me going on cash.
I got some some things. I got to come back.
I'm going to let you go before I get you in trouble.
I can start getting on Cashman. Cashman is my biggest issue with
the Yankee. It ain't hell, it's not Boon.
It's it's Cashman. But with that being said, he too
is going to be a Hall of Famer. To be fair.
We're going to let you go. Great seeing you, buddy.
Thank you very much. Man, thanks a lot.
You the best there is the great Michael Kay.
Hey, how awesome was that J Rod pop in buddies.
I do have to go here. My goodness, that was that
awesome or what that was money. That was just I mean I won just
the storytelling the come up I thought was incredible.
I thought the talk about the game was just, you know, so
informative. I thought that little story
about the dream at the end that was about that story about his
dad was just wild. That's a great story.
Yeah. Yeah.
No, I mean, I'm getting texts throughout just going, man, this
is it. This.
Yeah. I, I really, if I didn't have
to, he also has to do his radio show.
If I didn't have to get out to Queens, I got to suit up and get
out there. I I would kept them on longer.
So we'll get him back out again at some point during the season.
But I told you guys, I'm going to start rolling the guest in
and, you know, now it is on the list, whether it's Alex or
whether it's Booney or whether it's Pitino or I know I texted
Don the other day. We're going to get the Greca on
at some point. Talk about the old days and, you
know, radio and all that stuff. It's not an interview.
It's a conversation. What, what really one of my
favorite things to do, even though I say it's not an
interview really is to interview people.
I, I, I just, I love it. I think the, you know, if you're
a young broadcaster out there, the bet there's too many people
go in, they, they try to get that money quote right away by,
Oh, I gotcha. And try to get that one little,
1 little cut that's going to get out there and get them more
followers. The way you do, not to be
preachy here, but the way you do is solve an interview is you got
to have a conversation and you've got to make them feel at
home and comfortable because if they get on right away and
they're on guard, you know, they're not going to give you
anything. But if you just chilling and you
throw it a couple F bombs around, which you can in this
format and you just, you know, shooting the breeze, you're
going to get, you know, 50 minutes of unscripted K That's
so I take a lot of pride in that and all these conversations will
be great. So J Rod, let me sign off here,
buddy. Great job today, man.
Head it all up there, the shorts, all the stuff we'll get
the we'll get the K interview up as a separate piece on the
YouTube channel. I did about I don't know 10 or
12 minutes of of other content before Michael join me.
Really appreciate that. Hopefully you guys enjoyed this.
I've got to run. Make sure you like make sure you
subscribe. We hit 17,000 Subs the other
day, closing in on 18 fast. So I'm starting to feel the
traction, but you got to do your job.
I'm doing mine. You guys got to like it.
You got to share it, you got to check it out.
You got to let that that algorithm kick in.
It's a real thing, man. So again, thank you to Michael.
I will catch you guys tomorrow at 10.
Have an outstanding awesome rest of your Wednesday and I will
talk to you then. Peace.
listening?