0:00

The holidays start here at Kroger with

0:02

a variety of options to celebrate traditions

0:04

old and new. You could do a

0:07

classic herb roasted turkey or spice it

0:09

up and make turkey tacos. Serve up

0:11

a go-to shrimp cocktail or use Simple

0:14

Truth wild caught shrimp for your first

0:16

Cajun risotto. Make creamy mac and cheese

0:18

or a spinach artichoke fondue from our

0:21

selection of Murray's cheese. No matter how

0:23

you shop, Kroger has all the freshest

0:25

ingredients to embrace all your holiday traditions.

0:28

Kroger, fresh for everyone. We

0:31

are breaking down all aspects of

0:33

Yankee baseball. This is the Bronx Pinstripe

0:36

Show with your host Andrew Rotandi and

0:38

Scott Ryan. Let's go. What's

0:48

up everybody welcome to the Bronx Pinstripe

0:50

Show. Different episode for you today. We're

0:52

gonna be kicking it back to our

0:55

Bernie Williams interview from October 2022. It's

0:57

the Christmas to New Year's week. It's

1:00

a busy time. It's a slow time

1:02

actually for Yankees news. Busy time for

1:04

Scott and I. Scott's been traveling all

1:06

week and with the fact that really

1:08

nothing has happened in the

1:10

world of Yankees baseball. Other than Yamamoto not

1:13

signing with the Yankees and the

1:16

Yankees finally trading away or

1:18

giving up on Estevan Florial. For

1:21

Cody Morris from the Guardians nothing

1:23

has really happened. Had something major happened Scott

1:25

and I would be doing a regular episode

1:27

today. I'm sure we'll talk about both of

1:30

those things on the next episode and hopefully

1:32

something happens between now and next Wednesday. But

1:34

for this week figured let's

1:37

kick it back to our our Bernie Williams

1:39

interview because it was it was really good.

1:41

And obviously it was a surreal

1:44

moment for me speaking to to Bernie

1:46

who I grew up watching.

1:49

Scott and I have said a million times it's

1:51

bull crap that he's not included in the core

1:54

four. It just was you know circumstance when he

1:56

ended up you know finishing his career in the

1:58

mid 2000s. And then the the

2:01

core four went on for a few more

2:03

years obviously won the o9 championship had Bernie

2:05

been maybe two years younger To

2:08

be lumped in with those guys and then he could have you

2:10

know still been on that that o9

2:12

championship It would have been the the fab 5 or

2:14

whatever the hell They would have called

2:16

it at the time But hopefully you guys maybe you've

2:18

already heard this interview and you don't want to listen to

2:20

it again Or maybe you forgot what the hell we talked

2:23

about frankly. I forgot what we talked about I had to

2:25

go back and listen to some of it a

2:27

lot of good stuff in there So I encourage you

2:29

to listen if you're new to our show in the

2:31

past year and a half or two years really since

2:33

since this Originally aired welcome and maybe you haven't gone

2:36

back and listen to it. So you can enjoy this

2:38

as well Merry Christmas to

2:40

everyone. Hope you all had a great holiday and

2:42

happy new year Scott and I will be back

2:44

to Get back to our

2:46

regularly scheduled Episodes which

2:48

will be you know every Wednesday up

2:50

until spring training starts. We'll start

2:52

that after the new year We'll talk to

2:54

you then very

2:57

Thrilled to bring on to the podcast now

3:00

Bernie Williams Bernie is working with

3:02

blue fairy the global liver Institute and a

3:04

side to launch the one liver to love

3:06

Initiative to raise awareness about liver cancer and

3:09

encourage others to be proactive when it comes

3:11

to liver health Bernie Thank you so

3:13

much for taking the time. Welcome to the show. Oh Thank

3:16

you so much for having them. So I'm

3:19

I'm a 90s kid. That's when I fell

3:21

in love with baseball So I'm sure you

3:23

get this a lot but those 90s championships

3:25

teams are the reason I'm doing this podcast

3:27

today Maybe you don't get that last part

3:29

a lot. But anyway, does it ever get

3:31

old talking about those days? No,

3:35

actually no, it gets actually a little

3:37

bit brighter every time because as you

3:39

get older You know things kind

3:41

of start fading away and the fact that

3:43

you know still pretty much present in

3:46

the memories of You

3:48

know young adults like yourself. I mean, it's just a

3:50

great Thing to be

3:52

remembered by so I certainly embrace it

3:54

enough You

3:56

know, it is great to have you know the opportunity

3:58

to be able to do that and still be

4:00

remembered like that. I also

4:03

think the fact that there has not been

4:05

like really a repeat champion since you guys

4:07

did it just goes to show

4:09

how special those years were. Yeah,

4:12

those years were really special because of the

4:14

fact that, you know, it was

4:17

hard enough to win one and

4:19

to be in the playoffs in

4:21

the post in the postseason every

4:24

year. It was hard enough,

4:26

but we managed to win four out of five

4:29

and then they actually managed to win in

4:32

0-9 without me. But

4:35

it was, I mean, it's just a testament

4:37

to how hard it is and

4:40

how maybe as a team we were

4:42

kind of spoiled to think that we were going

4:44

to be there every year. And actually we basically

4:46

spoiled the fans too to expect us to be

4:49

there every year. And

4:51

it's not an easy thing to do, but it's

4:53

great to be a part of that experience. Yeah,

4:56

you guys might be a little bit

4:58

to blame for the fans today expecting

5:00

championship every single year because that's what

5:02

you did for a good amount of

5:04

time. I don't know how close

5:06

you are to any of the current players. I

5:10

am fairly close. I mean, I'm closer to

5:12

the coaching staff that I would be to

5:14

the players. I

5:17

try to stay in contact with Aaron and

5:19

then Hans Lee Muiz was my old roommate

5:22

and teammate in the minor leagues and we actually

5:24

came to the big leagues together

5:26

around the same time with the Yankees. And

5:30

a lot of these guys working in the front

5:32

office now actually have a better relationship now with

5:34

more of the corporate side doing

5:37

meet and greets and he put me like

5:39

an old ox out to pasture. But

5:42

it's cool. It's

5:44

really cool to think through the two. Why

5:47

not because you threw out the first pitch at game

5:49

four. It's like when you get that message, you got

5:51

to go out back and warm up the arm. I'm

5:53

still feeling it. How

5:55

many warm up throws? Oh my God, I

5:57

have to do, I don't know, maybe 10 or 15. sure

6:00

that my shoulder was not going to

6:02

fall off my arm as I threw the ball. It

6:04

is funny because they

6:07

keep telling you, I run into somebody

6:09

and tell them, hey, don't bounce it. Then I run into Aaron

6:12

Doon and he said, well, don't bounce it. Then

6:15

I ran into Rob Kupuso, who's

6:17

the equipment manager, and said, oh, whatever you

6:19

do, don't bounce it. I was like, okay,

6:21

I'm not going to bounce this. Throw it

6:23

up to the press box. Yeah, I think

6:26

you're better off doing that. Yeah,

6:29

I know. I think, I don't know if

6:31

you did watch the Derek Cheater documentary that

6:33

was out over the summer, but I think

6:35

he mentioned when he threw out the first pitch, he was

6:37

more nervous for that than any at bat he took in

6:39

the major leagues. Yeah, it is true

6:41

because I think you only have one shot

6:43

to make it. Most

6:46

likely, you want to be a strike. Then

6:49

it's basically how you set the tone for the

6:51

rest of the night. You could be in the

6:53

blue first, or you could be in the

6:56

highlights. Yeah, you could be like

6:58

50 cents throwing it sideways. Oh,

7:01

man, that was not a good time.

7:03

Yeah, and that's got to be

7:05

a weird spot for you on Sunday, right?

7:07

Because the team's down 03

7:09

and they end up getting swept. You're

7:11

coming in there. Obviously, fans are cheering

7:13

you and you're excited to be there.

7:16

Everyone's excited to see you, but then there's that undertone

7:18

of the team is potentially ending

7:20

its season on that night. Yeah,

7:22

it was hard to see them. Being

7:26

sort of against the wall in that situation.

7:29

Man, regardless

7:31

of that sentiment, I was really

7:36

glad to be there on the field and sharing

7:38

a moment with them. I was

7:41

trying to be as encouraging as I could and

7:44

trying to get them to see the game as for

7:46

what it was. You just take the one pitch at

7:48

a time, one at bat at a time. I

7:51

think they fought hard, but

7:53

unfortunately, they came out on the short

7:55

end of that.

7:57

Reportedly, they used the red I'm

8:01

sure you've heard about that before the

8:03

game as motivation. Yeah, there was some

8:05

rumblings. Yeah, that was... What are your

8:07

thoughts on that? I don't know. I

8:10

mean, I guess the point was that it has been

8:12

done before. Yeah. Not

8:15

necessarily against that team. The

8:19

Yankees being on the short end of

8:22

that particular situation. But

8:24

yeah, I mean, it was hard memories.

8:28

I mean, as much as I have

8:31

great memories in my data bank,

8:33

all the World Championships and all

8:35

the Gold Gloves and all the

8:37

individual and collective accolades that we

8:40

have, those, the

8:42

ones that you don't get are

8:44

the ones that kind of stick out. You

8:47

know, 0-3 against the Marlins and 0-1 obviously

8:49

against the Diamondbacks and 0-4 against the Red

8:51

Sox. I mean, for me, those are the

8:53

ones that I'm in. I kind of relive

8:57

those from time to time and

8:59

try to figure out the things that I

9:02

could have done better. But that was

9:04

water under the bridge, man. And it's

9:06

just part of the good and

9:08

the bad and the great that was playing with

9:10

the Yankees. Yeah,

9:13

I mean, certainly the 0-4 is a bad memory

9:15

for fans and

9:18

obviously much worse for you guys as

9:20

players. But it still does not,

9:22

in my mind, cloud everything else. That

9:26

happened in those years. But

9:28

I think it's cool for you because you came in when the team

9:30

wasn't so great on the

9:32

way up, then you were there for the dynasty.

9:34

So you got to experience both winning

9:36

and losing with the Yankees. Yeah, absolutely. It

9:39

was, I mean, you get to

9:42

appreciate the good times once you

9:44

have gone through some

9:46

of the bad times. And I

9:48

think, you know, the early 90s, there was a

9:50

sense of turmoil and

9:53

not only the team on the field,

9:55

but the organization as a whole had a lot of

10:00

a lot of controversy

10:02

surrounding our former owner,

10:04

Mrs. Steinbrenner, and all the

10:06

situations that sort of precipitated

10:10

his suspension. And then

10:12

subsequently, them forging

10:14

the team that became the team of the

10:16

90s. There

10:19

was an interesting set of circumstances that kind

10:21

of led to that happening.

10:24

So it was interesting to see

10:26

how God was

10:29

unfolding as a player, coming

10:32

from that background of not knowing if you're

10:34

going to get traded or if you're going

10:36

to be part of another scheme or maybe

10:39

agenda to bring other players. So are you

10:41

going to remain in the team? There's that

10:43

level of uncertainty that was unnerving

10:46

as a young player. You don't know where you're going

10:48

to end up. And I'm just so glad

10:50

that things worked out in the way they did for

10:52

me. At what point in

10:54

your career does that leave your mind? And

10:57

you get over that uncertainty. Is it when you

10:59

make the major leagues? Is it when you get

11:01

your first contract? When, for you, did that get

11:04

past that? I

11:07

think the moment you think

11:09

like that, that's the moment that everything

11:11

starts unfolding for you. I think you

11:15

are trying to be realistic and

11:17

practical with your decision making.

11:20

But at the same time, as far

11:23

as mental attitude is concerned, I

11:26

was of the mind of saying, hey, you

11:28

have to earn your keep here

11:31

day in and day out. Because the moment that

11:33

you start thinking that you have a secure position, that's

11:35

when this whole thing is going to bite you right

11:38

in the rear end. So I always

11:40

kept this attitude of I have

11:42

to prove to these people that I belong here

11:44

and that I'm part of this organization on

11:46

a daily basis. And that was probably the thing that kept

11:49

me there for so many years. Do

11:51

you think that, obviously,

11:53

a lot of you guys on those teams had that

11:55

mentality. That's why you were able to win multiple times.

11:57

Where does that come from? Is it all of you

11:59

guys? sort of shared that characteristic with

12:01

that from ownership was that from the

12:04

Joe Torrey like where do you think

12:06

that sort of came from? I think

12:09

it was a comment I think I don't think

12:11

it was one thing

12:13

for sure I think it was a combination of

12:16

factors I think we had a good

12:18

core of players coming in

12:21

through the minor leagues that was that whole

12:23

thing was forged by G Michael and Berkshire

12:25

Walter and Mark Newman and

12:27

all those guys kind of like

12:29

put together this team and they actually

12:31

had a little bit of a leeway

12:33

to operate. Yeah, trade

12:36

you guys. Yeah at

12:38

that time once the team got

12:40

put together then

12:42

it was just a matter of keeping us

12:44

together so I think you know they were

12:47

talking about having a big payroll and you

12:49

know in those years but

12:51

I think the money was spent in a

12:53

way that allowed us to remain together for

12:55

a long time at least at the main

12:57

core of the team you know when you

12:59

talk about Derek and Mariano and Jorge and

13:01

you know and

13:03

then Andy Pettit and then all

13:07

the ancillary partners that came you

13:10

know there were people that had have

13:13

had experience they were either veterans

13:15

in their prime or just maybe

13:18

slightly off their prime but

13:20

there were just consummate professionals and

13:23

team players that were able to

13:25

buy into what became Joe Torres

13:27

philosophy you know for the team

13:30

you just you know play your your

13:33

heart out and be on time and you

13:35

know that was basically the two rules that he had and

13:39

we were able to manage the

13:41

team that was very

13:43

supportive of each other I think

13:45

there was a friendly competition among us but he was just

13:50

for the benefit of the club I think when it came

13:52

time to actually make decisions for

13:54

the benefit of the collective rather

13:57

than the individual 99 percent of the

14:00

that team choose to play for the

14:02

team in those circumstances.

14:04

Where was the bullpen, kind of

14:06

setting it up for Mariano. Mariano just kind

14:08

of coming through and producing with

14:11

ice cold veins. Me,

14:13

us producing in the clutch,

14:16

having these kind of like mentality

14:18

of just fighting all the way to the

14:21

end and never giving up. So

14:24

he was a collective attitude that

14:26

was sort of put together there in the

14:28

last day or for a long time. And

14:30

that's why the team spend the money to

14:32

keep us together. I think that was a

14:34

big part of our success. Yeah. And

14:37

after the 98 season, you were in

14:39

free agency. You almost left, obviously ended

14:41

up staying. I'm sure for all of

14:43

those reasons you just mentioned, you wanted

14:45

to stay with the team, you

14:47

wanted to stay with all of your teammates. I mean,

14:50

I can't help but think of, you know, judge going

14:52

into the off season this year, also, you

14:55

know, franchise player came up to the

14:57

system. If you could

14:59

put yourself in his shoes right now, what he's

15:01

thinking, you know, what was your,

15:03

what was your thought process entering free agency that

15:06

off season? Well,

15:08

I think I will be probably in a

15:10

better position than I would be at the

15:12

beginning of last season. I

15:14

think that to me,

15:17

he had

15:19

a conundrum to say, well, would I

15:21

take the security of a contract right

15:23

now? Or do I better

15:25

myself because I think I'm maybe worth a little bit

15:27

more than what they're offering me. I

15:29

mean, he chose the ladder and he

15:32

led the bat, his bat and his building

15:34

and his plane speak for itself. So

15:37

now I think he's got all kinds of

15:39

leverage, you know, to

15:41

be in a great position and

15:44

I think things are working

15:46

even more in his favor because he

15:48

knows that the Yankees are not the only

15:50

suitor. I mean, he has

15:52

a lot of other options and a

15:55

lot of teams that will be interested in

15:57

pursuing him. as

16:00

part of their organization. So

16:03

I think the ball is in the court of

16:05

the Yankees right now. They took the gamble on,

16:07

you know, maybe just him not having

16:09

the year that he would expect. But

16:11

he actually has probably exceeded

16:13

all kinds of expectations, you know, kind

16:16

of thinking with a triple crown and

16:18

having probably just the best year that anybody

16:21

could ever have in any moment in your

16:23

career. And he just timed it

16:25

in the way that, I mean, he's just in

16:27

his year of his contract where he's about to

16:30

probably make a lot of money right

16:32

now because of that position that he

16:34

made in the Yankees. Now

16:36

I have the challenge of competing with

16:38

all these other clubs to try to keep

16:40

them. Well, it's kind of a similar

16:42

situation to you. You won the batting title in 98 and

16:45

in your last year with the Yankees. So that was also

16:47

a put up season for you, prove

16:50

it to the team. Here's what I can do sort of thing.

16:53

Yeah, it was interesting

16:56

because I think that you

16:59

know, you get an opportunity to negotiate

17:03

what you're a free agent when you think

17:05

about it. You know, by the time you

17:07

start signing and playing in the minor leagues,

17:10

you know, maybe you're five years,

17:13

maybe six years in the mix. And then

17:15

you get to the big leagues. It's not

17:17

until technically speaking 12 years,

17:19

you know, of your career when you're

17:21

allowed to actually see what's out

17:24

there and maybe do a

17:26

little bit of exploration to

17:28

see if there's another opportunity out there that might be better

17:30

for the, you know, from the one that you have. So

17:33

I think every player that has an opportunity to

17:35

become a free agent, I think, oh, they

17:38

owe it to themselves to at least, you

17:41

know, look into the possibility. Maybe

17:43

they may not, they may not be,

17:46

the grass may not be greener on the other side, but

17:49

at the same time, you want to make that

17:51

decision of remaining in your team, knowing that you

17:53

have, you know, exhausted

17:55

all the other options and you feel like that

17:57

position is the best one for you. Now

18:00

correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe

18:02

you were most seriously considering also the Red

18:04

Sox and the Diamondbacks at that time, right?

18:07

Yeah, those were the two most serious offers.

18:09

I mean, I had a, I think it

18:11

was Mr. Duquette from Boston at the time.

18:15

And then I had a

18:17

tough one in Arizona because

18:19

Mark Scholmacher was the one,

18:21

the architect of that team that

18:24

subsequently ended up winning the

18:27

championship in 2001. But

18:30

at the time he was there and they

18:32

flew me out to Arizona and they

18:35

had a locker with my jersey on

18:37

it and all spotlighted. It

18:39

was very tempting. And,

18:41

you know, sometimes I wonder how

18:44

my career would have turned, what

18:47

my career would have turned into had

18:49

I made those decisions. But

18:52

I mean, all in all, I cannot really

18:54

second guess myself too much because

18:56

playing with the Yankees after my three agent

18:59

year, we won again in 99 and then again in

19:01

2000. We

19:04

were in the World Series in 2001 and then

19:06

back in 2003. So

19:09

I mean, as a player, that's where you want to

19:11

be. You want to have the opportunity to play in

19:13

the postseason and hopefully in the World Series. And

19:15

I had that and then some. I'm happy you

19:17

stayed too. Just saying.

19:20

Yeah. And then obviously, 06, your

19:23

career ends. Did you want to

19:25

play longer? I

19:27

think I kind of wanted to play a little longer. I

19:31

don't know. I think, you know, it's kind of

19:33

like the thing that happens, which

19:35

is I think in my mind, inevitably,

19:40

it is

19:42

something that will happen whether you like it or not.

19:45

And I think it's just to say goodbye. There's

19:48

always there's never a good moment

19:50

to say goodbye because as

19:52

a player, you keep telling

19:54

yourself that you can do these things and

19:57

you get frustrated when people are not agreeing

19:59

with you. So

20:02

it's hard to kind

20:04

of like say, you know what, I

20:07

think this might be the end of this particular

20:09

road and it might be time to pick up

20:11

on another one and keep living your life the

20:13

best way you can. But I mean,

20:16

at the time I felt like I probably have

20:18

maybe one or two more years under my belt.

20:21

But I have this other

20:23

incentive of becoming more

20:25

artistic and pursue

20:27

my music with a

20:29

little bit of a more seriousness and

20:32

tension to it. So,

20:35

you know, I wonder if I would have played that maybe a

20:37

couple more years, maybe my numbers would have been a little bit

20:39

better. But at the same time, I'm

20:42

glad that I made this decision that I made. Now

20:44

I'm having a great time pursuing

20:46

my music and all my different endeavors with

20:48

charity things that I'm doing and, you know,

20:50

trying to help the community. So it's

20:53

a win-win. So it

20:55

sounds like, I don't know, maybe there was a little bit of

20:58

bitterness at the time

21:00

that the Yankees didn't want to

21:02

bring you back, but obviously water under the bridge

21:04

at this point and regret. There's always a certain

21:06

amount of bitterness because you it's

21:08

like, you know, it's like I said before, you

21:11

kind of keep telling yourself, you can do this, you can

21:13

do this. But when you have, you know,

21:15

the team not really believing in

21:18

the same way that you are,

21:20

then, you know, it's just one of those, well,

21:23

if they don't want me to play for them, then

21:25

why should I keep pursuing this? So

21:27

it was more like, you know, this other

21:29

thing is calling me now and it's,

21:33

it has been my, you know,

21:35

one of my lifelong dreams and it's

21:37

very attractive right now. I get an

21:39

opportunity to reinvent myself and kind of

21:41

go into this direction. So,

21:43

I mean, how lucky I am that I can pursue

21:46

two different passions in one lifetime and it's

21:48

still be, you know, try to become a

21:50

decent opponent. Better

21:53

than decent, Bernie, better than decent. I

21:57

want to ask you a couple rapid fire

21:59

questions. And then we're definitely going

22:01

to talk about the one liver to love initiative other

22:04

than yourself Who did you

22:06

want up most in a big situation in

22:08

a postseason game? Well

22:11

depends I mean you talking about a Team

22:15

that had a plethora of clutch hitters I

22:18

mean in any given moment in the

22:20

history of that tenure you have

22:23

multiple people just kind of coming through When

22:26

it's from the most unlikely place I

22:28

mean you're talking about Shane Spencer, you

22:30

know in that series that he has you talk about

22:32

Paul Neal You talk about obviously

22:34

Derek Jeter? You

22:36

talk about Tino Martinez hit in that home run,

22:39

you know and You know,

22:41

I guess the the diamond backs, you know

22:45

What's the diamond backs of the Braves? Yeah,

22:48

it was it was the you're talking about

22:50

2001 when you guys came back at home

22:52

time. Yeah. Yeah Yeah, I

22:54

mean in do you have I

22:56

mean a he deck you might sui I think could be like

22:58

right up there with all of them So

23:01

I think we we have that we have we

23:03

did not have any you know Need

23:07

for players coming out of the clutch in

23:09

those in those times They may not be

23:11

mainly not being like the power sluggers that

23:13

maybe a judge or

23:15

Stanton maybe nowadays But

23:18

we could definitely work to count we could definitely Put

23:21

some damage and it would be like, you know, like

23:23

fire ants, you know Everybody together

23:25

and that was that line of you know working

23:27

the cows and not putting a lot of pressure

23:29

on the defense So that one

23:31

thing you just said was interesting that

23:34

you couldn't remember if Tino hit the home run

23:36

Against the diamond backs or the Braves like do

23:38

those years blend together in your mind? They

23:41

do they do especially when you have

23:43

an opportunity to go there every post

23:45

every postseason We have a

23:47

chance to to do it You

23:50

know you talk about all the people that may

23:53

Have played the game for a number of years

23:55

and never really have an opportunity to go into

23:57

the postseason We were

23:59

so fortunate that from like from 90

24:02

basically from 95 on until

24:04

I retired we were basically every year in

24:07

the postseason in various capacities you know

24:09

playing that you know the American League

24:11

pennant division and one of the wild

24:13

card things started we were

24:15

there as well so yeah I

24:17

mean it's remarkable when you start thinking

24:19

about it. I

24:21

want to I want you to maybe say a

24:24

word or a phrase when when you hear these

24:26

names Andy Pettit. That's

24:31

probably the picture I would want when the game is on

24:33

the line. Paul

24:35

O'Neill. I'm

24:38

not gonna say that cliche is the

24:40

warrior thing or anything like that I

24:42

think it's probably the

24:44

best person you could meet off the field. Great.

24:47

He actually told the story on the Yes broadcast

24:50

I think last year that Joe

24:52

Torre was gonna bench him once in

24:54

a game for not hustling. Did Joe

24:57

Torre ever threaten to bench you? No

25:00

no he actually threatened

25:02

to find me if

25:04

I try to lay a bun. You

25:09

can get the ball out man. But

25:12

I yeah

25:14

Joe was very observant and

25:16

he knew I think the

25:19

one thing that I know

25:22

about Joe Torre and what made him

25:24

a great nadigy was that he did

25:26

not treat everybody with

25:29

the same sort of cookie cutter attitude.

25:32

I think he knew what

25:34

every player needed to be

25:37

their best and he

25:39

took the time to know all the players to

25:42

know what that thing was

25:45

and he was just a master of getting

25:47

us to play on our best in any

25:49

given situation. Alright a couple

25:51

more how about David Wells? David

25:55

Wells he came from the

25:57

Babe Bruce School of Bay

25:59

Area Play hard on

26:01

and off the field. I

26:04

think he was probably one of the, I

26:07

mean, if you look at him, you

26:09

know, he was, you know, he seems like he was a

26:11

little bit on the thicker side. I don't know what you

26:13

think. But to

26:15

me, he was probably one of the best

26:17

athletes that I've ever seen, you know, with

26:20

that particular body constitution. He could

26:22

do a split. I mean,

26:24

he was very, very athletic and

26:27

he loved life. He enjoyed

26:29

living his life, man. He

26:31

was great. I've had the

26:33

pleasure of meeting David Wells and I can confirm

26:35

he loves life. All

26:38

right. Alex Rodriguez. He

26:42

was instrumental in the

26:45

2009 World Series. I

26:50

think his

26:53

relationship with Derek

26:57

deteriorated after he became a Yankee,

26:59

which is kind of an

27:02

interesting note, you know, always

27:06

played hard and had

27:10

extensive knowledge about the game. I

27:12

mean, he lived, dreamed, ate,

27:16

slept baseball. He

27:18

was very committed to be a good player. Could

27:21

you guys sense that relationship deteriorating as

27:23

you were in the clubhouse together? Not

27:28

really because you're, you know, you get on your own

27:30

problems to deal with. You're

27:32

not really worrying too much about what the

27:35

person on your side is doing.

27:38

What I, I

27:40

definitely know there's a certain

27:43

isolation, you know, on both sides.

27:45

You know, they didn't really want to

27:47

talk a little bit, you

27:50

know, when we were off the field.

27:53

And Alex has his group of people that

27:55

he liked to hang out with outside

27:58

of the outside of the team. And

28:00

Derek, you know, have his guys,

28:02

you know, that he would take

28:04

out the dinner and lunch maybe

28:06

before the games. So I mean,

28:08

they it's like, you know, what they said, you

28:11

don't get to choose your friends when you're in

28:13

the team. But there is

28:15

certainly a mutual respect from

28:18

each side. Yeah. And last one, what

28:20

about Brian Cashman? Well,

28:23

he has been, you know,

28:25

kind of like the one of one

28:28

of the architects of this Yankee dynasty,

28:31

you know, for a number of years. He

28:36

has seen, you know,

28:39

the team change through

28:41

maybe about two or three generations

28:43

of players, you know, who start

28:46

talking about, you know, when was the first time that

28:48

he was there on an intern? I remember when it

28:50

was in mid 80s. Yeah.

28:53

Yeah. And I was that was probably my beginnings

28:55

as a minor leaguer. So I saw him kind

28:58

of go in and go into

29:00

that position. I

29:02

think from I was that

29:06

he came after Bob Watson, right? Yes.

29:09

Yes. He was appointed GM after

29:11

Watson. And he was an

29:13

intern under Watson. Yeah.

29:15

I mean, it's actually pretty crazy to think you started

29:17

the intern and you become the

29:20

general manager. Because so he has he

29:22

has seen the history and he has

29:24

pretty much well deserved being

29:27

a part of this

29:29

great Yankee run that we had in

29:31

over the 90s and early 2000s. And

29:36

well deserved and he has put his work

29:38

in and he has assembled a team of

29:41

people that have been able to preserve

29:43

this sort of Yankee tradition of excellence

29:46

for these years. So I mean, who

29:49

knows what the future holds for him. But he

29:52

has definitely made his mark in the history of

29:54

the club. I switching gears

29:56

a little bit. What do you

29:58

remember about being in Seinfeld? Jason

30:02

Alexander was funny. Jerry

30:06

Seinfeld riding his bicycle

30:08

to the studio and

30:12

just having that up. They

30:14

turned NBC Studios parking lot

30:16

into a pseudo batting cage.

30:20

It was just an incredible experience. It's like

30:22

carry out the weight kind of thing. We

30:24

can do your line. Okay. We've

30:27

got to do them again. This

30:29

whole experience, I don't

30:32

know, performing or

30:34

acting in the sitcom is something

30:38

very interesting for me. Do you remember

30:40

your line? Yeah,

30:42

something about some hotel in Milwaukee or

30:44

something like that. I don't know. It

30:46

was like 15 seconds of dubious

30:49

fame. I

30:51

think it was, are you the guy

30:53

that put us in that Ramada in

30:55

Milwaukee? Yeah, something like that. That was

30:58

probably one of the lamest lines in the history

31:00

of sitcom. No, I thought it was good. To

31:02

be honest, I think your acting chops were better

31:05

than Jeter's in that scene. It

31:09

was fun. Regardless

31:11

of it, we were coming

31:14

out of this high of being kind of

31:16

like a point that new world champions from

31:18

baseball. We were kind of like

31:20

sort of reaping on the

31:22

spoils, right? Get

31:25

all these opportunities to talk everywhere. So, Syphon

31:27

came up and was like, what? That's a

31:30

no-brainer. We've got to say yes to that.

31:32

Especially because he's a Mets fan. Yeah,

31:34

exactly. I mean, but he was great, man. The

31:39

whole thing was just a really cool thing to

31:41

be a part of. Yeah. All

31:43

right. So, I do want to definitely ask you about

31:45

one Live or 2 Love initiative. Tell

31:48

everyone, why is this so important to you? Well,

31:51

One Live or 2 Love is

31:53

an initiative that is geared towards

31:56

raising awareness about liver cancer and

31:58

liver disease. people

32:02

close and dear to my heart that there

32:04

are past now but had to deal with

32:06

liver disease when you know when

32:08

they were living. My mom, my grandfather and my

32:10

uncle and a couple

32:12

other relatives suffered from liver disease

32:15

that could have led to liver cancer.

32:17

So I had to deal with kind

32:20

of as a young adult you know dealing

32:22

with that taking care of my mom making

32:24

sure that she had all her medications and

32:26

she developed hepatitis C from a blood transfusion

32:29

back in the day and

32:32

it's basically geared towards you know

32:34

telling my story by trying

32:37

to raise awareness we know how

32:40

you know these diseases

32:43

have a very

32:45

increased percentage

32:48

of afflicting communities of

32:51

color and

32:53

this fortunately the disparity

32:56

with people that are underserved and under you

32:58

know the underprivileged

33:00

that are more susceptible to

33:03

suffer from these diseases and may

33:05

not have access to the educational

33:08

resources that are out

33:10

there. So I'm trying to lend my likeness

33:12

to raise awareness about this and it's more

33:15

common that people think so it's just about

33:17

you know getting into good healthy

33:19

habits you know getting your sleep getting

33:21

your rest you know getting a

33:24

good nutrition when possible

33:26

and just you know addressing the

33:28

mental health things that

33:30

may affect you know these

33:32

liver diseases. Yeah you're

33:34

calling it the four bases approach nutrition, exercise,

33:37

sleep hygiene and mental health. What do you

33:39

what are you doing for exercise these days?

33:42

Well I mean I'm trying to

33:44

stay current you know trying

33:46

to get moving but

33:49

baseball was a murder on my body.

33:51

You took a toll I mean I

33:53

have two knee surgeries I've laid

33:55

it for another like you know knee

33:58

replacement thing going. So I'm

34:00

trying to do the best that I can to try to stay a

34:03

little bit off, you know, my way to live

34:05

it also, I don't have that much power on

34:07

my knees and I'm trying to get moving

34:11

now in the second part of my life as an physician

34:13

and getting into a lot of traveling. So staying

34:15

active that way, it really helps. So

34:18

it's a yeah, it's a cool thing. And

34:21

obviously mental health is important too.

34:23

That's certainly become more commonplace in

34:25

today's society. And the

34:27

Yankees have a mental health coach and I know

34:29

a lot of sports franchises do as well. Was

34:31

that something that was around when you were playing?

34:34

I think the beginnings of it were

34:37

starting to sort of come around.

34:39

I think that the

34:42

team has been around for such a long time, but

34:44

I do think that

34:46

Mr. Steinbrenner was very progressive when

34:49

he came down to preparation

34:52

and being at the sort of

34:54

the cutting edge of technology. Even

34:57

back in the late 80s, mid 90s,

34:59

I mean, he was involved with the

35:02

Olympic Committee. He had scores

35:05

of nutritionists and mental health

35:07

doctors come in and

35:09

actually we were able

35:12

to consult with them and

35:14

talk about nutritional choices

35:16

and dealing with

35:19

anxiety and part of the mental

35:21

gain that is so important and

35:24

being a professional athlete. Especially a baseball player

35:26

because you have to deal with adversity so

35:29

often that you're most

35:31

likely to get down and

35:33

be a depressive action with all these things if

35:35

you don't know how to handle them. Yeah.

35:38

Well, Bernie, this is an absolute thrill

35:40

for me. Thank you so much for

35:42

taking the time and hope everyone goes

35:44

out and definitely check out One Liver

35:47

to Love and of course, follow Bernie.

35:49

Thank you. Thank you so much.

35:51

Thank you for having me. Hey

35:55

guys, thanks for listening to the Bronx Pinstripe show.

35:58

Make sure you find us on iTunes and. subscribe

36:00

so you can get all new episodes directly onto

36:02

your phone. If you do like this show, we'd

36:04

love for you to take a minute and give

36:06

us a 5 star rating and review on iTunes.

36:08

It really helps us out and allows us to

36:10

create more shows. We're on Twitter

36:12

at Bronx Pen Stripes and the same on Facebook.

36:15

You can always find us there talking Yankee baseball.

36:17

Thanks again guys for your support, really appreciate it

36:19

and go Yankees!