All right, all right.
Feeney talks with friends, episode 151.
I mean, I wish it was episode 47.
That'd be great, right?
I'm with a good friend here.
Shane Spencer, the home run dispenser.
What's up buddy?
Yeah. All good man. How are you. Doing?
Short drive for me to meet you here.
So it was all good.
Thank you so much for being here.
You're a good friend. We'll talk more about that.
My name is Eric Feeney, founder and president of Friends of Feeney.
Our mission is to help
children and families that need assistance after heartbreak or tragedy.
I use this podcast, Feeney talks with friends,
and I talk to wonderful people in the community that are doing great things.
And Shane, first off, before we even begin, I want to thank you
so much for coming out to our fourth annual Friends of Feeney golf tournament.
It was our biggest fundraiser ever.
We raised over $34,000, and that was a big part of you being there.
And, playing golf with the foursome.
What'd you think? How'd you feel? How did you hit them?
Well, I could tell you, you know, besides my personal way
of being very lucky and fortunate to play in New York and be it.
But did because of that, I get to do events
for a lot of charities and stuff, and every charity event
is for a specific cause, and I absolutely love it.
And this is my first time doing it there.
You know, we have Dave who's going through
a life thing and I got to play with and he was amazing.
This had an amazing time, I really did.
Yeah. Dave, thanked me so much.
It meant the world that you played with him.
Like you said, he's got some some medical issues.
He's a good friend. He's my neighbor.
Thinking about him, but, yeah, it was great.
You played with Dave, Dave and Sam?
Yeah. Santo. Santo, my brother in law.
He's a good friend, I guess. Is weird.
He's I he's I he's not really a friend.
He's a brother in law.
I'm forced to say nice things about him.
That was your cart, buddy. How.
How did he hit him?
He did good. He's.
He's way better.
I'm not very good.
So, I mean, I'm, like a 17, 18 handicap.
So nice.
I'm just there to entertain people and maybe make a few putts.
Maybe a couple good drives.
But, yeah, I'm like, I'm just there for entertainment.
I'm not that good of a golfer.
I'd rather be fishing.
Here's the crew.
Boom. We'll put it up.
They've teed Santo.
He's got this Joe from Italy too. Oh okay. Right.
You got the lime, the lime shirt. He just went to Italy.
Did he get on? Got that was recent.
You got that from there? Yeah.
Nice. You're rocking the golf, Dave.
One next to me.
He was, you know, they diagnosed in March
to, you know, they they pretty much said 3 or 4 weeks to live.
Yep. Now here we are, almost October and he's out there just.
And he played really great golf. Yep.
He was just, you know, just super positive.
He's just going at it.
And what a great time now.
Thank you so much for being there again.
It was our largest fundraiser save to date people September 12th, 2026.
Same place.
We're looking for golfers, sponsors and volunteers.
We sell out spot, golfers. No problem.
We make the money in the sponsors.
So if you're looking to sponsor, you want to be a good friend.
I want to thank Direct Line Media is a huge sponsor.
Thank you Dave and Stephania.
We're at a special place. We're in Branford.
Yeah I'm in.
You know now that I've done it and you know I have people all around here
in New Haven area Milford, West Haven, Hamden here.
So I mean I'll get I'll.
Get your guy. Canyon
canyons in Florida.
He's a little baby play. Yeah, but we get some guys.
We got some guys around here that are still around. Yeah.
You know, you got Bernie around.
You know, it'd be great.
Carl Bolano, there's some guys, Rob Dibble, there's some guys around.
But, and I also have some guys that are corporate sponsors and stuff.
So I think, you know, you can elevate this. Perfect.
Yeah. We've been growing ever since.
Our first one was 10,000 bucks.
And we just been growing ever since.
You know,
Pepsi was once sold as a quarter and and now it's $1 billion global industry.
You got to start somewhere.
You know, Pepsi friends a fini nonprofit.
Good comparison. Good.
Can't
know if you don't know my I'm a teacher.
I've been teaching for 22 years.
Best job in the world brings me so much joy.
But sometimes there's heartbreaker. Tragedy.
12 years ago, one of my students lost their dads.
Since then, we've helped over
125 families and provided over
$265,000, all volunteer based.
We're a grassroots community organization, so check us out.
Friends of Feeney, follow us on Instagram.
We have a website, wonderful website.
Friends of ecom.
You could watch this podcast on all the streaming platforms.
Feeney talks of friends.
All right, so moving on golf any more about the golf.
Oh how about quick couple photos.
We're going to sign these later.
But if you remember any of.
These I probably don't.
There's BJ episode 51 yet BJ my an uncle
Marcus and Uncle Jimmy, they came all the way from Cape Cod.
She was talking crap.
She has pictures with Mariano,
Jared, Salty or Ma'Khia?
Couple.
Maybe Wakefield couple.
Yeah. The Notre Dame. Player.
Oh, that's that's the, wide receiver.
Somalia.
Oh, Somali.
This dude was a catcher for the Red. Sox.
And for the Yankees.
I think my nephew Cooper.
Yeah, I tried to give it to him.
He goes, man, I don't want this. I want this signed.
I was like, okay, I'll get it signed, I promise.
Mama Feeney yeah, love. She's like.
I couldn't shake her. Hahahahaha.
She was like, that's you, I got you.
She was like, I sat, he talked with me dinner the whole time.
He's super nice. She was sweet. My guy Lanza.
My guy script
with the creepy mustache.
Can't talk about that one.
And my boy Victor and his daughter.
Should I feel like he should have been super cops?
Reno 901 or something? Yeah, exactly.
We got a caterpillar crawling across his face now.
Good guy. He's a Yankee fan.
Hopefully we'll sign all those later. Yeah.
No. It's great.
So, what you been up to? What do you got planned?
What do you got this weekend?
I'm finishing up the baseball season. I'm at home.
I obviously live out here during the Yankees regular season.
Yeah, but I still have two kids.
Still in high school in San Diego.
They're very athletic.
So I'm leaving next Monday
and I'll get back out there before October 9th.
Probably.
And I'll be watching them play sports,
get the hang out with them for 20 minutes a day.
Yeah, I them Starbucks or whatever, you know.
But yeah, in. My world that's what I sound like. I do.
But it starts getting cold here and I just want to go back to okay, I mean,
I don't want to live in Cali, but I still have two kids in high school, and.
Nice. It's, it's got to do.
So I do a lot of events here.
I got two more events at the Yankee Stadium and just,
you know, I try to stay busy.
I work in Hamden with my buddy, U.S.
named prospects.
He might be shutting down his side, but, like Ben Rice for the Yankees, he's
through our program. But on the Boston side.
So, it's good to see him doing really good.
Brad. Awesome. Is is one of the coaches. Oh, yeah.
My buddy that I work with, Brian.
They went to high school together.
Grew up together right down the street. Yeah. Brad. Awesome. Cheshire or no.
Yes. In Cheshire.
And then Brian Leetch, hockey player for the Rangers.
They all grew up together right here in Cheshire. Yep.
Oh no way.
Now he's.
No he don't live there anymore because he's
you know he's out like Cape Cod or something.
You know because he's a goalie.
No he was a defender. Gotcha.
But Hall of Famer.
Yeah.
Guy won the championship in 94 or 96. Yeah.
One of those years I, you know, I grew up in San Diego.
We have ice.
Yeah, I love hockey, but now. So. Yeah.
So I'm leaving here in like a week, but, I'm, I'm usually here, like, all summer,
spring and summer. So, I enjoy it up here.
I it's, got great friends up here.
You know, I just and I fly.
I able to fly back and see my kids whenever I want.
My daughter
travels around the country for soccer, so I get to see her wherever she goes.
That's great. Nice.
That's great.
No, you gotta do whatever you can for the kids.
Oh, wait.
So you have a pit stop, though. Two on your way?
Yes. Where you stop in Arkansas.
What brings you to, Kansas.
It's Arkansas.
No, my family's from there. Gotcha.
And then once I graduated high school,
maybe a year after, my mom and my stepdad, they moved back.
And then I have so two sisters there with their families,
and I have some property there.
And I go there and fish, and mom takes care of me.
I get spoiled like a little mama's boy.
We go drinking and golfing.
And so it's a relaxing time because they don't drink or nothing like that.
Or curse. I gotta be careful. My language.
So it's,
It's a break.
Let's put it that way. Then I head back to California after that.
So, yeah, let's do a little compare and contrast Venn diagram.
You got Arkansas Sandiego.
Northeast.
What's some similarities and differences here?
I know the fishing and the got to be Arkansas.
I don't know about similarities on any of it. Right.
Those are traffic.
Maybe for California and New York.
Yeah. You know, or on the 95 all time.
It takes me 2.5 hours to get this Yankee Stadium.
Arkansas is this chill?
Nice. Really slow.
So if you can't handle the slowness
or you don't like the outdoors, and it's probably not for you.
California. Just expensive.
Just like it is up here.
And you just.
The one thing I like more about the Northeast and California
is if
somebody has something on their mind here, they're going to tell you,
yeah, California, they might hold it back and tell somebody else here.
They just tell it to your face. I mean, trust me,
there was a one on one day, but I don't care if I had three hits.
Somebody said I sucked every day.
They just wanted your attention.
I'm like, It's New York, you know?
So it's cool.
I like it, but that's like Jersey, you know, the tri state.
So yeah.
As an athlete you got to have thick skin absorbing new hair no matter.
You know I've seen I've seen so many great players, you know, very educated like
a Stanford kid, a Vanderbilt kid or week four, you know, really good schools
and northwestern.
And they really struggle with failing in that mental part.
They already know they're getting good jobs somewhere else.
And I think I saw some really, really good players that kind of gave it
up too early because I came from nothing and it was like just playing baseball.
So it's, but
New York's tough,
so a lot of people don't don't like it.
Yeah. Like I loved it.
Yeah, I loved it.
Well, let's talk about September 1998.
I mean, if you could go back in time, is that your time like at all times.
Favorite time? I mean, obviously it was the children.
Yeah. Right.
So I was pre kids just 26 and the mean
the Yankees were doing so good and I got called up four times a year.
By the fourth time I called, even the third time probably,
I was doing really good in triple A, and I was playing every single day.
But that's the thing people don't realize, like,
if you're not playing every day, it's super hard to hit these guys.
They're just too good.
You need to play every day and then it becomes a reaction.
But if you're playing once or twice a week, you're going to struggle.
You know you're going to struggle.
So you see these guys hitting 200 to 40 and they're not playing every day.
It's because these guys are really nasty.
So it's a it's a tough business.
It's a mental business.
They I don't think people realize fans that the work that the guys put in,
you know, maybe a year it comes really easy.
You know, some of those guys.
But Bernie Williams, he made it look pretty easy.
But those guys are in the cage
early, work on their own, doing and working on their own skill.
And I think a lot of people don't realize, like, I got to the field at 1230
for a 7:00 game and because I needed to, I wasn't that good of a baseball player.
You know, I love football.
I don't, I don't I really like baseball, really tell the truth.
But I don't watch an.
Exclusive here on the Fini. Talk to friends. Saying I'm out of here.
And obviously everybody knows that, you know, I love the Yankees.
I work, I do stuff at the stadium, but I'm from San Diego.
I'm a diehard padre, diehard charger fan.
Like, that's my blood.
You know, I'm you're not going to take that away from me.
Nice.
Jeez. So.
Oh, let me shout out some sponsors and there's a follow up.
So we're here at Direct Line Media.
I want to thank Directly Media for everything.
Dave's a wonderful person and a good friend.
We got golf, law group, Keating agency, insurance, people's bank,
Luna Pizza, The fix, RV, float, 41, Sally and Bob's,
Boom Boom Boom, New England security and lock, New England security lock.
With that being said, three keys.
What are three keys that made you a great hitter?
Man, I wouldn't miss.
They couldn't tell you.
I really struggled on my teach kids.
Now, what's youth to professional? Yeah.
What I try to tell them, I said okay, wanted to get loose,
but then we will work on our weaknesses.
So I really had to work.
I couldn't hit a fastball away.
That was one of my biggest problem. I wouldn't let the ball travel.
So I try to teach that now with all the kids and.
Yeah, or even professional, because I've been all over the place.
But, man, it the mind.
You can work on your mechanics all the time you want, but
if you're not mentally set to like,
I own this pitcher or something, you don't have that positive attitude.
Your comments die.
You know, you're pretty much done because I only got like, .25.
three seconds to decide
if it's a ball strike, what pitch it is, and if you're swinging,
it becomes a reaction thing.
And that's that's a mental thing.
And so I think the mental part I couldn't name three.
Yep. Mental.
But the mental part is the most important I think.
What about having legs like tree trunks and a huge ass force?
It's not a huge ass, it's big legs.
It makes my butt look better. Oh, okay. Okay. No.
Yeah, that was a that was a thing then.
Sorry, mom, but that's from you. Did you, did you squat?
Did you deadlift?
That's those things. All right.
My life serious?
No football. Just football.
Wrestling. Baseball. Right.
Is that where you got most.
You feel bottom?
I always top like it doesn't matter how strong you are.
Really?
Bass speed and power comes from your hips.
It generates power.
And, so if they, you gotta work on your swing first but then the hips come next.
Yeah. If you can get your back hip through the ball.
I feel like you were. Low. I mean you got it.
Nobody's like Aaron Judge where you're six eight and.
Yeah.
But you watch it's hip. It's hip.
He doesn't he's not swinging super hard. Yeah.
Like turns and hip hips.
It's it it's in
the kids are getting taught like to try to launch the ball up in the air.
And that's just not the way it is. You gotta learn how to hit first.
So no, I was I played every sport there was besides basketball.
Obviously
short white guy.
So not to me racist,
but no, it's all good hockey.
So now I would love to play hockey.
I'm building hockey. Yeah. And well, these guys are.
You said you wrestle two, right? I wrestled grown up.
What was five one?
In high school.
I wrestle anywhere from 56 is 85. Okay.
And now my son wrestled this year or last year
as a freshman because I want him to learn how to tackle.
He has legs, and now he's six foot one, 75.
He's way bigger than I was.
So we'll see if he rustles again.
He said he never do it again.
It's a lot of work. It's a. Man's.
Wrestling.
And water polo to me are the most physical sports.
And you know our pool is huge. Our where I'm from so gotcha.
It's conditioning.
It's it's it's very different.
It's humbling.
The I love the wrestling because I want him to get humbled
because he was one of the better athletes. Yep.
But someone's going to whip your ass. Yep.
And he got his ass whipped a few times.
And he did not like it. So.
But it just teaches you like there's somebody better than you out there.
And so then you take it to other sports and stuff.
So it's, it's a, it's a great thing for the wrestling part.
Nothing more humbling and getting dunked on your head.
I get I'll play pool
for three hour boost like body slammed.
Yeah. No getting.
Yeah getting pumped is not fun.
Yeah.
All right another game.
So first last best worst.
Your first at bat or your first game.
Your last game.
Your best game or your best at bat?
Your worst at bat. Can you remember?
We'll pull up some video so.
I can remember all,
first at bat.
Yeah, I got booed.
Opening day, Yankee Stadium. Yep.
We are on the road.
I got called up because Chili Davis got hurt.
Yeah.
So, like, pinch hitting for Darryl Strawberry.
Shane. Me.
So I get booed.
We're up by like five runs guy throws a right down the middle.
I'm like I'm just like so tense and tight.
10102 and then Bernie on first he gets picked off.
At first I was the happiest ever.
We end of inning. Yeah.
So I officially had no a bat, okay.
And I didn't play for like, two more weeks.
Let me give it a chance. I could have been.
I gave that.
Moonlight. Graham.
Whoever was at Denver got to play in the big leagues again.
We took a job.
I could have been the guy.
And then,
first hit? Yeah. First hit.
I was actually in Anaheim,
and I pinch hit, and I had, like, 25 people in the stands from San Diego.
Okay? And I got to pinch hit single.
And so that was pretty cool. I got to sit down.
Give them a look, and, point to.
I couldn't. See anything. Okay.
How's that feel?
Your heart's racing straight for the world.
Like the first at bat when I.
When Bernie got picked off, I was. It was race.
I was intense after that, everything was fine.
I know I played with these guys for so long.
It wasn't like I was a real rookie.
I mean, I got drafted with Mariano in 1990.
Carl Everett, rookie of the day, Mike figure.
So we had like 5 or 6 guys on that team that made it to the big leagues
and rookie ball. We're all 17, 18 years old.
So what is it?
I'm really nervous. Only nervous on that. Really.
That matters one.
Yeah, not a bad favorite.
The favorite ever
1998 World Series in San Diego.
Playing against my Padres.
Playing against Tony Gwynn, my favorite player.
And he lined out to me.
And for the second out in the first inning, I'm playing left field
and we're just 70,000 people.
Our biggest stadium in baseball. Okay.
And this is second out. I just want to put up my pocket
and I had to throw it back in. I'm,
That was your guy I got.
That was that was the highlight of my career.
So I already played the World Series.
I got called up in the big leagues, got to play in the World Series.
But the highlight was me catching the ball for Tony Gwynn.
That was it. I was like, what do you do from now?
What do you do?
You've already done everything you ever thought about doing.
So that was my best high no.
Worst highlights.
I mean there's too many.
Excuse me.
Well I tell you what.
I got a picture of Mr.
Padre, Tony Gwynn, Mr.
Padre with the.
Staff and his son is doing such a great job as an announcer for the Padres now.
But I climbed on that for a picture.
Probably one of the worst things ever, though,
is striking out in Boston.
Oh, when George. Oh.
Was sitting next to the dugout.
And it's a long ass walk
and you got to walk back, he says.
The staring at you like you are a piece of shit.
I think the last place he wants you to strike.
I like it's friggin Pedro. Come on. Yeah.
No, it's like, come on.
And you have multiple interactions with George.
George Steinbrenner is a man.
So awesome. Yeah, I moved to Tampa. Just.
You can call brown nosing,
kiss ass whatever you want, but I moved there, so I, I,
I knew his workout schedules when he was going to be at the field working.
Now I was in his face.
He's going to know who I work. Smart.
Because I'm a 28th round.
I'm not.
Job security. Mariano, not those guys.
So yeah, and moving there and and working out there all winter and stuff. So
yeah, he's the man.
You got to do what you got to do. Any funny.
Well besides the the look in Boston.
Any other interactions with George. Yeah.
Oh yeah.
He yelled at me one time and, we're all getting ready for winter ball.
I'm going to Venezuela.
Mike Lowell was with us, and he's going to play fall ball,
and we had Alfonso Soriano.
So we had four of us, and we're doing like bunting drills.
And I was just there.
It's coming like 95 miles an hour off a machine, 95 off a machine is like 103.
It's coming. It's like boom.
And they couldn't get the bunts down.
So me and Mike, you know, we've been doing it for a while with no problem.
So we're trying to make him relax and stuff and
or laughing, you know, or playing a game.
And he came over and blew me up.
Blew me.
Yet he goes, it's only fun when you win and you win.
Did you win?
And I'm like, well, he did win the championship.
I didn't say it.
I'm like, yeah, we won the championship with Florida State League,
but not the Yankees you know?
Yeah. Minor leagues.
He goes that's right.
You didn't win hit.
And all the coaches you have four fields.
The minor league plays all the everybody's watch
it I'm just getting blown up.
And then he goes away and he's look at the paper and he's looking to say.
And then he pulled me aside afterwards.
And he goes, hey.
I don't want you to have that much fun, but I want you to have fun.
I said, I was just trying to help these kids out there.
They're struggling. He goes, I know you goes.
It's only fun if you win the World Series.
I said, I'm looking forward to it, boss.
And he's like, okay, you just make sure you take care of these kids.
I'm like, all right, here we go.
And then his his wife used to come and watch games in the Florida State League.
My mom just sit next to ours. So it's pretty. Cool.
That's awesome. Yeah.
The boss, the boss know he was the boss.
I treated him. Great.
He really did. We got so much stuff compared to other.
I talk to my buddies.
I played for like the Cardinals and exposed.
They didn't get crap.
We got new shoes.
You know, we always had good stuff. But now he was strict.
No facial hair like I have now.
You know, collared shirts, tennis shoes, no flip flops on, nothing.
Everybody, even he was very strict.
You're 20 minutes early. You're late. Yeah.
And I mean, that was he was that way.
And it was awesome. Loved him.
That's so cool.
First last best worst.
Did we hit them all?
Wow. Most the last.
Yeah. Oh, this is a good one.
My last hit in the major leagues.
They didn't give me a hit for it, but I was with the Mets playing the Yankees.
Yep. And I hit a 30ft dribbler down the right down the first base line.
And, Matsui scored for us and was a walk off
against my boys I'm hanging out with Sunday.
Monday Canyon starts and I let him hear it all the time.
30ft dribbler.
And I was pitching. At the time. You hit it off.
He was pitch. Oh, that's your boy. You like seven split. He's in a row.
And I couldn't see.
Was like Twilight and I could not see.
And I hit a little dribbler.
And then we walked Yankees off.
And that was my last spot in the big leagues.
That was it. I was the last one. Am. Yeah.
Yeah.
You mentioned a lot.
You're like, I'm sure everyone asks, how's it playing with Jeter?
How is it playing with Darren Bragg?
You know, Darren Bragg? I never played with him. Never.
But I we work together, okay?
We've done clinics together.
He's good friends with my buddy Brian Looney. That works here.
Okay, cool. That's my.
Yeah.
Like my best friend's cousin. Yeah.
Oh, braggy special.
Brag right here.
Played me with the, we'll do with other boom Darren brag.
He's a, pompous ROG
like, Woodbury Salisbury guy.
Yeah, but, played on a there's a record 11 teams or 12 teams.
Is that true or false? Well, he's played for a lot. Yeah.
All right, I thought I had.
You were down in 2001 World Series, Darren Bragg, same roster.
Wikipedia's shot.
Was he there with us?
It was.
That's what the internet's telling me.
He don't think he was on a he wasn't on there.
Maybe during the season.
You were out there for a little. Bit because the roster is the whole year now.
So up and down.
Yeah. Okay.
That makes sense because I was nine, 11 year
and we were in Arizona and that was I was pretty crazy.
So I got my 911 hat.
Yeah,
I had about three of them.
I still have two at my mom's house. Yeah.
That was I think.
I got the FDNY, so. I remember where I was.
Luis Gonzalez had that dribbler, although, pop.
Yeah.
I was with New West in New Haven.
Right on.
Well, yeah, I was with my buddies, Jimmy G. Doc, and we just couldn't believe it.
It went quiet. Try being in right field.
You know how I felt.
How did you feel? It was a. Who felt worse?
Mia, you.
Probably. You
probably you you were there.
We actually.
You were on the field.
I was playing right field. Oh, yeah.
So it was,
didn't hurt.
Like we just won three in a row.
Yeah. So it didn't hurt.
But we shouldn't have been there.
We weren't even playing good baseball.
Even going into the playoffs, you know, going through all the 911 stuff.
Yeah, it was very difficult the next, you know, every national anthem you're
holding hands with policemen and firemen and, you know, first responders.
Everybody's crying.
And now we're trying to go out there.
And the only reason we want to play is for them.
Yeah, nothing to do with us.
And then it's probably the first time in U.S.
history where our country was actually rooting for the Yankees.
Yeah, I know.
And that kind of sheer propelled us into, like, playing better
because Seattle had a great year that year.
Oh yeah. And we somehow beat them. The A's should have beat us.
We somehow beat them like we shouldn't have been there.
And then we have three walk offs against Arizona.
I mean, it was this.
It just wasn't meant to be.
And we made it that far.
But you know but and it's mo the best closer of all time.
He was like God, you know. Yeah.
It just shows it.
Not everyone's perfect, I know.
And he was pretty damn perfect.
And he was amazing.
And then he tears his Achilles and old timers right in front of me.
You were there for that, too?
Yeah. He was like shagging fly balls.
Well, no.
So he actually, you know, I'm talking about the old timers.
But three weeks ago. Yeah.
How did he go? Oh, he's hitting right in front of me.
I mean, he's hitting third.
I'm in fourth and he hits a ball.
You got some pop up going around first base and I'm Pettis pitching.
And I said hey Pettitte.
Just hold down the middle I said most hurt his what?
I said throw down man I'm hit a double play
I couldn't do that I popped up.
So and then he goes out to the outfield and I got Clay Bellinger and a right.
And I'm in left and Mo's in center in first ball.
He tries to go for it and just snapped.
So I just did his event last week
and you know, he's on a boot and crutches and the guy's in
better shape than all of us, and he blows in a crazy father.
Time is undefeated.
Because we don't get to be doing this dumb stuff.
We really don't. Yeah.
Let's go golf and fish.
That's it, that's it.
Do you know your stats for old timers game?
Like how are you hitting? What your average.
You hit home run. Oh, you want to bet? Ever ever shoot.
First time doing old timer. No. So I'm like fourth or fifth.
We this the first time they played in
I think seven years maybe something like that.
Yeah. Yeah. Yankees. Nobody wants to play.
Yankees are like, the only team that does it still.
Right.
Or maybe the Cardinals.
I don't know a lot of teams.
Can you actually have Old Timers Day because they don't have enough players?
Good point. Good point. Yeah.
Damn. Mo.
Yeah.
Oh, I want to bring up something about my grandmother's favorite player.
She was an 88.
In this picture.
She's wearing.
A matsui jersey.
Oh, thanks.
I don't hate me.
Grandma's favorite player.
Should we end the podcast?
You need a minute? And I'm sorry. Only seven.
Yeah, that's pretty much the end of my tenure in New York. So.
Matsui, she called him A26.
Great player, great guy to see the next guy.
But you hit him home right? For the Mets.
You said. No. No different message.
Different man.
We had this thought.
Yeah, I got your guy. Yeah. No.
So when they were signing Matt Suey, I was obviously coming off ACL surgery.
Played a little bit the rest of the year. And then,
Daryl talked
about bringing him in, and I became a free agent and saying, Cleveland.
But he was like, you know this guy from Godzilla, though?
Yeah,
I would take my salary.
So, But still I.
Yeah.
And I've talked to him, we we, I see him at the stadium quite a bit.
It's such a nice guy.
Giant head, giant head.
But he's a big guy for Japanese.
No, you don't see the guy's that big.
Like I played over there for two years.
But yeah, you look at a Shohei and you look at Matsui, they're like,
those are big dudes for their Koreans seem to be way
bigger than the Japanese, which I don't understand, but
maybe it's a little Mongolian atmosphere.
What's up with confirm or deny his, video collection?
Matsui, you ever hear. I never played with him.
I saw. I don't want to talk about it.
That's right, that's right. Yeah.
What about confirm or deny the Derek Jeter gift bag as denied.
Okay, 100%.
Interesting. I've only known since 1992.
I've never seen anything like that.
So if that's all B.S., hearsay.
I had a friend, all girl school said it happened to her.
I heard her tell me 20 years before it came out.
She was like in New York.
It happened to her twice.
Jeter didn't even know that.
He already gave her the spiel.
Whisper in the air.
Meet around back limo
next morning.
Gift bag
next week. Out again.
She's the same girl.
He doesn't realize it's the same girl.
Give you a smile.
Hard to believe he's really smart.
Okay. All right.
But then.
So I'm living with the people I stay with out here.
Yep. Skipping in this, Falcon and Falcon.
And I'm sitting there looking on the fridge, and I see this girl.
I'm like,
man, she looks really, really pretty.
Looks super familiar.
So I find the ass and they're, you know, skips 81.
She's 79. I think.
And it actually was their their son Gary.
It was on his fridge.
I said I know this girl somehow not in a bad way.
And she goes, oh yeah, he's she's gay.
Derek.
So I asked Ann about it
and she's like, oh yeah, he does get a car service.
And I said,
I just need to know.
Gift basket. Yes.
No. And they dated for a while and that's how I actually knew her on the picture.
So if it did happen, I didn't have any thing about it.
But there's somebody that actually did dater and the family and.
All right, you heard it here first.
Yeah. Legend I'm backing you up. Derek.
The best.
Can we get him on the podcast?
I mean, he talks with friends. He's got four. Girls. He's in trouble.
Girl. Dad. Karma.
Yeah.
Girl.
Dad, maybe there was the gift basket thing, I don't know. No.
That's great.
That's great. So who?
Our model would be a good friend, you know, give compliments, hold the door.
Be charitable.
Who was, like, your guy? Your hair has a magnet for you.
As far as who's, like, a good friend that you can lean on,
in your playing days. Oh.
There's a lot, a lot of good guys.
One of my best friends is actually a scout with the Yankees, Tom Wilson.
Came up the minor leagues, got traded,
made it with the Blue Jays, Dodgers and A's.
He's, you know, he actually probably helped me out the most
about actually training and work.
This is like a ball.
And he.
We party.
Don't get me wrong, we party. But,
hey, we're going to the gym.
You know, even though I didn't really left way.
He's going to the gym.
We're going to be at the field this early.
He's probably he probably helped me out the most starting.
And then you get to the major leagues.
You know everybody has families and stuff like that.
So everybody's a little bit different.
I can look at Paul Neal and Chili Davis as far as like
how to understand video.
What what do you watch him on video.
Understand chili chili Davis was instrumental on some of those things.
And watching Bernie play was just stupid because he was
it was too easy for him, you know, smooth. So.
So he won the batting title where you guys play 88.
Yeah, it was 98. Yep. Yeah.
Awesome. With the guitar. He's amazing.
He's good.
He's a musician. He just makes everything easy.
Yeah.
So the last game of the 93 98 season regular
he hit, he got a hit.
And that locked him up for the batting title.
Oh. So he made that one. Play in a pit in the Grand Slam. Why?
He's on base and I'm coming around.
And all I could think about was Bernie.
So I come around and I'm like, they're all pumped up for me.
And I'm like, dude, congratulations, dude.
Oh, he's like, what are you talking about?
Like, you hit the grand slam. Yeah, yeah.
But I mean, around third, I think there was a.
I know, I know chili, chili was on, Bernie was on.
I don't remember who else is on.
He had to clear the bases with Bernie.
Yeah, well, they're always on base.
That's the thing.
So like, you're going to pitch to me or they're going to pitch of
Scarborough is hitting behind me.
And this guy had a great year.
Well, me and Scott have done some events together.
And he's talking about he didn't say anything, but he ended up with 99 RBIs.
Like three grand slams in nine days.
Oh, and he's sitting behind me.
So you're clearing the base and I'm. Apologizing to him.
Because he could have broke a.
Hundred because he could out over 100 next.
You know he's getting paid more. So I'm talking to him.
Like I'm killing you guys taking money out of his pocket kind of friend.
Are you hitting all these grand slams?
I know in his life, you know, he's great guy.
So is that the still the rookie record?
Three grand slams?
It was in nine days.
I don't know, nine days. Top of the world.
I think it was like seven games.
But nine days, something like that.
Oh yeah.
It was like every two days you hit on some stupid.
And I probably had a couple more chances.
That's how many guys are on base.
So what about Costas?
Do you ever hear Costas say you made a deal with the devil?
Yeah. What's the deal with that?
He talked about it. Yeah, I said yeah.
You put me in a slump after that.
Dude, you jinxed you.
I don't know what he said.
He thought it was you know.
You're going back to some.
Yeah, you're going back to normal.
Deal with the devil. This guy was like, on.
One day you're going to go back to normal.
Yeah. Trust me, I've heard it a thousand times.
And then Sterling's calls.
So if you
if I pull up a home run, you rather hear Sterling's call or Bob Costas call.
Bob Costas.
Bob Costas go.
Yeah. This is great. This is a home run through.
Brings me gets me chills.
But John does a great job too.
Yeah, I don't like the whole dispenser thing.
But you don't like that.
If it is what it is.
I know he's glad you got something, I guess. What about.
Oh, you hit your first and second home run.
You went my first five.
My first start.
Think he's kidding?
Yeah. We'll pull that one up first.
This is first home run.
We're going to pull it up right here.
The fan is going to add it in after
Randy.
Since that's what I add fairly deep on the left field.
How more is all the warning track lit.
So Joe I came back in Joe toys.
Like if you're going to hit one, don't make it controversial.
That's what he said.
If a guy faced the minor
leagues, he's really good and he'd do really hard.
97 on the old guns. But he threw me a slider.
He always did the same thing in the minor leagues. Like
he knew I could hear
his fastball, but then, like, I won one pitch.
He would always throw the slider and it was.
Less, you know, it was coming. On the scent.
On it.
Yeah, I'm sitting on it.
I'm like, oh my God, it don't throw me a slider right here.
And he throws a slider. I'm like, oh.
That's the bomb.
Yeah. The neck, the slider is the bomb.
It just went right underneath the top.
That will take a 9 to 1 lead
change.
I mean, juice isn't going.
The stadium had juice to save his walk.
Walking in the major leagues. For a shame.
I don't think the stadium rocks like this anymore. No.
There's this.
This is the bomb. Yeah.
It will be another home run for Shane.
That was the slider.
What a night for Shane Spencer.
Five for five.
Yeah, on the old guys.
Be true. Like I got sent down two days later.
So you went five for five.
I got another double the next day.
And then Chili Davis was healthy and I got sent down again.
Am. Yeah.
That must you're competitive spirit.
You're it's got it.
What's the feeling there.
You're like damn what do I have to do.
No you just dealt with it.
I mean, I think you get
a little bummed real quick, but then like, they give you like 36 hours
to, like, report, you get a couple of days off,
something like that, 36, 48 hours, something like that.
And, now I want to play every day.
You know, I've been a backup player my first 4 or 5 years in the minor leagues.
I want to play.
So I showed up the very next day, which is a funny story, is that
twice I got sent down, so I got sent down three times that year
and twice were playing the Indians in.
Eric Wedge was the catcher.
Ended up being the Cleveland injury.
My manager. Yeah.
So he first pitch right in the ribs
every time purpose of 100%.
And what was the reason.
Welcome back to the minor.
So that's the way the Triple-A is.
That's the way it was back that.
Oh because oh okay.
So you oh you think you're Mr. Cool actually.
So then when I, when Matt Suey comes
I actually I have the brewer,
I have like 3 or 4 teams talking to me and I don't know which one.
I know the Brewers offered me more money, but Eric Wedge calls me and he goes,
you remember me?
I said, yeah, catcher, you drilled me every friggin time.
He goes out of respect.
But yeah, welcome back to the League.
He goes, but you had 36 hours. 48 hours.
He goes, you played the very same day you got off the flight.
He goes, that's the kind of guy one of my teammates I did your.
I signed the contract.
Right now I'm playing for you Eric Wedge.
Like let's go.
Yeah that's what I want. I'm like let's go.
That's awesome.
So so he drills you I understand you. Yeah.
So then nothing in the head just.
And the catcher calls that in.
He did well back then you did. You know.
Now they do everything from the dugouts and stuff like that.
We didn't do anything like that. You take care of yourselves.
Back in the minor leagues, when we played so big fights, it was great.
Bam! It was fine.
Yeah.
You're, And then you're coaching now or your coach, and then everywhere
you got ejected a couple times you didn't leave.
Well, like, that was hilarious.
They're like, oh, you. Saw that one?
You're like, I'm not leaving.
You're like, waiting for that.
Yeah.
Patriots. Somerset. Patriots. Yeah.
Because a guy hit a foul.
It went off the wall 30ft.
Fair.
And I chucked my helmet.
Yeah. And I said I am not leaving. I don't care what you guys do mean.
It's in a pinball. Like. Yeah.
Even though I got kicked out about 4 or 5 times in Somerset, it was in a pinball.
And then when I started running
the Korean League or minor league system over there,
the first time I went out to yell at the umpire, I need a translator.
If, like Turner, I'm
yelling, yelling out in the translator, I turn around, there's no translator,
you know, he's bam, he's behind the dugout squatting and having a snag.
So I'm like,
okay, I'm never I'm never going out there again.
You know, I'll talk to the umpires
before the game or something like that, you know?
So I learned how to calm down when I went to Korea,
because I get intense when I think,
you know, if a guy beats out a ball and he's already step by the bag
and you call him out because these guys are like weekend
umpires, I said, these guys are playing for their livelihood.
Like, it's these guys.
It irritates me.
You know?
It's their job.
So I get fired up.
And you were still rocking number 47.
Only time I never had 47 was with the Mets
because there was guys kind of decent.
Tom Glavine
who's pretty good.
He's I yeah I wasn't going to ask him like you know I'll give you like a.
Great Tom Tom Seaver, Tom Glavine.
Glavine Glavine. Yeah.
So he was there. He was 47.
So that was the only year.
And that I was number 47.
Where'd that come from? Why 47.
So when you get called up they give you your spring training number.
So I was like
upper 60s I don't remember what it was.
I don't say
the number, but
So they kept that one. Yeah.
You know, now I was over four
with an RBI and I got so when I got called up
the next time, there was this one guy that was pretty good.
He took or no, I got called up again.
I was 26 over to sit down
where I got called back up again, like third time
this guy al Duca took over 26.
So the next year I was 47.
And then I got a hit my first back.
And I was it. Like it stuck. That's how it happened.
And then the Yanks, you know, every number is retired up until 46, but practically.
And probably 5102.
51 yeah, yeah.
Yeah. No, it's gotta be 99, you know. Yeah,
yeah.
Well, when you walk down a suite, you know, in a suite area where I do
a lot of events, every number has a plaque
and it hits all the players that have had that number.
Oh that's cool. Yeah. What do you get the minors like?
It was like 45 numbers, 45 people on there.
But you get like the good people. Yeah.
It was like three, four, five.
We go.
So yeah this is a popular number.
Where am I in over here.
So no, it's all good.
A couple more confirm or denies who had the first home run back after 911?
I saw multiple reports. It was, you know.
It was.
We went back to back to back.
I think. I think it was.
I think it was Soriano, actually.
Okay.
Posada.
Me now, I went back to back with Posada.
I know that. The first game back after 9:00. In Chicago.
Nice. Yeah. What about back at Yankee Stadium?
I don't remember, okay.
No, I probably wasn't playing.
Then confirm or deny.
Did you call a radio station about steroids?
That's on Wikipedia. That's the guy got fired.
Okay. Was it the fan?
Was it good?
Albany. Albany?
Yeah.
So I was coming back coaching in Somerset
and I had an interview with them. Yep.
Just do like a podcast like we're doing now. Yep.
And we had we had a played a doubleheader in Maryland.
So we're driving back to Somerset and I emailed them and said, hey,
there's no way I can do it. They want to do it
like 8:00 in the morning. We're not getting back up 430.
It's not happening.
I said, well, and then we have another doubleheader in Somerset. Yep.
So I end up, I don't site.
I never got an email back.
Apparently.
They took a call
and guy talked for 20 minutes talking about steroids,
and so I didn't know anything about it.
We played our doubleheader and then a guy I knew from a bar, he's a dude.
I'm so proud of you for coming clean. I'm like, what?
What are you talking about?
So I listen to it and I'm freaking.
I'm like, I mean.
Oh damn. I'm hurting now.
I'm calling Yankee Clubhouse because I'm listening to the whole thing.
So I'm Conner Jeter, A-Rod, these guys make.
And Jeter said, he's like, he's like, I know that wasn't your voice.
I said, it doesn't matter, dude.
It's like it's accusing you. It's thrown.
It's everybody.
The guy tried to do an Arkansas country voice or what did you try to do,
just talk normal? Nothing. Nothing like you.
Nothing like me and the guy, they just let him on the air for 23 minutes.
I think it was.
And then, the. That's the guy that got it.
Yeah. Journalism.
And then I'm getting fired, and he just, like, apologized to me.
Can you help me? I'm like, I'm not helping you.
Like, screw you, dude.
Just ruin me.
I hadn't slept in three days because of this.
So what year was that?
I was in Somerset, so I had to be okay
12 years ago or 13 years.
Okay, so way up playing a Jeter. Neymar.
They were still. Playing.
Well they were playing but they were playing.
So maybe 15 years ago.
Gotcha. It's been that long already.
Who. Geez okay.
Yeah that was tough.
It was really tough.
So I had to I call the Somerset Patriots media guy
and he had to get out in front of everything.
And I'm like, good.
They don't even like that.
I had no phone call. I mean, it was brutal.
It sucked.
So that sucks. It.
Did another confirm or deny
your throw from right would have it gotten to the catcher?
I believe so, but I can't prove it.
I have lots of video.
Yeah, that would have been it sort of says yes.
We're talking about the Jeter flip. Yes.
The flip.
You were the guy that threw that. That's amazing.
The flip.
There's all kinds of little quirks in there.
Did you only know that one show?
Did you overthrow the cutoff?
Where was the cutoff? Here is what.
Let's hear it. Yeah. Players say
so. The game's going so fast.
We only have two hits. Besides hit a home run.
I hit a double only twice.
We had the whole game.
Machine is dealing.
Zito is dealing. It's got. It's a games.
It's super fast.
Oh, yeah.
So now sudden that ball gets hit down the line.
And Tino Martinez is like he's like dude.
All right I really didn't realize you're in right field.
I thought O'Neil was out there.
I thought I was going all over the wall because I cut it off before.
Gosh.
Oh, I turn around and just chucked it where I would normally throw it
a little stronger than I thought, but they were out a little bit further.
So the whole thing is Jeter seeing them go out a little bit far.
He just started floating over because he saw it.
And we, toric says.
We practice that stuff.
He'd never practice that stuff out of the mind now, he was practice it
like, come on, you know, that's amazing stuff.
That's a great, great play.
It's a great play by Jeter.
But yes, sort of said it would have made it.
We'll never know.
So I got an overthrow.
He got an SB. It's all good.
Oh he got the SB for that. Yeah.
You should get the assist.
I didn't even get invited.
Yeah. Did he shout you out at least? No.
Nice pass.
No, that's an assist.
We got our own history, Tino.
So Tino went out a little farther, thinking.
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
Did he think O'Neill was going to kick it to him?
Because I know O'Neill likes to kick the ball.
Only if he was over 2 or 2 KS.
No, O'Neill is awesome, man, I love it. I'm looking.
I'm in left field. He's is right field.
I love staring at him and he's over there working on his leg kick.
I'm like, you're the most fired up player you ever played with.
Oh, he was intense.
Yeah, he's.
Him and Milton Bradley
or the private too Milton had some some issues, but
one of my favorite players to play with and people don't realize scheming
he was he and spunk he had.
He went through a lot of stuff as a kid.
Oh okay.
Like bad and like parents kinda managed.
Yes. Yep.
Like stepdad for lot like stuff like that.
And so he went through some hard times and but one of the nicest
guys we'll ever meet.
But you can't see it because when he flips out, he flips out.
But like, I still talk him on Facebook.
I mean, like he's one of my favorite players to play with.
Yeah, but people don't see that side.
Oh I see what's on TV.
Yeah, but O'Neil, he does it.
He lets it out there too, when he's like the nicest guy.
Like Paul O'Neill chant at Yankee Stadium are the best.
The loudest I've ever heard it. You were there for that, too.
Oh, I was, I was crying now, field.
I was in left field.
For the Paul Neil chant.
Yeah.
His last game ever in the playoffs 2001.
Come on.
I was in I was in left field just like goosebumps and like.
Choked.
So it was amazing.
Oh, I'm getting good score for you.
Oh, me too loud.
He was getting teary.
I mean,
for him to get teary eyed is it was a chance.
You know I'm listening right there.
Let's go. Yeah, I was amazing. That was like.
Yeah.
Like, I think it was a lot I I've ever heard at Yankee Stadium.
That's how like it was just echoing through there.
Like the buzz the old Yankee Stadium set above.
Oh yeah.
Oh there a tune.
It's.
I don't know what it is either. Electricity.
Yeah.
It just gone feel like.
Oh, yeah, it was cool.
I like I always felt that at Wrigley, that's the only other place
I felt a little bit something like that.
The old Yankee Stadium was by far the the best.
Rig the metal balls or held it in.
I don't know, it's just energy on your shoes.
The fans. Yeah. Yeah.
Another confirm or deny.
Did you threw out Womack in the World Series.
Great throw. Great pick by Posada.
So did he have it in his glove hand or is his other hand.
In his hand.
Did did he tag he.
Yeah. Tag him.
No I'm kidding.
There's replay I. Saw it I know I was he was out.
That was a nice toss on the Mannings and Womack is.
It was one of the faster guys in the league.
Whatever. What other defensive play.
Yeah I almost. I think I separated my shoulder.
Dude.
That hard.
No because friggin like a high five.
I mean I'm just rip my arm off.
Oh can I see actually knock Womack down to
he like, bumped up and knocked him down again.
Oh. Duke is like one of the best athletes ever been around.
With the high leg kick is amazing.
Where is he from?
Is he from Cuba? Cuba? Yeah. It's right.
And he had a brother too.
So I we do golf events together.
He picked up golf like
eight years ago.
You know like within two years he was a six.
And now he's almost a scratch.
Like he's a freak.
We go down a fantasy.
Can we have Homer Bush my guy go
Bucky Dent Charlie Hayes,
he play shortstop.
Oh, Duke play shortstop. He's a no no.
I got it like he's a freak.
I let off and he looks the same.
He stuff.
35 right.
Did he come in. Oh yeah. Confirm or deny that 30.
Was he the age that he came over as?
I have no idea. It looks the same.
Yeah, that's a male idea.
He looks great.
That's funny man.
You get stories.
I love it.
I think we're only talking about the good ones. Right?
If you can go back and change something, anything.
If there is something to change, maybe there's not.
If you could change something, what would it be?
I tell us to a lot of young athletes,
even if it's youth,
the one thing that I messed up
on was in the minor leagues.
They're telling you
what they want and what you want to do.
But if you don't understand what they're talking about.
I was shy in high school.
I'm not even close to that anymore, obviously, because New York ruins you.
But I never asked questions.
I didn't ask why.
Yeah, that's the probably the one of the biggest things that I do
when I do like baseball clinics and stuff, it doesn't matter
is baseball or football or whatever clinic I might be doing.
If you don't ask why and you're struggling with something,
you're just going to keep doing the same thing over and over.
And I think it cost me a couple of years of getting to where I needed to be.
Yeah, and I regret that part. Wow. Yeah.
Be teachable and. Ask.
I just didn't ask.
I like they were like, tell me you stay inside the ball mile.
Okay, I but I was doing the wrong way. No.
Whether it be coaching or whatever not.
So I would try to make sure now with all the kids, dude, whatever's pro
whatever, you know, I got some Padres for a couple years.
Ask, ask.
Don't feel right or you don't understand.
Ask the questions.
And I think, it's going to help.
It's a lot quicker. And I see it.
I do girl softball back home, and the girls
listen and ask them boys and good.
And like, yeah. You know, you know, go to okay I understand.
Yeah we I've been teaching you for a month straight.
Come on man.
But the girls listen I'd rather do the girls than I with the guys, you know?
So it's, you know, guys, boys are cocky, you know?
Their shit doesn't. Stink.
That's awesome.
Yeah.
No, be be teachable and ask clarification questions. Yes.
That's the best way. I know, right?
I do regret it.
You learn from mistakes and you learn from asking questions.
I do regret that part of my.
If we're talking about career, I do regret that part.
That's a good teachable moment.
All right, so you have a favorite restaurant
anywhere in the world.
You do food? No food. I love food.
Right? Yeah. I'll get it. Then there's a follow.
You mentioned a little our Kansas.
Oh, no at all.
Fish and grits somewhere. And I'm kidding. I don't know who do. You got?
Our New York. Come on, you're in the city.
Listen, I love good food. I love good steakhouses, okay?
But like, when I'm up here, I try to find a place that's
quiet.
Not too crowded, like a little sports bar.
I tried.
I tried all kinds of different ones. Yep.
Where's your spot? You got a spot?
Chili's in Milford.
It nice? Yeah, in the mall.
They give me the remotes. It's right by the ball.
You know that? Yeah. There's I oh, yeah.
It's right up the street, and I.
So I've been gone there for like 3 or 4 years, and I like,
they take care of me and I.
Do you get the remote room.
Oh yeah. I'm just got I watch whenever I want.
I go there after the shower.
You know I'm in between.
I'm like, you know, am I going to give the times out?
But it's my place.
I tried a bunch of different places, but I mean, there's tons of places,
but if you're talking like a good steakhouse
and you might get on film or Italian in New York.
Yeah.
If I'm in California, it's Mexican and seafood.
Gotcha. I'm like, I'm.
I don't eat Mexican out here.
Even though I did go to the stands on the wharf.
Oh, it was actually not bad. The food trucks out.
Yeah I know, yeah. Yeah, yeah, that's a pretty a long wharf or whatever.
Yeah yeah yeah yeah. Okay.
You'll enter this year for the first time and it was solid but it's not San Diego.
What about Peter Luger's in Brooklyn. You ever been there?
Been there. Yeah, that's good stuff.
I did steaks good steak.
Yeah I do, I like them all.
So if you could eat with for guests for guests?
Who are you in with, dead or alive. Anyone in the world?
Ooh, we in NY or
can be anybody.
I want to play around the golf. Yeah.
Or around the golf is gone.
With Ian Poulter.
Phil Mickelson
that's good.
I could stop right there those two and then hit the bars.
Maybe maybe a mallory or Lowry Shane Lowry.
Oh yup.
Take those three and you go hit the pub afterwards.
That would be cool.
Shane Lowry he's from Ireland right.
Yeah yeah yeah yeah.
Oh you have Irish background. Yeah. My mom's a hundred.
Her whole family 100%. Yeah. So.
And my dad's because my grandfather's from there I could get my Irish citizenship.
Do you have. Oh really? I can't get at your grandparents.
None of your grandparents are from there.
They were too. Because you were coaching. They're trying to coach.
Yeah, we're trying to do challenges. Right. It's super.
There's a lot of challenges.
You have to have a direct descendant from your grandparents is it gets to.
So we have all these good Irish baseball players over here.
And Ireland's the only place that's not letting them
like Italy if oh I'm Italian that that you go play.
Yeah but I only want to do it.
So they're going to be behind for a while until they change stuff.
But that's there you know. Yep. That's what they want.
So I mean you get like a Sean Casey know I mean Sean Casey
go over there and coach the guy.
I'd love to go there and teach them.
There is an as nicknamed the mayor. The mayor.
I thought that was his nickname.
Mel.
Gets hit, though I know that I got hit
so, yeah, I mean, I would love to go be more of a part of it.
You know, we do the, like, the local things here, but,
because of what they do with the passports,
the citizenship, they're, you know, they're not going to be playing in the WBC
because they're not getting the best players, you know, like everybody else.
Is. Yeah, they should make that a priority. I don't know if they're.
Competing with our government, so we can't do nothing about that.
So I would love it.
Totally love. It.
Where do you go when you go over there?
I've never been oh come on. No.
My sister just went, with her girlfriends, this year.
And they had a blast.
I know I went once, and I want to go back.
Oh, yeah. It's amazing. It's like the best place. You tell me.
I go over there and teach baseball and go play, like, four rounds of golf.
Fine. Musket up.
Let's go.
Cool, cool, cool.
Do you have a favorite tea? I'm a teacher, 22 years.
Do you have a favorite teacher that sticks out to you?
Man, I had a few good ones.
And easy ones and hard ones.
Right?
I had a,
U.S. history teacher.
He was so strict.
It was in the Korean War.
He was a hard ass.
And he would not give you.
He's like, I write a paper on.
I. He know I could he could tell I read, like, okay, a third of the book
and then I just started making stuff up,
and then he just like bullshit, bullshit, bullshit.
And he gave me the paper. He was like, come.
I said, I got back from practice at 930.
I don't know what to tell you. He was like, well, you do it already.
But I think that strictness, he reminded me a little bit of Steinbrenner.
Nice. I was very strict.
Hey, you need to get your shit together.
And I appreciate that.
Even though I only got to see, I think I was only CIA ever guy.
But he.
What? He wasn't in high school.
It was a high school. Yeah.
Where my kids go in granite Hills in San Diego, grinding Hills High school.
They go to the same school you went to? Yeah. Oh.
My kid.
That's very cool. Yeah,
I talk very good school. The public school.
Nice.
But, athletic and academic, it's.
And kids are going to great schools.
They're great powerhouse.
They're a powerhouse in multiple, multiple sports.
So my kids got more awards already than I ever did.
So I'm not going to say them was better, but they're pretty darn good.
Nice nice.
Yeah. The that's important as a parent.
Your legacy.
You could do anything in the world your September 9th eight.
But raising children that are respectful and doing good things.
There's nothing better. I don't know.
Well, you.
See, I mean, you get to see it all the time as a teacher. Yeah.
But you can see if you go out to a restaurant and you hear
the way kids act or see them and the way they speak to people.
Yeah, not happening in my family.
I give my ex wife a big props on that because she's with the most the time.
But it's may I please.
Yes, ma'am. Yes, sir.
Nonstop for my kids.
And if they don't, you're.
I guess you're not getting that $20 Starbucks card.
I promise you that.
You're so, And I think that comes from, you know,
both in-laws, my family, or, you know, good, solid foundation.
So, yeah, when my kids don't say yes, ma'am.
Yes, sir. Yes, please. May I?
I'm not happy.
Yeah. And so props on my ex.
It's all good.
She's a good friend
sometimes.
Hahaha.
How about Frank the tank?
You will walk number 55.
I was not walk number 165 once we got that in.
Yeah, yeah, he played the Beatles.
Would you have a friend in me or something?
His great.
Let me just make sure.
Oh, a couple things before I forget, because we're going to wrap it up.
This.
We shoot for 55 minutes or 50 minutes with Feeney.
Oh, you're this is, you know, commercial.
Anyway, you've seen your walk.
Yeah.
Let me show you my walk.
Oh, come on,
we'll pull this up.
But this is a proud moment.
It me walking in heart.
We did a hotdog eating contest in Hartford.
It was a Hartford Courant.
It was huge news in Connecticut.
Frank Tank came. He's an amazing person.
Heart of gold.
Sorry, this.
You got to do it out there. I did it. And you know.
What do I do when my love turned the way?
Does it one do you to be your love.
Lend me your like. Oh,
we'll play it at the end.
We'll do.
Play it after the credits.
Stick around after the credits. We'll play that video.
Let me just make sure I got everything.
Then we'll do
game one, world series D brag.
Oh, this is me and Sam. Another video.
Sam and I went to Yankee Stadium dressed full unis.
That's my brother in law.
He's a good friend. That's the guy you golf with.
Sam, I know is why they call him Sam, though.
Because it's Santo.
Santo Lombardo is his.
He's just short for both the.
And then Santo.
It's an Italian name.
And Sam is a nickname for Santo. Oh, okay.
I didn't know, like, why they call you Sam?
Play well.
Matt. Curtain calls.
How many curtain calls did you end up getting?
Was it 3 or 4?
Why were you hesitant?
Sometimes you look like real nonchalant.
You're just like.
I mean, how's that feel?
Because they force you to go out there.
You didn't.
Yeah. You didn't want to know.
Because what you when you know
you're not good enough to go out there like those guys like, okay.
You don't I don't want to be embarrassed.
Like, I got pretty lucky from that about, like, I don't want to be a part of that
through the leg.
You know?
It's not like Aaron Judge were hitting, you know, 60 homeruns a year.
You know, we didn't hit homeruns when we played. Yeah.
It was moved the ball around. Yeah.
Just play the game to win.
Now everybody's hitting home runs and strikeouts.
Looks like fun actually.
Five for five grand slam.
You get your current call. Yeah, I got. Probably
a rookie in a month.
Probably a month and a half.
I think I'll be about five.
Yeah, I count at least four.
Yeah. Five.
That's amazing.
Oh, and confirm or deny what product where you putting in your bleach
blond hair was that. Is that match.
Oh, that was 1999.
That was all Chuck Knoblauch hahahahaha.
Did he always do. He went in to get highlights.
And then they turn this around.
He says he still says he didn't do it.
Makes it. Oh, my head's hurt.
It's like hot on fire.
And then they put me in.
They dry everything in. It comes out bleach blond.
Oh, he gagged you.
You think or no?
Oh 106 100% navy gagged John Zimmer.
I come into the locker room and he's like,
you're an idiot.
Because he was straight shooter. Yeah. Gone.
Done. Pretty much ran the team, I believe.
I mean, he was on top of everything.
He was he was amazing. He was really tough.
He was tough on me. He's tough on everybody.
He had the consider. He was like the boy.
He was the. Guy. We went to Seattle. I saw my dad.
I got called up in Seattle my first time.
My dad picked me up at the airport.
Work for us customs, and I think we went back to Seattle.
So 99
and we had early work optional,
early optional heading because because I don't think Seattle was hitting that day.
So my dad's in town.
I see him once a year and I just we go have lunch.
I do this
and after the game that night, and I wake up in the morning the next day and,
you know, the old phones and the hotel phone, you get the orange light.
Oh, yeah, voicemail. Or something like, oh, I got a voicemail.
Hey, shake.
Coach Zimmer, meet me in the lobby at 1115.
It's like 1030. I'm like.
And then he called me down there, and I went down,
and he just sat there and stared at me.
Just like we just did it right here, you know? It's coming, right?
And, he goes, why weren't you at,
early work?
I said, well, it was optional, right?
And he goes, you're not a effing superstar official.
No mean shit.
You you you're there.
I said, well, I said, I see my dad once a year and I, I mean,
we went to lunch and I got to hang with him.
He's like.
Don't ever miss again.
And I never missed one ever again because he was so intense
and he got up and walked away.
I'm like, just sitting there in the lobby like, oh sure, honey.
Iced tea. Yeah.
No, Zimmer's a legend. Oh, he was awesome.
What else we got.
All right. Boom boom boom. Oh.
Do you know the seven ways to get to first base?
There's seven ways to get to first base.
Walk, hit by pitch,
strike out, hit
catcher's interference.
Air.
Missing one.
Right now.
FC. Tinsel. FC.
Feel it.
Oh. Fearless strike.
Oh that was close. You were on a roll. Yeah.
You killed it.
Yeah.
Not bad.
And you did a roast in New York and you benefited the Miracle League
which is huge.
And we love to have you on Miracle League in West Hartford is huge.
Oh, someday, maybe next year. Come around.
I'll connect you with Mike Machado. Great person.
We love to have you in West Hartford.
I'm out there, man. All about a band.
Yeah.
If I get invited to do any kind of charity, I'm always.
I love it. And.
They just did their field over.
Yeah.
And, it's important to the kids, and we love to have you there.
That'll be great. And then some upcoming events.
We got the whiskey fest coming up.
And, they'll be out of town. Yeah. This Saturday.
Thank you. Maximum beverage.
Thank. God I'm out of town. Yeah.
Fifth year in a row.
We're the beneficiary.
Don't forget, you're going to come save the day.
October 12th.
This is a sign.
I will have you sign that later. Okay?
We'll autograph that.
Maybe I'm going to raffle lead off at the whiskey event.
Oh. Got this.
I'll sign the right way.
Thank you. Card.
Shout out my friends here.
Always, I tell people, be a good friend.
Write the handwritten note goes a long way.
This is.
Dear Mr.
Feeney, thank you so much for coming to my graduation party.
I appreciate it so much.
I'm so thankful to have you as a teacher.
Matty p.s.
I love the merch.
This is Mattingly, my student.
Mattingly guess who she's named after?
Yeah, her parents are huge Yankee fans.
If you give me a shout out or John, Jack and, Natalie, a shout out there.
The Ford family, great people.
Oh, yeah.
Absolutely.
Hey, thank you for being part of it.
Donnie, baseball is a true friend of mine.
He's one of the greatest.
So to even be mentioned or even have the same name.
I think that's wonderful,
because he is one of the best people that I've ever been around.
So thank you very much.
And, God bless Maddie.
Good people, good family.
So we'll do some signing.
Oh, then when in New Haven, we got to get the pie.
So, any closing remarks before we go?
Closing remarks. I can't thank you enough for being here.
It was great talking with you.
Talking with a legend. We went back.
Way back.
We had a great time. You brought the pie? Yeah.
You know, I've always never been a big New Haven.
Even everybody brags about all the time.
But Modern's been my favorite of all of them. Yep.
They don't burn it
completely on the bottom, which is a big deal for me, because I'm.
I like soft bread, so I already crushed like, four pieces outside, so.
We were waiting for.
The rest of it after this.
So modern I we've had some some of your stuff
at some of the events I've been it's it's awesome. Love it.
Look at this pie here.
Yeah. Again it's about an hour old, but
as you can see, we put down two pieces each.
You should wait for me.
You heard him.
He, huge fan.
They were open in and out.
You walk in 15 minutes.
Yeah. Thank you, modern sir.
Hopefully they're going to donate a gift card.
And they also doing,
they collaborated with counterweight
for a modern classic for little counterweight beer.
As well is.
Yeah, collab counterweight and modern.
Two favorite things.
Cheers.
Let's do it. Cheers.
It was so cool to talk with you.
We'll stick around and do some signing on. Three.
Can we say be a good friend together?
Yes. One, two three.
Be a good friend.
Oh, you want to it together?
Yeah. 123.
Be a good friend.
Cheers again my guy. Thank you Shane.
What do I.
Do when my love turns away.
Doesn't want need to be numb.
How do I.
Feel by the end of the day?
Are you sad because you're on your love?
No, I get by.
With the help of my friends.
You get the help of my friends.
You gonna try with a little help from my friends?
Do you mean anybody?
I need somebody to love.
Could it be anybody?
I want somebody to love.
Would you believe in love?
Sight? Yes.