Latest / Foul Territory / MVP & Cy Young Acceptance Speeches from Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Paul Skenes and Tarik Skubal

Transcript

MVP & Cy Young Acceptance Speeches from Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Paul Skenes and Tarik Skubal · Foul Territory

0:03
Speaker 1: Good evening. What an amazing night.
0:04
Speaker 2: I mean, this day is is amazing. How about the food,
0:08
Speaker 2: The food was amazing, So shout out to our celebrity
0:11
Speaker 2: chef who whipped it.
0:12
Speaker 1: Up this afternoon, show Hey Otani.
0:15
Speaker 2: And for those of you who are driving home on
0:17
Speaker 2: the FDR, the potholes have been prepared courtesy of Shoe Aotani.
0:22
Speaker 1: The guy does it all.
0:25
Speaker 3: You know.
0:25
Speaker 2: The late great sportswriter Roger Angel once told me that
0:28
Speaker 2: he actually saw Babe Ruth play. So I'm walking around
0:31
Speaker 2: Manhattan and his campbella hair coat, and I was like, wow,
0:35
Speaker 2: I mean that is baseball mythology, right, that's seeing a
0:38
Speaker 2: legend in the making. Well, our generation, we have a
0:42
Speaker 2: legend in the making with Shoe Hey Otani. Just want
0:45
Speaker 2: to give you a couple of numbers here, because there
0:47
Speaker 2: is no one like Show Hey. Never has been fifty
0:52
Speaker 2: five home runs he hit, and he had a two
0:55
Speaker 2: point eight seven e or a crazy two hundred and
1:02
Speaker 2: two balls. He hit one hundred miles an hour or more,
1:05
Speaker 2: the most of Major League baseball. And he threw thirty
1:08
Speaker 2: nine pitches one hundred miles an hour, second most among
1:11
Speaker 2: starting pitchers. Crazy three straight MVPs unanimously. Before that, no one.
1:19
Speaker 1: Had done it more than once.
1:22
Speaker 2: I could go on with these numbers because you can't
1:24
Speaker 2: even get them on PlayStation folks. They're impressive, But what's
1:28
Speaker 2: even more impressive is the person that show he is.
1:32
Speaker 2: The word that comes to mind for me is respect,
1:35
Speaker 2: respect for the game, respect for the opposition, respect for
1:38
Speaker 2: the umpires with the fans, for competition. As parents, you
1:44
Speaker 2: can feel good about buying your kid to show Hey Jersey. Heck,
1:47
Speaker 2: we know you can buy one for yourself too, right.
1:50
Speaker 2: There really is no one like him, so I tell
1:53
Speaker 2: you he's a generational legend in the making. It's not hyperbole,
1:57
Speaker 2: and I think someday you can look back and we
2:00
Speaker 2: will tell people that you saw show Hey play. I'm
2:03
Speaker 2: not sure if we'll see anything again, but enjoy it.
2:06
Speaker 1: Don't ever get used to.
2:07
Speaker 2: What we are seeing, folks, no more than you would
2:10
Speaker 2: get used to seeing the Grand Canyon.
2:12
Speaker 1: It's that special.
2:14
Speaker 2: It's my honor to present a guy who does it all.
2:18
Speaker 2: And I'm sure he can even rock a camel hair coat.
2:22
Speaker 2: You're twenty twenty five National League Most Valuable Player, Show
2:26
Speaker 2: Hey Otani.
2:41
Speaker 4: Thank you, Tom. I appreciate introduction and kind of voice.
2:46
Speaker 4: B B WAA, thank you once again for hosting this
2:50
Speaker 4: great event and always making us feel welcomed. Congrats on
2:55
Speaker 4: Yo one Honda and for Scala Toll the writers reported
3:00
Speaker 4: for me, Thank you. This MVP hour is very meaningful
3:06
Speaker 4: and the winning guitar game means so much to me.
3:10
Speaker 1: A deep appreciation goes out.
3:11
Speaker 4: To all of your writers for recognizing the hard work
3:15
Speaker 4: and the efforts that were put force in achieving this,
3:18
Speaker 4: and an MVP award.
3:21
Speaker 1: To my fellow dissipants.
3:23
Speaker 4: Congratulations to all of you and your achievements, especially to
3:28
Speaker 4: the eighty six Mets team. I now know that feeling
3:33
Speaker 4: of what it's like to become a world champion, and
3:36
Speaker 4: it's great. So congrats on your for this anniversary. Thank
3:43
Speaker 4: you to the Those organization for believing in me and
3:46
Speaker 4: then bracing my vision to honor mar Quota who is
3:50
Speaker 4: here tonight, and the rest of the ownership group, the
3:54
Speaker 4: entire front office, especially under Freedmen and the Ron roles,
3:59
Speaker 4: and also tending to all my teammates and the coaching
4:04
Speaker 4: staff for helping and encouraging me throughout that year.
4:09
Speaker 1: I fared your support every day.
4:12
Speaker 4: A hugely shout out to the entire Dodges staff behind
4:15
Speaker 4: the scenes, especially aar Garcia, who is also here tonight.
4:21
Speaker 1: I appreciate you all.
4:23
Speaker 4: To my support group, starting with my agents Ballelo, I
4:29
Speaker 4: appreciate all you do and his wife Liz here tonight
4:33
Speaker 4: as well two Cia, especially Matt Hidaka for your support,
4:39
Speaker 4: Tahuai Anya, Cali and the rest of the circle. Lastly,
4:47
Speaker 4: my family in Japan, and most importantly to my loving
4:52
Speaker 4: wife Mamiko and my daughter and Decoy for making my
4:57
Speaker 4: life whole. Said you always being a day for me.
5:02
Speaker 1: Thank you.
5:10
Speaker 5: All right, thank you Baseball writers. Beautiful event.
5:14
Speaker 6: I never got to be here as a player, so
5:15
Speaker 6: it's a dream come true to finally be up here
5:17
Speaker 6: on this stage. I just want to start out by
5:20
Speaker 6: saying how humble I am to be on this stage
5:22
Speaker 6: with these great players. Congratulations on all the awards, the
5:26
Speaker 6: Rookie of Year awards. Congrats guys. Next year probably be
5:29
Speaker 6: a little bit harder, but keep going. Cy Young's a
5:33
Speaker 6: manager of the years. It's all amazing to be up here.
5:36
Speaker 6: And when you're asked to present an MVP Award for
5:40
Speaker 6: one of your closest friends in the game, one of
5:42
Speaker 6: your best friends in life. The easy thing for me
5:44
Speaker 6: to do is to read off his stats, but I
5:47
Speaker 6: really want to talk about the player that he is
5:49
Speaker 6: and what he brings to New York. When I played
5:54
Speaker 6: in my career, former players would come back and they
5:57
Speaker 6: would ask us what type of player he was, and
5:59
Speaker 6: I learned that from a very young age that's all
6:02
Speaker 6: guys care about when they come back, and in this game,
6:05
Speaker 6: you have to respect the hierarchy.
6:07
Speaker 3: That did it before you.
6:09
Speaker 6: So now I'm a former player, I asked Judge what
6:12
Speaker 6: kind of player guys are, and talking to him all
6:15
Speaker 6: the time has been is just it's awesome. But the
6:18
Speaker 6: type of man he is is he's been. He's the
6:22
Speaker 6: most special person I've ever been around. And it starts
6:27
Speaker 6: with his parents, Patty and Wayne. You guys have done
6:30
Speaker 6: such an amazing job raising such a wonderful son and
6:34
Speaker 6: getting to know you, guys. Our families are close. It's
6:36
Speaker 6: been amazing and Sam without you and getting to know
6:42
Speaker 6: you over all these years without you, Aaron is not
6:46
Speaker 6: a three time MVP, and I mean that sincerely. You
6:49
Speaker 6: are such a rock for him and what you bring
6:53
Speaker 6: your steady presence is amazing and it's been so amazing
6:57
Speaker 6: to see them welcome Nora almost a year old now
7:00
Speaker 6: on the twenty seventh, and them become parents and Aaron,
7:03
Speaker 6: you becoming a dad has been amazing. We've kind of
7:05
Speaker 6: going through fatherhood at the same time. So and we
7:08
Speaker 6: can't forget Penny and Gusts too. Playing in New York
7:15
Speaker 6: is different, as everyone knows that when you put the
7:17
Speaker 6: pinstripes on, you're gonna have good times, You're gonna have
7:20
Speaker 6: pad times and they get heavy at times, and a
7:24
Speaker 6: lot of great players, a lot of great history in
7:26
Speaker 6: the New York Yankees organization, and right behind me, who's
7:30
Speaker 6: about to accept his award is arguably the greatest to
7:33
Speaker 6: ever put on the pinstripes, and his career the best
7:36
Speaker 6: is you have to come in his career. The lights
7:44
Speaker 6: shine brighter, the pressure is heavier, every moment is magnified,
7:48
Speaker 6: and not everyone's built for this stage. You've seen a
7:50
Speaker 6: lot of guys fold under these big lights. And what
7:53
Speaker 6: he does every day with his selfless leadership is something
7:57
Speaker 6: that I admire. I admired I admired it from Afar
8:00
Speaker 6: and then when I got to play with him here,
8:02
Speaker 6: it's the most incredible thing I've ever witnessed. He pours
8:05
Speaker 6: more into his teammates than anyone I've ever seen. And
8:09
Speaker 6: when you're a superstar in this game, you have to
8:11
Speaker 6: be very, very selfish. Tearcraft and the fact that he
8:15
Speaker 6: can make everyone from all around the world, from Latin America,
8:20
Speaker 6: from Japan, anywhere, you name it.
8:22
Speaker 5: We're all together in this.
8:23
Speaker 6: Clubhouse for one hundred and sixty two games, more than
8:25
Speaker 6: we see our families. And anytime you have an interaction
8:28
Speaker 6: with Aaron Judge, he makes you feel like you're the
8:29
Speaker 6: biggest person in the room. And that's such a special
8:32
Speaker 6: feat to have as a superstar in this game. And
8:35
Speaker 6: Aaron never changed because what you do for this game
8:39
Speaker 6: is amazing. Everyone at Yankee Stadium, the parking tendance, we
8:44
Speaker 6: walk out to the bus people saying hi to him.
8:46
Speaker 5: It's it's the most amazing thing.
8:48
Speaker 6: He's a rock star everywhere he goes and he's not
8:50
Speaker 6: hiding from anyone. He's six seven eighty two seventy.
8:59
Speaker 5: And anyone he meets, their day is better after meeting
9:03
Speaker 5: Aaron Judge.
9:05
Speaker 6: And when you show up to the park in June, July, August,
9:09
Speaker 6: when you're grinding, some little kid got tickets and is
9:12
Speaker 6: excited to see number ninety nine play, and every single
9:15
Speaker 6: day he takes pride and going out there and making
9:18
Speaker 6: sure that little kid or that family's having their first experience,
9:22
Speaker 6: make sure he sees him play and is at his best.
9:25
Speaker 6: He's always learning, he's always trying to get better. He's
9:29
Speaker 6: never ever satisfied. And whether he's four for four or
9:33
Speaker 6: oh for four, it's the most import I've never seen
9:36
Speaker 6: someone stay so steady.
9:38
Speaker 5: I used to say, yeah, I would be that.
9:40
Speaker 3: Way too.
9:42
Speaker 6: If I hit all these home runs and did all
9:45
Speaker 6: this stuff. But the superstars they go through their own
9:48
Speaker 6: grind and they struggle a lot more than people think.
9:51
Speaker 6: And the way you handle everything on this stage is
9:54
Speaker 6: just absolutely incredible.
9:59
Speaker 5: All the trainers that are in there every day in.
10:01
Speaker 6: The clubhouse, the bus rides, the plane rides, the hotels,
10:06
Speaker 6: everything off the field to build people up is what
10:09
Speaker 6: makes Aaron so special. Your stats are amazing. I think
10:13
Speaker 6: I'll speak for him, because I know he won't. I
10:15
Speaker 6: think the ones he's probably most proud of is that
10:18
Speaker 6: three thirty one average. There's no cheap hits there to
10:21
Speaker 6: win a batting title. Being this big, there's no infield hits.
10:25
Speaker 6: These are all hits the hard way, as we say,
10:27
Speaker 6: and the pitching is only getting better. Runs scored. I
10:31
Speaker 6: think it was over one thirty this year in RBIs.
10:34
Speaker 6: That's how he contributes to his teammates because at the
10:37
Speaker 6: end of the day, his most important statu is a
10:39
Speaker 6: win at the end of the day. And that's the
10:41
Speaker 6: most gratifying thing about him is that's all he cares about,
10:45
Speaker 6: is winning baseball games.
10:49
Speaker 5: Tonight we honor an MVP season.
10:52
Speaker 6: But this room really knows is that baseball is better
10:55
Speaker 6: because Aaron Judge is in it.
10:57
Speaker 1: So ladies and.
10:57
Speaker 6: Gentlemen, please stand up, give him around of applause for
11:02
Speaker 6: your captain of the New York Yankees, the King of
11:05
Speaker 6: New York, Aaron Judge.
11:27
Speaker 3: Thank you, guys, Thank you Riz.
11:30
Speaker 7: That's a lot of great stuff there, man, it was incredible.
11:34
Speaker 3: No cheap hits.
11:35
Speaker 8: Man.
11:35
Speaker 7: I'm working on my speed. That's kind of crazy. I
11:37
Speaker 7: feel like I got I got some speed, So we're
11:40
Speaker 7: working on that. But it's just speaking of Riz. Every
11:45
Speaker 7: time we get a new free agent sign, somebody trade
11:47
Speaker 7: for somebody always likes seeing what makes them special, what
11:49
Speaker 7: makes these individuals great. You know, why aren't we trading
11:53
Speaker 7: for him? And I go back to the first day
11:55
Speaker 7: in Miami, we just traded for Riz. You know, he's
11:57
Speaker 7: going to know everybody. He's saying hi to everybody, this
11:59
Speaker 7: and that. So I'm watch his routine, how he takes
12:01
Speaker 7: around balls in the cage, and then I fast forward
12:04
Speaker 7: to literally right before the game. I'm kind of watching
12:06
Speaker 7: how does he prepare? Is a weight room? Is it
12:07
Speaker 7: something that in the in the cage? And I see
12:10
Speaker 7: him he throws on his UNI, you know, filling it out,
12:13
Speaker 7: and he just does one of these and one of
12:15
Speaker 7: these and he just runs out.
12:17
Speaker 3: There and I'm like, all right, maybe maybe I missed something.
12:21
Speaker 7: And he goes out there first at bet hits a
12:23
Speaker 7: home run in Miami, four under and fifty feet to right,
12:25
Speaker 7: and I was like, I think I'm doing this all wrong.
12:29
Speaker 7: He got he's got this figured out. But what I
12:30
Speaker 7: learned that day was he he never forgot of the
12:35
Speaker 7: kid's game and just enjoy the moment. You know, be
12:38
Speaker 7: where your feet are. It's a special place to be.
12:40
Speaker 7: So it didn't matter if he was in Chicago, if
12:42
Speaker 7: he was playing.
12:42
Speaker 3: For the Yankees.
12:43
Speaker 7: He was just enjoy the moment. So I appreciate that
12:46
Speaker 7: is a lot writers. I want to thank you for
12:48
Speaker 7: this event. It's incredible, you know, getting us all up here,
12:52
Speaker 7: especially our beat writers in New York. I know our
12:55
Speaker 7: travel is pretty crazy. To your guys, this travel must
12:57
Speaker 7: be absolutely insane to try to catch us and share
12:59
Speaker 7: our story with the world. It's it means the most.
13:03
Speaker 7: Also to all the award winners up here tonight. It's
13:05
Speaker 7: just an incredible group. And I've never been around so
13:07
Speaker 7: many great players, even starting down there with.
13:10
Speaker 3: The rookies of the years. Man, it's just cool to
13:12
Speaker 3: see them develop over the years.
13:14
Speaker 7: And you know, everybody up here, it's hopefully we see
13:17
Speaker 7: this group, you know, a couple more.
13:18
Speaker 3: Times over the years.
13:22
Speaker 7: I'd like to thank my wife Samantha for all the
13:26
Speaker 7: love and support over the years. And I definitely wouldn't
13:28
Speaker 7: be standing up here, like Riz said, if it wasn't
13:30
Speaker 7: for you day in.
13:30
Speaker 3: And day out.
13:31
Speaker 7: You're my hitting coach when I need you, my therapist
13:34
Speaker 7: when I need you, just kind of everything. And I
13:36
Speaker 7: think giving me the greatest gift of all, which is
13:38
Speaker 7: our beautiful daughter Nora. That's been incredible to be a
13:42
Speaker 7: father and what that's done for our life. And you know,
13:45
Speaker 7: it didn't matter if I'm four for four, oh for four.
13:48
Speaker 7: Coming home and seeing their smiling faces is that's what
13:51
Speaker 7: it's all about. It really puts it in perspective.
13:53
Speaker 3: And I like to thank my parents, Wayne and Patty.
13:57
Speaker 7: You guys, every time I come home from school, go
14:01
Speaker 7: outside to play catch, hitting the cage, you do something,
14:03
Speaker 7: you guys never said no, you never said hey.
14:05
Speaker 3: You know, give me a minute. My shows on. You
14:06
Speaker 3: guys went right out.
14:08
Speaker 7: There and and you know you only asked me one
14:10
Speaker 7: question was did you finish your homework? And I guess
14:13
Speaker 7: being a teacher never never stops. So appreciate that. And
14:17
Speaker 7: one quote that and I want to share with you
14:18
Speaker 7: guys that my dad would always tell me and I
14:20
Speaker 7: look at it every day, is if what you did
14:23
Speaker 7: yesterday still seems big today, then you haven't done anything today.
14:27
Speaker 7: And it really sticks with me, and I probably sticks
14:30
Speaker 7: with a lot of guys up here. It's you know,
14:32
Speaker 7: it doesn't matter if you put your complete game, shut out,
14:35
Speaker 7: went four to four the night before, won the game
14:38
Speaker 7: for your team. You know, it's in the past. It's
14:40
Speaker 7: about what you can do today, how you're going to
14:41
Speaker 7: show up today, how you can be better today for
14:43
Speaker 7: your teammates and everybody around you. So I appreciate you
14:46
Speaker 7: know that hunger that you've instilled in me. My agent's
14:50
Speaker 7: page and David, you know, thanks for believing in me
14:52
Speaker 7: when you know nobody else was around. You know, you
14:54
Speaker 7: guys came all the way out to Fresnel, California. On
14:56
Speaker 7: how many people are coming out to the Fresne, But
14:59
Speaker 7: it means a lot. Just I could call you guys
15:00
Speaker 7: any you know, day or night didn't matter. You guys
15:03
Speaker 7: always were there for me. And I want to thank
15:05
Speaker 7: the house Steime Renner and a sign Render family for
15:08
Speaker 7: believing in me all the way back in twenty thirteen
15:11
Speaker 7: and drafting me. You know, I want to thank all
15:12
Speaker 7: my teammates, staff, training staff, all the work that we
15:16
Speaker 7: put in that nobody sees get me ready to go
15:18
Speaker 7: on the field. It's that's what's that's what it's all about.
15:21
Speaker 7: And lastly, I just want to thank the fans, you know,
15:24
Speaker 7: all the fans here in New York. You guys wear
15:28
Speaker 7: in this uniform. Getting a chance to represent not only
15:31
Speaker 7: the Yankees, but the city of New York. It comes
15:34
Speaker 7: with high standards. You expect a lot, you demand a lot,
15:38
Speaker 7: and I think that's what brings the best out of
15:39
Speaker 7: all of us and brings the best out of me.
15:41
Speaker 7: So I just want to thank you guys, because it's
15:44
Speaker 7: a lot of you save.
15:44
Speaker 3: Up to come to one game. RIZ kind of hit
15:46
Speaker 3: on the head.
15:46
Speaker 7: You guys save up to come to one game to
15:48
Speaker 7: watch us play, watch me play, and I just that's
15:51
Speaker 7: what's about. I want to give you guys the best
15:52
Speaker 7: and put on a show for you guys. So thank everybody,
15:55
Speaker 7: Thanks for tonight, and God bless.
16:04
Speaker 3: I'm good evening.
16:06
Speaker 8: It's an honor to be here tonight to present Paul
16:09
Speaker 8: with the Nationally So Young.
16:13
Speaker 3: The first time.
16:13
Speaker 8: I just wanted to say congratulations to the Dodgers.
16:15
Speaker 3: For winning Rose Series last year.
16:17
Speaker 8: And not not to disrespect anybody, but this is for
16:22
Speaker 8: the Yankee executives, Mets executives. Let's please bring a Rose
16:26
Speaker 8: Series Trumphy bike to New York.
16:30
Speaker 3: This is where it blows.
16:32
Speaker 8: But I know, I know, we don't have much time,
16:35
Speaker 8: so I'm not gonna read off all his stats.
16:37
Speaker 3: It would take all night.
16:40
Speaker 8: But for him winning the Record of the Year last
16:42
Speaker 8: year with all the hype coming out of the l
16:43
Speaker 8: s U with a great accomplishment, and I might be
16:46
Speaker 8: a little bias been a former picture, but it's a
16:48
Speaker 8: lot of fun. Like when the Mets and the Yankees plays
16:50
Speaker 8: and certain pitchers pitch, he marked those dates down. So
16:54
Speaker 8: with him, I was marked down on every fifth day
16:56
Speaker 8: that he's pitching to watch the starts. And then they
17:01
Speaker 8: come back Tony year, they talk about, you know, supposed
17:03
Speaker 8: to have the sophomore jinx. He had a better second
17:05
Speaker 8: year than he did his first year to win the
17:07
Speaker 8: so young and not only that, but to start the
17:10
Speaker 8: All Star Game your rookie year, and then come back
17:13
Speaker 8: to the second year, start the All Star Game. And
17:15
Speaker 8: he probably gonna start the All Star Game again this year.
17:18
Speaker 8: And I am aware that March twenty six he'd probably
17:22
Speaker 8: be starting against the New York Mets at Cydney Field.
17:25
Speaker 8: I'll be rooting for him, but I'll be rooting for
17:27
Speaker 8: him the pitch well, but hopefully not win that game,
17:32
Speaker 8: but they close it. I must say, you know, you
17:34
Speaker 8: follow pitchers, and a lot of guys talk about, you know,
17:38
Speaker 8: records are made to be broken. But I'm one of
17:40
Speaker 8: those guys that I don't like my records be broken.
17:42
Speaker 8: So I'm saying that to say that when you're already
17:46
Speaker 8: dropped between I mean under one got to like one
17:48
Speaker 8: ninety six. I got a little pang, so I was
17:51
Speaker 8: rooting for him to win, but I wanted him. I
17:53
Speaker 8: want him to win two to one instead of you know,
17:55
Speaker 8: the shoutouts. But uh, other than that, ladies and gentlemen,
17:59
Speaker 8: the twenty twenty five National League's Young Winner, Paul skiings.
18:27
Speaker 9: As cool as the award is. I think that's probably
18:29
Speaker 9: the coolest thing about tonight, getting to get introduced by
18:34
Speaker 9: by Doc Goodin.
18:34
Speaker 3: That's that's pretty cool.
18:42
Speaker 9: First, I want to say thank you to the to
18:45
Speaker 9: the Writers Association for this event. Put together a great
18:49
Speaker 9: event last year. It's a great event. Now baseball will
18:52
Speaker 9: not be where it is without you all, So thank you.
18:57
Speaker 9: This uh, this award is equally mine as it is
19:02
Speaker 9: everybody who's poured time and energy into me. I would
19:06
Speaker 9: be up here talking for a very long time if
19:08
Speaker 9: if I got to, you know, mention everybody that had
19:11
Speaker 9: an effect on me, uh throughout my career. But so
19:16
Speaker 9: those those of you who are in my corner, you
19:18
Speaker 9: know who you are, and thank you very much for that.
19:21
Speaker 9: To my family, thank you for being my foundation growing up.
19:26
Speaker 9: You know, baseball is the only sport I've ever played,
19:28
Speaker 9: and it's pretty much the only thing that I've you know,
19:32
Speaker 9: been passionate about for for twenty three years now. So
19:35
Speaker 9: the early mornings, the long drives, the tough conversations that
19:39
Speaker 9: we've had, and the constant support. Thank you. You taught
19:43
Speaker 9: me how to work, how to stay grounded, and how
19:46
Speaker 9: to never take any of this for granted. So thank
19:48
Speaker 9: you to my teammates. This is a team game. This
19:53
Speaker 9: this game is impossible to do alone. You you make
19:57
Speaker 9: me better with the work that you do every day
19:58
Speaker 9: and playing with me for one hundred and sixty two games.
20:03
Speaker 9: My biggest goal every day is for my work to
20:05
Speaker 9: make you all better the same way that you make
20:08
Speaker 9: me better. I can't have any success without you competing
20:11
Speaker 9: behind me and having my back. I mean it when
20:15
Speaker 9: I say that this award is is equally as much
20:18
Speaker 9: yours as it is mine. And everybody else in my corner,
20:22
Speaker 9: everybody else on my team, thank you, on on on
20:27
Speaker 9: my team, all my trainers, all my you know, coaches, chefs, everything.
20:34
Speaker 1: Thank you.
20:36
Speaker 9: Like I said, you know who you are. Let's let's
20:39
Speaker 9: keep pushing. Obviously, there's been some time since I won
20:44
Speaker 9: the award and now so I've had some time to think,
20:47
Speaker 9: and with this being the Baseball Writers Association of America's event,
20:54
Speaker 9: I've had some time to think about what what writers
20:56
Speaker 9: mean to this game and what they meant to me.
21:00
Speaker 9: They have a very interesting job. They come into the
21:03
Speaker 9: clubhouse every day and ask you questions whether you played
21:06
Speaker 9: well or poorly, and a lot of the times they
21:09
Speaker 9: ask you questions that make you think about yourself. And
21:14
Speaker 9: one thing that I've thought about a fair amount, but
21:17
Speaker 9: you know, based on some of the questions they've asked me,
21:19
Speaker 9: is what I would want to say to the young
21:21
Speaker 9: players and the fans out there, and so whoever's watching,
21:28
Speaker 9: I want to say this, no matter where you come from,
21:31
Speaker 9: no matter how long the road feels, no matter how
21:33
Speaker 9: many times you hear not yet or not possible, keep going,
21:37
Speaker 9: bet on your work, trust the process, and don't let
21:39
Speaker 9: anyone else defind your ceiling. I'm here right now because
21:43
Speaker 9: I don't understand the word can't thank you all. This
21:46
Speaker 9: is an honor that I'll never forget.
21:54
Speaker 10: First, I'll like to congratulate everyone up on the DAIS
21:58
Speaker 10: for a Grade twenty twenty five season, and I also
22:01
Speaker 10: like to thank the New York Chapter, the BBWAA for
22:04
Speaker 10: giving me this opportunity, and to just guy that I've
22:06
Speaker 10: had the pleasure of.
22:07
Speaker 3: Coaching for the last five years. Trek Scrugle.
22:11
Speaker 10: By this point, the world knows about the tall lefty
22:13
Speaker 10: that grew up in a small town in Arizona, had
22:16
Speaker 10: one scholarship offer out of high school. I got drafted
22:19
Speaker 10: in the ninth round because he had Tommy John the
22:21
Speaker 10: year before, and then made his major league debut in
22:25
Speaker 10: twenty twenty with no fans in the stands. Nothing was
22:30
Speaker 10: given to Terrek. He has earned everything he's been given
22:33
Speaker 10: in this game, and his work ethic at second to
22:35
Speaker 10: nine with a personality to match.
22:41
Speaker 1: As a coach.
22:41
Speaker 10: The best kind of cultures are player led, and when
22:44
Speaker 10: your best players are your hardest workers, it holds everyone accountable.
22:47
Speaker 10: We're fortunate Jeff Terrek as an example for our clubhouse.
22:52
Speaker 10: He embodies ajas saying of everything matters. He's worked his
22:56
Speaker 10: way from a hard thrower he put up one hundred
22:58
Speaker 10: pitches through just four innings to the best strike artist
23:02
Speaker 10: in our game. Efficiency in both the delivery and pitch count,
23:07
Speaker 10: refining pitches, game planning, holding the running game, PFP's sleep recovery.
23:13
Speaker 10: Everything matters to him, and that is rubbed off on
23:16
Speaker 10: our entire staff. He cares about people, his teammates, his family,
23:21
Speaker 10: and winning. The Detroit media probably gets tired with his
23:24
Speaker 10: answers post game, but it will always come back to
23:27
Speaker 10: whether he gave his team a chance to win. You know,
23:31
Speaker 10: it would be easy for him to be boastful, conceded,
23:33
Speaker 10: or have his personality change with these last two awards.
23:36
Speaker 10: That's just not in his DNA. He's the first to
23:39
Speaker 10: deflect credit and spread praise to his teammates, usually his catchers.
23:45
Speaker 10: Little story here for.
23:46
Speaker 1: Those that may not know.
23:47
Speaker 10: Jake Rogers, one of our catchers, caught him every single
23:51
Speaker 10: one of his stars in twenty four, caught the first
23:53
Speaker 10: few this year and then pulled an obleak an hour
23:57
Speaker 10: before a game, and that thrust our young you know
24:02
Speaker 10: now gold Glover Dylan Dingler, who was a rookie at
24:05
Speaker 10: the time. He got thrust in catching School and out
24:08
Speaker 10: before the game. He's never caught School in a regular
24:10
Speaker 10: season game. You see the anxiousness in Ding's face having
24:14
Speaker 10: never caught him, and he you know Scoob and his
24:17
Speaker 10: tiple fashion quick quip he said, you know these hitters, Dan, right,
24:22
Speaker 10: you know how I pitch. If I get crushed, then
24:24
Speaker 10: I'm probably missing my spot, all right. But if I'm
24:30
Speaker 10: hitting my spot and I get crushed, you're calling the
24:33
Speaker 10: wrong pitches and that you know. He let that out
24:37
Speaker 10: with a tip of scoob belly laugh, and he did
24:41
Speaker 10: not care about himself in that moment. He was just
24:42
Speaker 10: worried about ding and whatever takes to take the fresh
24:44
Speaker 10: off Dan. It's a little microcosmos who Schooble is.
24:49
Speaker 3: And there's no.
24:49
Speaker 10: Surprise that has his career and performance have taken off.
24:51
Speaker 10: So there's our teams. He's led us to back to
24:54
Speaker 10: back posters in verse and he has reinvigorated a great
24:58
Speaker 10: baseball city in Detroit. And we're so thrilled to have
25:00
Speaker 10: him as a part of the Tire organization as as
25:05
Speaker 10: Terrek has been the last two years. Can you believe
25:06
Speaker 10: he's done with two boys that are two years old.
25:10
Speaker 10: His wife Jess is a saint and so is Trek.
25:13
Speaker 10: Though he makes sure that family is a big part
25:14
Speaker 10: of his life, and we will be the best example
25:16
Speaker 10: for his two young sons. I know our other assistant
25:22
Speaker 10: pitching coaches one and Robin will bat me up here.
25:24
Speaker 10: But Terrek, thank you for letting us coach. You. You
25:27
Speaker 10: challenge us daily and it made us better in the process.
25:31
Speaker 10: And finally, there have been many records and milestones made
25:34
Speaker 10: by Terry the last two years, a lot of stats,
25:38
Speaker 10: but I thought this one put it really into perspective.
25:40
Speaker 10: In the history of the game, there have been twenty
25:42
Speaker 10: three pitchers to win multiple Cy Youngs. There have been
25:45
Speaker 10: twelve of those to when I'm back to back years.
25:48
Speaker 10: Four of those were lefties. You have Sandy Kofax, Randy Johnson,
25:55
Speaker 10: Clayton Kershaw in your twenty twenty five Side Young Award winner,
26:01
Speaker 10: Terrek Scouger.
26:19
Speaker 3: I appreciate those.
26:20
Speaker 1: Words, fat.
26:21
Speaker 11: The only thing I don't appreciate are mound visits. And
26:26
Speaker 11: it's not because of what you guys think. It's because
26:29
Speaker 11: his height doesn't He makes me feel pretty small when
26:31
Speaker 11: I'm out there, and I don't like feeling.
26:33
Speaker 1: Small when I'm on the mountain.
26:35
Speaker 3: But thank you for everything, seriously, thank you, and good evening.
26:40
Speaker 11: First off, I'd like to express what an incredible privilege
26:42
Speaker 11: it is to share the stage with the caliber of
26:44
Speaker 11: players up here tonight.
26:46
Speaker 1: I'm humbled to be a part of this group.
26:48
Speaker 11: I know the greatness from everyone up here is part
26:50
Speaker 11: of what pushes me to be the best version of
26:51
Speaker 11: myself every time I take them ound. I want to
26:54
Speaker 11: thank the Baseball Writers for selecting me as the winner
26:57
Speaker 11: of this prestigious award. It's an honor be back here,
27:00
Speaker 11: and it's something I'll never take for granted. After last
27:03
Speaker 11: year's dinner, I told AJ the same time next year,
27:07
Speaker 11: but I didn't really know it would become a reality.
27:09
Speaker 11: Skip for the sake of superstition and a three peat,
27:13
Speaker 11: let's go ahead and keep the same plan for a
27:15
Speaker 11: year from now. In all seriousness, I never take moments
27:23
Speaker 11: like these for granted, because who knows how many times
27:26
Speaker 11: I'll be able to share the space with these people.
27:29
Speaker 11: The most important person in the room tonight is my wife.
27:31
Speaker 3: Where are you there? You are?
27:33
Speaker 11: Thank you for being who you are, for consistently pushing
27:36
Speaker 11: me to be the man, father and husband that I'm
27:37
Speaker 11: supposed to be. Thank you for sending an example for
27:41
Speaker 11: our two boys and showing them what true unconditional love is.
27:45
Speaker 11: Though we're here to celebrate what happens on the field,
27:48
Speaker 11: the countless sacrifices you make for our family is what
27:50
Speaker 11: makes it all possible.
27:52
Speaker 3: I love you.
27:54
Speaker 11: I want to take a moment to thank some of
27:55
Speaker 11: the people that are responsible for who I am. I'll
27:58
Speaker 11: start with the Tigers, Chris, the Illish family, Scott Harris,
28:02
Speaker 11: Jeff Greenberg, aj Fat Lundi, nay n A Rhino, Kelly
28:08
Speaker 11: Cimac Duncan, Drew Shane, Timmy, Chee Chee. Thank you for
28:13
Speaker 11: putting up with me on a daily basis and stilling
28:15
Speaker 11: confidence in me. It doesn't go unnoticed. To the boys
28:19
Speaker 11: at Apex, Justin wes Zinger, thank you for consistently pushing
28:24
Speaker 11: me a year in a year out two levels I
28:27
Speaker 11: didn't think were possible. To my family, Mom, Dad, thank
28:32
Speaker 11: you for raising me the right way and instealing me
28:35
Speaker 11: a work ethic in me and it never be satisfied.
28:39
Speaker 11: To Scott Boris and the Bors' Court, thank you guys
28:42
Speaker 11: for always having my back. You guys have been there
28:45
Speaker 11: with me throughout my entire career and I can't thank
28:48
Speaker 11: you for always taking care of me and my family. Lastly,
28:51
Speaker 11: you know, to my teammates, thank you guys for always
28:54
Speaker 11: demanding me to push the threshold of what I'm capable of.
28:57
Speaker 3: I truly appreciate it, and a.
29:00
Speaker 11: Special shout out to the guys behind the plate, Dylan
29:03
Speaker 11: Dingler and j Rogers. Not only are you guys incredible
29:06
Speaker 11: at making sure we're prepared to win every game, but
29:09
Speaker 11: also for the way you hold me accountable.
29:11
Speaker 1: Thank you for that.
29:14
Speaker 11: We're at an incredible point in history of our great
29:15
Speaker 11: sport and it's so humbling to stand here taking a
29:18
Speaker 11: moment to recognize my place within it.
29:20
Speaker 1: Thank you again for this honor.