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Celebrating Jim Leyritz's Historic Yankees Home Run 30 Years Later · OneLegUpAlex Sports

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Well, 30 years ago today, the Yankees franchise was changed
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: forever thanks to an incredible homer by Jim Lairitz. Now,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: I've been very proud to call him a friend and
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: have known him for a while now, even before the
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: 970 days. But I didn't get a chance to share
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: this part of the Arthur Adela Power Hour when Dom
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Scala Joni Pelzer and yours truly, and Mark DeBoer of
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: our traffic department, hosted the Arthur Adela Power Hour and welcomed, indeed,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: Jimmy Laritz, where we talked about that home run, about
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: Jimmy's career, about what it means to be a Yankee,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: and so much more. And before I get on the
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: air tonight with Arthur and Dom, I wanted to revisit
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: this moment on the Arthur Adela Power Hour right here
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: at One Leg of Alex Media. All right, I'm Alex Garrett,
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: back here on The Author of Dialed Power with our
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: very special guest host, Dom Scala and Joan Pelzer. And
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: we have a special guest also with us.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: We'll get to him in a minute.
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: But, Dom, tell us who we got now on The
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: Author of Dialed Power. Hey, we got Jim Luritz on
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: right now. We got Chris Shambless on deck. And before
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: we bring Jim on, Alex, can you please play two
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: clips for some of the greatest home runs in Yankee history, please?
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: Sure thing.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: And the 3-1.
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: Swung on and driven to deep right.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: It is high. It is far. It is gone.
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: A two-run game-winning home run by Jimmy Lairitz.
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: And the Yankees have won the game in 15-7-5.
• 1:43
  Speaker 5: Again, the 2-2 to Lairitz.
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: In the air to left field.
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: Back at the track.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: At the wall.
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: We are tied.
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: Wow, those were some great moments in Yankee history, and
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: a lot of times it gets overplayed as far as, like,
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: they don't give him enough credit, Jimmy Lerowitz. Jim, we
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: have a couple of special guests here also. We have
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: Mark DeBoer, who was at that game in 95 when
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: you hit that dramatic home run. And, of course, I
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: was there in 96, too.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: In Atlanta when.
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: You hit the home run.
• 2:32
  Speaker 5: Yes, you were.
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: I was at that game. I remember seeing you with
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: your cowboy hat in the hotel. We were talking a
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: little bit. What a great feeling that was. Hey, Jim,
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: I just want to ask you this question. Which of
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: those two home runs do you feel was more impactful
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: for your career in the future and also at that time?
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: Well, I think, I mean, I always tell people, you know,
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: because the nice thing is I have two or three
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: different home runs that people could talk about. But the
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: 95 walk-off against Seattle, to me, was the greatest moment
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: because it was a walk-off.
• 3:09
  Speaker 5: In Yankee Stadium.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: But unfortunately, we didn't win the series. And the home
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: run kind of became a footnote. So the next year,
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: I hit the home run in the World Series. And
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: everybody goes, oh, my God, that 96 home run, you
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: must have been floating around on the bases. And I said, well,
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: to be honest with you, I wasn't. I was like,
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: all I could think about was if we don't win,
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: this is a great home run, but it's going to
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: be another footnote. And the fact that we went on
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: to win that game, that we went on to win
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: that World Series, was huge. But really, Dom, and you
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: know this because you knew Stick Michael and you knew
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: that George– When they lost in 97, George was so
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: pissed off that he went into Gene Michael's office and said,
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: fire Joe Torre, get rid of Mariano Rivera, we're starting over.
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: Oh, my God. Well, I believe.
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: That's— Gene Michael looked at him and said, hold on
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: a second, George. Did you forget we won last year?
• 4:05
  Speaker 6: Right.
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: And he said, I'll give them one more year.
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: Listen, you're absolutely right with George. He was very impulsive.
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: I remember going through 11 managers and 18 pitching coaches
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: when I was there. And, of course, we have Mark
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: here that was at that game when you hit that
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: home run in the 15th inning. And he's going to
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: talk a little bit about the atmosphere at that game. Sure.
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: Yes, I'm Mark DeBoer. I work in the traffic department
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: here at the radio station. And my best friend and
• 4:39
  Speaker 4: I were at game one and two of that series,
• 4:45
  Speaker 4: the ALDS, in 1995. And I just– my friend called
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: me up. He said they're selling tickets at Yankee Stadium.
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: I went online and– Bought tickets right at the stadium.
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: There was about 40 people in front of me. All
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: I want to know is that game went on for
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: an immense amount of innings, 15 innings. It was like
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: 120 in the morning.
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: Did it rain that night also? Oh, it rained.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: It was just starting to rain, yep.
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: Just starting to rain. Jim Larritz came up to the plate. And, man,
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: the whole stadium was going crazy.
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: I was a natural before the natural.
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: Exactly.
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: And, Jim, you didn't start that game, correct?
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: No, no, I did. I caught all 15 innings.
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: Oh, you did. You caught all 15 innings.
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: Let me ask you this question. The great part of
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: the story, Mark, was that in the 12th inning, I
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: came up with Don Mattingly on second base and a
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: chance to win it. And I hit a routine ground
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: ball back to Tim Belcher. And I came down in
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: the tunnel and I just started breaking my bat. I
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: was so ticked off. And I'm sitting there and I'm
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: swinging the bat against the wall and all of a
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: sudden Dave Cohn comes down and he goes, and he
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: sat there and watched me until I was done. And
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: then he looked at me and he goes, dude, that's impressive.
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: You've caught all 12 innings and you still have that
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: much energy. He said, you're going to get another chance.
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: That's great.
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: And we didn't. So sure enough, in the 15th inning,
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: I'm standing by the bench rack, and Buck Showalter comes
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: up and puts his arm around me. He goes, hey,
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: I just want to let you know you're done after this.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: Mike Stanley's coming in to catch. Make this a back count.
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: That's great.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: That is great.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: And I hit the home run.
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: Hey, Jim, were you just looking to hit that ball hard?
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: I just watched that clip last night, and it looked
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: like you wanted to go the other way on that
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: particular pitch. Am I correct in thinking you were just
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: trying to hit that ball hard and not hit home run?
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I was just trying to put the ball in
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: play and keep the rally going. You know, Pat Kelly
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: got the walk right before then. And it was on
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: first base. And all I was trying to do was
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: just keep the inning going to give us a chance
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: to win. And when the count got to 3-1, then
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: I felt like, okay, maybe I can try to juice
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: one right here. And, you know, he threw the 3-1
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: pitch right down the middle. And, you know, my power
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: at Yankee Stadium back in the day.
• 7:18
  Speaker 5: Was right center field.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: And that's, I hit it right down, right through the lines,
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: just enough to get over. And, you know, the beauty
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: of it is, the really cool thing about it was,
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: all of the police officers were standing behind the fence
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: waiting for, you know, the game to end so they could,
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: you know, police the field. Right. And one of the
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: police officers actually got the baseball and brought it into
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: the locker room.
• 7:42
  Speaker 5: Afterwards and gave it to me.
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: So that was pretty cool.
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: That is so cool. That is so cool.
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: Does he still have it?
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: You still have that ball?
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: Yes, I do. All right.
• 7:50
  Speaker 6: All right.
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: Very good.
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: Jimmy, I got a question because, you know, growing up,
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: I want to be a catcher as well, like you
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: and Dom. Who was your role model growing up to become,
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: you know, behind the plate?
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: Well, that's another great story. And I always tell this one.
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: I was a Pete Rose fan growing up. Pete Rose
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: was my idol. I grew up with the Big Red Machine.
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: I got lucky a couple of years to go to
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: the spring training in Tampa with one of my best friends,
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: Tommy Brenneman, because his dad was the announcer. And we
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: stayed at the team hotel and I used to pick
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: up tennis balls for Ken Griffey and George Foster playing tennis.
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: I got to play Pac-Man with Davey Concepciona. It was
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: just a really great experience as a kid. And I
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: always watched Pete because Pete was not the best athlete
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: on that team, but he worked harder than anybody. And
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: he used to stay after every day after spring training
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: and hit extra in the cage. And we would always
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: say after, you know, one time I asked him about
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: why he was so good in the clutch. And he said,
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: you know what, Jimmy, right now it's spring training. That
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: pitcher is 60 feet, six inches from me. All I
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: do is concentrate on him. Guess what? We go to
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: opening day. It gets crazy in the fans. It's a sellout.
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: You know, it's crazy. That pitcher is still 60 feet,
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: six inches. So it's just me against him. And if
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: I get to the playoffs or the World Series, it's
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: the same thing. He's still 60 feet, six inches. So
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: guess what? I don't pay any attention to what's going
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: on around me. I concentrate on that pitcher. And he
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: gave me that advice, and I was a huge Pete fan.
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: But when I became the catcher, the next year I
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: went to the spring training again, and Johnny Bench was
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: doing a catching segment with B-Rose doing a hitting segment
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: with segments tommy got picked by pete to do hitting
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: and i got picked by johnny bench to do catching
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: now i i was a little disappointed that you know
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: i got stuck with johnny bench but we do the
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: segment i was blocking balls we were doing all these
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: different drills we got done with the segment and he
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: calls me over and he goes hey kid are you
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: a catcher i said no mr bench I want to
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: be like Pete. And he said, well, you know, when
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: I was your age and I was 13 or 14
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: years old, he said, when I was your age, my
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: dad told me that catching was the quickest way to
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: the big leagues. And it's worked out pretty good for me.
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: Because you've got some pretty good skills. You should think
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: about it. And I was a 13, 14-year-old kid. Basketball
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: was my number one sport at that time. And I
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: think he could tell that I wasn't buying into his advice.
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: And he said, you know what? Maybe this will help you.
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: And he signed his catcher's mitt and he handed it
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: to me. I went home that night, Dom and Mark.
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: I went home that night and said, Dad, I am
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: becoming a catcher.
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: I'm sure you still have that myth, too, right?
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: Well, you know, the funny thing about it is we
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: didn't think about stuff like that back then.
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: Right. You used it.
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: I used a catcher myth every day of high school
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: baseball until it fell apart.
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: Isn't that the story where people used Mickey Mantle baseballs
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: and used them on their field because they didn't think.
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: Nothing of it back then? My brother and I used
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: to to play catch with the 1975 and 1976 team-shined
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: World Series baseball by the Reds.
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: Jimmy, let me ask you this. You mentioned something that
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: always sticks with me because, of course, I was there myself.
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: Don't all the great ones do extra work? You just
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: said Pete Rose, he was hitting extra. Who were the
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: guys that you played with, the great players that you
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: played with, that were hard, hard workers? Can you give
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: me some guys?
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, my first teammate, and the best guy ever, whenever
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: he says, who's your favorite teammate, Don Mattingly is my
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: favorite teammate. There you go. All right. Yeah, Donnie, my
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: first day in the big leagues in Yankee Stadium, because
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: I got called up in Baltimore for three games, and
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: then we came home to Yankee Stadium. We were playing
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: the Red Sox. Roger Clemens was pitching that night, so
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: I wasn't in the lineup. And Donnie came out and
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: sat next to me, and he said, hey, your locker's
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: next to mine. He said, let me just tell you something.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: If you don't ask questions, you won't be here very long.
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: That's right. That's right.
• 12:05
  Speaker 5: I got you.
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: You know how it is. For someone who's a superstar,
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: he was the guy at that time. To talk to
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: a young kid and say, hey, I'm here for you,
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: It meant the most to me. In the next five
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: years we played together, him and I sat at the
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: bar in the hotel every night and we talked baseball.
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: And there was 10 or 12 of us around the
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: hotel bar. You know how that was.
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: And there's so many of those stories of guys that
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: are coming up that people take you under their wing.
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: I can name a hundred of them, you know. And
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: it's funny, you know, you mentioned Don Mattingly. I use Mattingly.
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: You know, I do my camps and clinics for kids
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: now over 30 years. And, you know, sometimes parents, they
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: come to me and they say, hey, why is my
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: son hitting off a tee? I said, well, did you
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: ever hear of Don Mattingly? And they say, yeah. I said,
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: did you ever hear of Barry Bonds?
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: Did you, you know, guys like that.
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: I said, well, they hit off the team. And Tony Gwynn.
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: And Tony Gwynn. And even now, you know, Aaron Judge,
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: he's in the cage every day before he goes out
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: on the field and he takes his 50 to 60
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: to 75 swings to get that, to get that repetition.
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: Am I correct on that?
• 13:12
  Speaker 6: Absolutely.
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: And, you know, when Darryl Strawberry and I were the
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: left-handed and right-handed DHs for a few years, every day
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: that we were DHing, we would be in the clubhouse
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: in between innings, swinging off a tee just to get
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: ready for our bets. And if I wasn't DHing, I
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: would feed Darryl. And if Darryl wasn't DHing, he'd feed me.
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: And that's how we stayed loose to get ready for
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: every time that we came up to bets.
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: Great stuff, man. Let me tell you. So, Jimmy, like
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: I told you, you know, with me, I want to
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: teach the kids as much as I can for as
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: long as I can. That's the way I pay it forward,
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: you know? How about you paying it forward? What do
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: you do to pay it forward to the next generation?
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: You know, one of the biggest things.
• 13:55
  Speaker 5: That I do, Dom, is a lot of college speaking.
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: Nice. You know, I was never drafted. It just outworked
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: my competition. It was a grind. Four years in the
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: minor leagues. Yankees all those 11 years. But really the
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: thing that I talked to the kids about and, you know,
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: I got in a car accident drinking and driving. And unfortunately,
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: you know, three years of my life, you know, I
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: was in court fighting for my freedom and for the
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: truth to come out that the other driver actually caused
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: the accident. But I talked to these kids about not,
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: not only making it to the big leagues, hitting the
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: big home runs in the post season and all these worlds,
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: these three world series championships.
• 14:42
  Speaker 5: That I have and, Yeah, yeah, you're right, Jimmy.
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: You're right, Jimmy. because it took so long for the
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: truth to come out, those three years, for the truth
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: to finally come out that I did not cause the accident.
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: So I really, really emphasize to these kids, especially college,
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: because now these kids are starting to drink. They're starting
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: to party a little bit. And my message to them is, guys,
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: I don't care. If I would not have had one
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: drink that night, I would have not been questioned on
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: whether who caused the accident. Correct.
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: Correct.
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: And that is a lesson that is hard learned. But
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: one of the things that my pastor, Rick Warren, told
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: me at the church that I go to in California,
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: he wrote the book, The Purpose Driven Life, which changed
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: my life in 2008. He wrote this book. And the
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: one thing he always said to me is if you
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: don't share your pain and what God got you through
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: with other people, That's wasted. God took care of you
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: during that time. He made sure you got through with
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: your faith, but you need to share that with other people.
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: I know it's hard. I know it's a little painful.
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: Your message could change other people's lives. And when I
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: first started doing the college speaking about five years ago,
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: I had so many kids come up to me afterwards
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: and go, what was the name of that book, That
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: Purpose Driven Life? And I'm like, yeah. And I would
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: tell them about it. And they would come up and
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: they would thank me for sharing that. And saying like, oh,
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: my God, you told stories that we never thought anybody
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: would tell. But that is one of the things that
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: I was blessed by God to get through that trial
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: and everything that I went through. It's important for me
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: to get that message out.
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: That's a great message, Jimmy. And I can say and
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: I can tell the fans out there that I know
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: you for a long time and you've been nothing but
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: a great guy out there. And I try to make
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: sure that I be real with everybody and make people
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: know about personalities of these ex-players. Because, you know, sometimes
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: you get... You know, you get a bad rap or
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: you have one bad day, like you said. So I'm
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: glad you're doing what you're doing.
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: Jimmy, it's Alex Garrett. And, you know, talking about paying
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: it forward, you've been very kind to my dad and
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: I over the years. And it's always great to reconnect
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: with you. So thank you.
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: It's always great to hear from you. And I'm glad
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: you're out working again.
• 17:24
  Speaker 6: I'm here.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: All right. Firstly, the game's changed over 30 years. Do
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: you like it? And secondly, what is your favorite major
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: league memory in the game?
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: Well, you know, it's one of those things you're always
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: accused of being old school if you say you don't
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: like it. But I always tell people, I would not
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: enjoy playing under this circumstances. I don't think it's baseball.
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: But I'm also not that old, and I know these
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: guys that are playing now. And if they really had
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: a problem with all these things that are happening, they
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: have a union. And they could go fight and get
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: some of these things overturned and overruled and everything else.
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: And they seem to like it. You know, I used
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: Chisholm as an example. I could not be in the
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: same locker room in my day.
• 18:12
  Speaker 5: Playing as Chav Chisholm. First of all, the kid's an
• 18:19
  Speaker 5: amazing talent. He's a great player.
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: But he's also very well liked in his locker room,
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: which to me is like, okay, these guys, it's just
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: a different game now. And as an old guy who
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: still watches and still is around the stadium all the time,
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: I have to accept that the game has changed. And,
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: you know, I always tell people, would I want to
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: play in this type of thing?
• 18:44
  Speaker 6: No.
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: No. I just think they've taken the strategy out of
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: the game. They've taken it away. I used to walk
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: to the mound five or six times just to set
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: up to hit her.
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: Can't do that no more.
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'd walk out to Andy Pettit and he'd be like, dude,
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: what are you doing out here? I'm okay. I go, no, no,
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: I'm not out here for any other reason than that.
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: When I walk back, I'm going to go, man, Andy's
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: getting tired, man. You know, and I'll whisper that to
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: the umpire and they hit her, I'll hear it, and
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: he'll be like, oh, okay, you know. Just playing games
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: like that and the gamesmanship that we used to be
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: able to do, it's just not really done that much
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: in the game anymore, and it's a shame.
• 19:22
  Speaker 5: It's a shame to watch it.
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: The gamesmanship is not there, Jim. I know that if
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: guys would be standing at home plate, tossing the bat
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: up in the air after they hit a home run
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: or something, somebody would be getting knocked down somewhere along
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: the way or even hit, but that doesn't happen anymore.
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: If I played in today, All right. If I played
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: in today's game and still got my 350 at-bats, what
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: I always got, I can tell you that I would
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: hit 50. 50 home runs. The reason why is because
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: I would take the biggest swing that I want to take,
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: and I know the next pitch is not going to
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: knock me down.
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: That's right. That's right.
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: And if you took a hard swing off Nolan Ryan,
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: Bob Gibson, Roger Clemens, you know, any pitcher, and you
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: took a hard swing, the next pitcher's going to say, okay,
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: wait a minute, that plate is my plate, not yours.
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: You know, that's probably one of the biggest differences, that
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: nobody comes inside anymore, you know, and it's a shame
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: because it takes away a part of the game. Hey,
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: one more question, Jim. How did you get that name,
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: The King? Who gave you that name?
• 20:28
  Speaker 6: Mr.
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: Don Mattingly and Sterling Hitchcock. All right. Very good.
• 20:32
  Speaker 6: In 1995, I had called a couple of home runs
• 20:36
  Speaker 6: and we were playing in Baltimore. And I said to Donnie,
• 20:39
  Speaker 6: because I was hitting behind him, I said, Donnie, just
• 20:41
  Speaker 6: pick any bat. I'll go up there and hit a
• 20:42
  Speaker 6: home run with it.
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: And he goes, what are you talking about? I go, dude,
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: I'm so hot right now. I can do it with
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: anybody's bat. And the whole bench heard me, and they
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: were all ragging me. And I'm like, so he picked
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: out Danny Tardivo's bat, which was a 36-36. And I
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: swung a 35-34, but not a 36-36. And I went
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: up with that bat, and I struck out against Rick Sutcliffe.
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: And I walked back to the bench, and they're all ragging.
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: I thought you were the greatest hitter. You could hit
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: a home run with anything. I said, you know what?
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: F you guys. Next time I go up to bat,
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: I'm taking my own bat, and I'm hitting the first
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: pitch out. And Donnie goes, dude, if you do that,
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: I'll call you the king. And the next at bat,
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: I went up. I faced Rick Sutcliffe, first pitch. I
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: had a three-run home run. I come running around the bases.
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: I come in the dugout, Sterling Hitchcock is on his knees,
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: bowing to me.
• 21:31
  Speaker 5: And Donnie's going, you are the king.
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: You are the king. And that's when it started.
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: What a great career. What a great career.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: Well, Jimmy Laird, it's always a pleasure to talk with
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: you and have you on tonight on the Arthur Adela
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: Power Hour. Thanks to Dom Scala. What a great segment, right, Dom?
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: Hey, it was great.
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: I had a lot of fun.
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: I'm great to hear that you guys got this show
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: going and good luck with it. And if you ever
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: need me on, I'll come back again.
• 21:50
  Speaker 3: Thanks a lot, Jimmy. Have a great night. Have a
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: great night, guys.
• 21:56
  Speaker 6: Oh, yeah.
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: We can't wait to welcome Jimmy back to not only
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: One Leg of Alex Media, but the Arthur Adela Power Hour.
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: And he's apparently out of town tonight. But yes, today,
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: 30 years ago, the home run that made him the
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: king of New York in 1996. And boy, oh boy,
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: was that the start of a dynasty like we may
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: never see again. And that's my message right here at
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: One Lick of Alex Media. Find the whole Fastball Friday
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: with Dom, Joni, Ryan Pagano, Mark, DeBoer, and I from
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: a few months back in the links below.