Latest / NY's Sports Loud Mouth (VIDEO) / What is the outlook of the Yankees' season?

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What is the outlook of the Yankees' season? · NY's Sports Loud Mouth (VIDEO)

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This is the Jabba and the Mouth show.
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All right. Welcome back, everybody, to
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Jabba and the Mouth. I'm Aaron Fishman, filling in
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for Mr. Errol Marx, who is away on vacation today on his cruise
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good for him. I hope he's having a wonderful
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time. We're holding it down for him
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here on JOB in the Mouth. Today we are being graced with
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the presence of a great Yankees writer.
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His name we will talk about in a second is Gary Phillips.
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They're durable anyway, let's get to it.
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It's definitely important. Well, that's for sure.
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Great job. And they've been sponsoring us
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for a while, so I want to throw that out there to them.
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But right now, we are joined by the Yankees beat writer for the
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New York Daily News, a man with bylines as diverse as the New
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York Times and the Athletics, the Sports Illustrated in New
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Jersey monthly. He is Florida born.
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But New York, NY Rays, ladies and gentlemen, give it up for
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Gary Phillips. Thanks, Gary for joining us,
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man. Hey, thanks so much for having
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me. Great to be here.
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Jabba. I I watched you growing up as a
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kid, so it's a it's a pleasure to be on and talking with you
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guys. Oh, yeah, thanks.
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Thanks for making me feel an old Gary.
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Appreciate you. I tend to do that on the beat
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with some of the older writers as well, so.
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Yeah, that's OK. Well.
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Gary, we appreciate you joining us.
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It's fact a pretty good day to have you on because the Yankees
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just snapped A6 game losing streak that seemingly came out
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of nowhere to a lot of us fans. You know, the Yankees were
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riding high, cruising in first place.
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Everyone else in the division was kind of sitting there 500 or
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so, right? And now we're falling back to
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the pack. Obviously, there is going to be
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a let out of relief. We heard after the game kind of
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singing and, you know, some playing some music in the
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clubhouse. But where did this losing streak
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come from? And is this something that's a
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greater concern long term? Yeah.
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You know, I mean, the offense has just kind of disappeared for
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the last few days prior to today.
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Obviously the win that they had over the Angels.
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There seemed to be some pressing over the last couple days.
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Aaron Boone talked about that. I want to say it was Tuesday
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night. Cody Bellinger talked about it
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as well. So, you know, I don't think it's
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necessarily a long term issue. You know, there's a much larger
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body of work prior to the past week that said this is one of
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the best offenses in baseball after this rut.
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They're still the best offense in the American League.
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If you look at runs scored, home runs, OPSWRC plus all that good
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stuff. So no, I don't think it's a long
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term problem or anything that fans need to freak out about.
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I do think there is a sense of familiarity, you know, Yankees
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fans who really pay attention to the team or are going to be
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familiar with June Swoon that has kind of accompanied Aaron
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Boone's teams these last few years.
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Typically, those are stretches that are longer than a week.
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You know, they go on several weeks, maybe a couple months.
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So it's a little too early to say if that's what this is.
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But that has been a trend the last couple summers with the
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Yankees. So just something to keep an eye
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on if some more losses start to pile up here.
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So one of the guys that a lot of Yankee fans have attacked over
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the last couple of weeks has been Anthony Volpe, the young
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shortstop trying to make that next step in his development.
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Had a nice rookie year, won a Gold Glove and it's been kind of
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a streaky hitter since. I did well in the playoffs at
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certain points last year though, too.
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But like, what is the perspective with him, with him
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trying to take that next step as a hitter and an all around
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player? Yeah, so I've covered Volpe's
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entire Major League career. I still don't know how to
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evaluate him and we we talk about this amongst ourselves on
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the beats because he has such high highs where he'll be
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hitting well over 300 for a two week period and all of a sudden
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the power's there and he's an impact guy on the bases.
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And then the lows are just craters that tend to last a lot
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longer than the highs do. And and the thing with me that's
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always so confusing is there never seems to be any middle
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ground. It's never like he hits, you
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know, 24250 for a couple weeks or a month.
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It's just sky high or cratering. And it makes it hard to evaluate
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him as a hitter. You know, if you had asked me
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this two weeks ago, I would have said to you, yeah, it looks like
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he's really like figured out how to be a consistent Major League
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hitter at the plate. And now I'm back to, I don't
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know, I'm not sure. The thing with him that's also a
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little bit concerning is that over this stretch where the
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Yankees overall are playing poorly, he's kind of seemed to
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take a step back fielding wise. He had that error last night.
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He seemed to take to have taken a step back on the bases as
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well. So he's just, he's been a
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confounding player. I think he's a really good
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fielder, even though he has had some of these errors in big
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spots and he obviously won the Gold Glove a couple years ago as
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a rookie. I think he's an excellent
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fielder. I think he's a valuable player.
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I think maybe where the disconnect comes is that the
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Yankees hyped him up as this future All Star, All Star
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shortstop and he's just fallen short of that, especially at the
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plate. Gary, it's like I I've dealt
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with you guys a lot and I know George King was one of my
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favorites for the post. And I've got to know a lot of
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you guys and you get to cover them every day.
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And one of the things is that I want to get like from the
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backside of it because, yeah, you you get a ride of write
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about it and do all the other stuff.
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But like, when you come to what we're talking about, like when
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you watch the game of baseball, can you differ from being a
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baseball? And I don't know if you're a
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baseball fan. Oh yeah.
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So can you differ from a baseball fan to now I got to
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because I love Volpe, but at the same time it's it's hot or cold
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and you know, you see Dominguez and we got Spencer Jones and we
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got all these other guys right? So can can you can deke
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compartmentalize all that stuff as being a fan and then writing
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too as well? Speaking broadly, when when I
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got to college and decided I was going to be a sports writer and
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this is what I wanted to do, they taught me there's no
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cheering in the press box and. For me, this is this is, this is
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my first year ever covering the College World Series as a media
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member, and it's weird as shit. It is weird because I'm usually
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on the other side of the fence and Nathan love you.
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Thank you for taking care of all that.
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But it's it's weird for me because now I'm on the other
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side of the fence and it's like, I, I want to cover these really
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cool things like because I see it differently than other
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people. And so you not only as a sports
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fan, that's like, so like how do you decompartmentalize all those
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things like feelings and just writing a story and then
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covering it I. Mean for me, it was as simple as
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showing up to Seton Hall, having no journalism experience, but
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knowing that I wanted to do it. And the people that knew better
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said this is this is what you do.
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You don't cheer, you don't, you don't pick a side, you don't
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root. And I said to myself, OK, I want
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to do this. I grew up a Yankee fan.
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You know, I grew up in New York rooting for the Yankees.
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My dad loved that. I loved Derek Jeter growing up.
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But it was a great example. And when I got to college and I
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started covering the Seton Hall basketball theme, the only thing
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I was rooting for, you know, was good stories, good players, good
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dudes. You know, when it got time to
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the, for the postseason and the Big East tournament and the NCAA
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tournament, I might have rooted for them to win, but only
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because that meant the school was going to send me somewhere
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and I'm just going to get to miss a couple extra classes, you
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know, So, so it was, it was very self motivated and out of my own
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personal interest. And, and it's remained that way
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as I've graduate, you know, as I've moved on to covering the
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Yankees and covering professional sports, you know,
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I, I like, I like quick games. I'm glad I started covering
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baseball in the age of the pitch clock.
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I root for good stories. You know, you root for the good
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guys that you get to know, covering them every single day,
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covering them year to year. But I'm really not vested in
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whether they win, whether they do poorly.
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I'm not looking to, you know, create some narrative or drag
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somebody. If they need to be criticized,
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I'll do it objectively. If they need to be praised, I'll
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do that objectively, too. So for me, it's just very
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straightforward. And it started with, you know,
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somebody who was older or a professional and had experience
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telling me this is how you do it.
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And I said OK, no problem. Well, guys, we are.
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Joining us is Yankees beat writer for the New York Daily
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News and with bylines versus New York Times Athletic, Sports
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Illustrated, New Jersey Monthly. He's Florida born, New York
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raised, ladies and gentlemen, Gary Phillips.
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Gary, got some more questions for you.
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First off, I am an unabashed Homer for the Yankees, for the
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New York Giants, for the Knicks, for the Rangers.
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And I do think there is room in this media, sports media
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industry for guys like me who are objective.
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But also at the same time, I'm just going to, I'm still going
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to root for my team. I look, I don't know if I would
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do it if I was in a press box, but I still think that fans want
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to hear guys that root the same way they do at times.
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That's why you start seeing like there's special, you know,
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obviously you have your own color guys in the regional sport
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of baseball that you listen to. And I know everybody that when I
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was growing up, you wanted to listen, especially on the radio
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to John Sterling. Now, I heard you had a little
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bit of interaction with John Sterling.
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I do too, and I just wanted to ask you a little bit about your
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time with the legend. I did see he left a quote.
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There's a nice quote on your bio from him.
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I just want to ask you a little bit about that.
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So I, I got to know John a little bit, not nearly as much
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as some of the other guys who have been around a lot longer
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than me, but over my first two years, got to have dinner with
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him, my first spring training, which was an incredible
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experience. And then when he, you know,
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initially announced his retirement, he spent about 20
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minutes on the phone with me. I'm asking him lots of questions
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about his life. You know, he's, he's telling me
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it's taking too long. It's taking too long.
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I keep telling him, John, if you stopped trying to convince me
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that this wasn't so important and that nobody cared about your
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retirement, then we could get through all the other prepared
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questions that I have a little bit sooner.
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So that story comes out. And afterwards, he has a press
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conference at Yankee Stadium on what was supposed to be his
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final day. He eventually came back for the
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playoffs and I get called on for a question and he goes, this guy
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was writing War and Peace. It must have been, you know, you
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know, hours that I was talking to him.
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It was it was about 18 minutes mostly him just circling back to
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this idea of like, why would anybody care that John Sterling
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is retiring when when John knows better?
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But John was very, very kind to me in my first two years on the
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beat. It's definitely different not
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having him around, but it's also great getting to see Susan every
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day. Dave Sims has been phenomenal
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and a pleasure to get to know. So different vibe, but still a
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great vibe as well. I actually got the chance
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randomly as I coach high school football.
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He has triplets that are in their 20s and one of them played
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was my third string quarterback one year and I got to meet him
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at a football dinner. Shay Cassandra's wearing a
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Yankees ring, fully dressed in the suit, as if he needed to be
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in a suit for this function. And you know.
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And I just remember John. John's a different dude.
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John's a different dude, yeah. Job.
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I was going to ask you if you had any stories about him.
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I got to hear one. I'd love.
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All right, I'll give you well, I can only give some of the John
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Sterling stories loved being called by John Sterling first
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and foremost because he's a legend.
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And I was so fortunate enough to be in the old stadium with Bob
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Shepherd to announce me being in LA and have been Scully
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announced me. But what John Sterling has done,
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and Susan holds my heart. I love Susan Waldman so much.
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And they were so great about taking care of us.
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And that's the thing that I think is the best memory from
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them is because they knew, and I won't get into details on this,
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but they took a letter from John Sterling one day and he was
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pissed off. I'll let you guys take that the
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way you want to take it. But it was fantastic.
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And I, I'm, I'm just so grateful to have the opportunity to be
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announced by those people. And they're, they're just
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legends in their sport of what they've done.
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And I love that guy. And it like when he told me he
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was like, yeah, I'm going to have kids.
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I'm like, you're old as shit. Like, what are you doing?
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Like, damn, I'm not even 40 and my son's almost 20 and I'm like,
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oh, what the hell are you doing good for?
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He's still, I mean, it means it's still working.
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It means it's still working all right.
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Right, Speedy, what do you got for?
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Us. All right, I want to go to a guy
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that our Hostess has some interesting opinions about.
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It is not here this week. One of the more polarizing
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personalities in baseball that is jazz Chism.
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He's been a Yankee for about a year.
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What have your experiences been like covering him since he's
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gotten there? Nothing but positive things to
15:36
say about jazz Chism from a professional standpoint where
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you know he is filling it up for us every single time that we
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talk to him. He is not just good with the
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media, he is great with the media.
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Always willing to talk, always charismatic, colorful, funny.
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Just from an observational standpoint.
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I think he fits in great with this Yankees clubhouse.
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He's been nothing but a team first guy.
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He's changed positions for them now multiple times.
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I don't understand the reputation that came out of
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Miami from having covered him now for almost a year.
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We're we're a little shy of a year at this point.
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But I don't know if the problem in Miami was his teammates,
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which, you know, he's talked about having some personal
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issues with a few guys there. I don't know if it was the front
16:26
office. I don't know what that came down
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to. Jazz has been great in all
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facets so far as a Yankee, as far as just anything related to
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his personality, demeanor, fit in the clubhouse, all of that.
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Gary, let me ask you too, like when when you bring a guy over
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with that personality, and I've obviously, you know, I was the
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fist bump guy and whatever when, when it happened.
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So when you bring a guy over that has that personality and
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it's it's not necessarily like kind of what they are as an
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organization, but you bring a guy over like how do you portray
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that to make sure it's portrayed in the right way?
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Because art, my Co host hates Jetchism and it's fine,
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whatever. I love energy.
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I love all of the things that come with it.
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But how do you guys like see it? Because Goose Gossage told me
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he's like, that's not the Yankee way.
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That's and that's a Hall of Famer like and so how am I
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supposed to take that? So so for you.
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How do you do it? Like how do you how do you
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portray that to to make sure that we as fans see it, but then
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understand like they are good people or like what?
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I don't understand that. So I wrote about this back in
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spring training, and the story came out after the Yankees
18:12
changed their beard policy. But a lot of the interviews and
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the work I had done on it came before they even announced that,
18:18
so forget that major change Now. I had had this idea that Jazz is
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not your typical Yankee, and I'd be lying to you if I said he
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was. He's not.
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I wasn't. I wasn't either when it
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happened. Right.
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He he, he's not your typical Yankee.
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And you know, I had asked Aaron Boone and I had asked Aaron
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Judge and even Cici Sabathi like have things loosened up around
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here over the last couple years? And and they all agreed that
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they had. And part of that was, you know,
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a little bit of, you know, intentionally moving on from
18:52
this, you know, where where the stiff buttoned up Yankees
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reputation. Part of it was, you know,
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generational things where you have younger guys coming into
19:00
the game, you have the sport and culture itself changing.
19:04
But then CC also made a really good point.
19:07
And he was actually talking about that 2019.
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He was like, wait, we had Nick Swisher being Dick Swisher on
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that team. You guys had AJ Burnett pying
19:17
people. Like I'm sure there were people
19:19
at the time who were like, that's not the Yankee way.
19:22
That's not the way to do things. So I think it gradually changes
19:25
over time. And one of the points I also
19:27
made in that story was that now Jazz isn't the first.
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He might be the boldest and the brightest recently.
19:35
But if you just go back, Sir, Do doesn't give off typical Yankee
19:37
vibes. Marcus Strowman doesn't give off
19:39
typical Yankee vibes at Juan Soto.
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You could even argue with, you know, the shuffle and the
19:44
swagger that he brought last year.
19:46
So I think there's been a little bit of a shift in but.
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Do you think like that like transgression?
19:55
Because when I obviously we hadn't won in a long time.
20:00
And it was a young guys and they brought in O nine.
20:04
It was they called me up in O7. But then you get AJ, you get CC
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you get and so it was like a different energy, right.
20:17
So do you think it's like it's transgressed into that?
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Like you got to have like that piece, like Boone's a winner.
20:26
Booney's the winner. He grew up in a clubhouse.
20:28
He knows what he's doing. Like, so do you think like it's
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crazy? Because I'm like, do we have
20:37
those guys right now? And you see it every day And
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Fish and I, we had a conversation about this, about
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what we can ask you because you're in the clubhouse every
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day. Do you have the guys that are
20:50
those idiots that are sitting in the bin getting pushed into the
20:57
and I just. We don't do that type of stuff.
21:02
I mean, they are. I think this is also very
21:05
relative, right? To like what we all know the New
21:08
York Yankees and their reputation to be same way I said
21:12
like it's gradual that we've gotten to jazz.
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It's gradual in the like how much the Yankees have caught up
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maybe to the rest of baseball and the rest of, you know, just
21:22
society and culture at large. Now.
21:24
There's not there's not guys in our public view that we're
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seeing riding in golf carts or, you know, going crazy in the
21:32
clubhouse or anything like that. You know, they they still keep
21:35
it kind of under wraps. But but also at the same time,
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you know, before we go in there, after wins, the clubhouse turns
21:42
into, you know, a party room in a club with strobe lights and
21:47
music sometimes. And the music's blasting.
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So there's, there's definitely an element of letting loose and
21:54
having fun. We don't always necessarily get
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to see it every day. Sometimes we hear it.
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One other thing I wrote last year in the playoffs was like,
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the Yankees have these hitters meetings and those happen behind
22:04
closed doors pregame every single day.
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And, you know, they when I asked James Rouse and the hitting
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coach about this, he's telling me like, yeah, we're just going
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over advanced scouting and scouting reports on pictures and
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all that. But you can hear music blasting
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from that room every day. And you can see the strobe
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lights, you know, from that room going through the glass tinted
22:24
doors every day. I've seen hitting coaches walk
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in there with umbrella hats. Why do you need umbrella hats
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for a hitter's meeting? Right.
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So like, there's stuff that happens outside of our purview,
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outside of what we could see, where I would say like, yeah,
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it's probably not as business as usual as it used to be or back
22:44
when you, you know, even when you were playing a couple years
22:46
ago. But it's all still also relative
22:50
to everybody else. We are being joined right now by
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Yankees beat writer for the New York Daily News, Gary Phillips.
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Gary, got a few more questions for you.
23:02
There's one thing that I read just earlier today that Luke
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Weaver is going to be coming back without a rehab assignment
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most likely and joining the bullpen.
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So the question is, now that we've seen Devin Williams kind
23:15
of right the ship a little bit, what's the plan?
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What are we doing with these two closers?
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I wish I could tell you Aaron Boone was asked about earlier
23:25
this week. I also asked him today when it
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was revealed that Weaver will likely be back tomorrow.
23:31
He doesn't want to say just yet. I asked specifically if.
23:36
Well, you know he's not going to say that.
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Yeah, yeah, no, got to ask, got to ask.
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I mean, he's going to have to say so at some point or it's
23:44
going to become apparent at some point.
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But no, I didn't have high expectations for getting a
23:48
response on that. But, you know, my question
23:50
specifically was, would he be open to them splitting it where
23:54
maybe in an ideal world, they never pitch on the same day and
23:57
they alternate the 9th inning. He said we'll see.
24:01
Didn't shut the door on it, didn't rule it out.
24:04
But he also said, you know, he still needs to talk to both of
24:06
them and that he hadn't made-up his mind in any sort of way.
24:10
I'm not sure I buy that when you know that Weaver is coming back
24:13
so soon. He's probably giving it at least
24:15
some thought at this point, right?
24:17
But it is an interesting, it is an interesting situation because
24:20
Williams does look like himself now and Weaver's also been just
24:25
phenomenal going back to last year.
24:27
Both guys are going to be free agents at the end of the season.
24:30
I'm sure they both both like to go on hit the open market with a
24:33
bunch of saves on their resume, so we'll see how they handle it.
24:37
So you and. I find really interesting.
24:40
So just one second, just a follow up cuz I wanna give you
24:42
my theory cuz obviously you're not getting the information from
24:45
Boone, but for for me, you're going to pay the Devin Williams
24:49
the money you're trying to make him the closer, right?
24:52
That's the guy that you would expect.
24:53
But Williams and Weaver both have experience as set up men,
24:57
but set up for hater for a very. Long time.
25:00
You're not paying him that much money, Williams.
25:04
You're not paying him that much money.
25:05
You're not paying him the closer money.
25:07
How much is he making right now? 6.
25:10
Is that it? I believe it's 7 or 8.
25:13
Actually sorry but but whatever. But just closer jump on your.
25:17
But when you but just. A jump on your point, but just a
25:19
jump on your point. I I would be surprised if
25:23
Williams came back in free agency.
25:25
Is there so I I guess that kind of gets to like the bigger
25:28
thing, you know, they haven't been winning.
25:30
Is there the locker room you hear?
25:33
I mean, umbrella hats sounds like a lot of fun.
25:35
Is it? Has it been a little tense in
25:37
the last week or so with this, you know, kind of, you know,
25:41
this, this misstep is, is the locker room as tight?
25:44
Because we, we saw last year, we saw the Dodgers, we saw what
25:48
happened in the World Series. Sawan Soto's gone a few pieces
25:52
to replace him. Is this is this locker room
25:55
tight like that or is it on the on its way or, or or kind of
25:59
like up and down right now? They're tight is in their
26:03
cohesiveness, yes. They're not.
26:05
They're not. They were not sweating this
26:08
stretch. They were not, you know, pulling
26:11
their hair out or anything like that.
26:13
I mean, they're a very even keel group.
26:15
I think that starts with Aaron Judge.
26:17
They're they're very good at turning the page for for better
26:20
or worse, They don't obsess over stretches like this.
26:23
It's actually funny. Trent Grisham this morning came
26:27
walking into the clubhouse and he was asking us, the reporters,
26:30
you know, what time does the game start?
26:32
When's first pitch? He wasn't sure if it was 105 or
26:34
1:35. And then he goes out and hits a
26:37
home run early in the game. So like, he's just, he's laid
26:40
back. That speaks to his laid
26:41
backness, but also kind of just the overall vibe of that
26:45
clubhouse. So I want to reference out one
26:47
of the articles that you sent me earlier today, Carlos Rodon and
26:51
Max Freed. You had in like their effects as
26:55
lefty pitchers. Carlos Rodon obviously was
26:57
crucified for the first two years of his Yankees tenure
27:00
after signing the seven-year contract.
27:02
Max Freed comes over with injury risks but has pitched
27:05
phenomenally this year. What have you seen from the two
27:07
of them, both on the field and off the field in the clubhouse?
27:11
Yeah, so Rodon's hasn't been quite a sharp since I put that
27:15
story out, but I've seen I've seen I've seen them really kind
27:20
of like their games bleeding into each other a little bit.
27:23
Right. Coming into this sear, you would
27:25
say Rodon was a power pitcher throughout his career.
27:29
Two pitch fastball, slider guy Freed, on the other hand, crafty
27:33
left the seven pitch arsenal likes soft contact, likes ground
27:37
balls. Now I'm starting, now you're
27:40
starting to see Rodon with a four or five pitch mix.
27:43
You're starting to see him not only get soft contact but also
27:47
like be really proud of himself for getting it freed.
27:50
On the other hand, you've seen, you know, strikeouts become a
27:52
slightly bigger part of his game.
27:54
So I see their styles ever so slightly leading into each other
27:59
a little bit. And then they're also just
28:00
they're talking a lot. They're talking about pitch
28:02
shapes, they're talking about grips, they're talking about
28:06
just ways to attack hitters. And and it does help that
28:09
they're both left-handed. You know, Garrett Cole has
28:12
always been this extra pitching coach that the Yankees have, but
28:15
even he said that those two were able to take it to another level
28:19
just because they throw with the same arm, which I thought was
28:22
really interesting. So they've gotten really close,
28:25
which I think is only a good thing for the Yankees.
28:30
Gary, I'll I want to, I want to switch gears a little bit.
28:34
It's so funny now that I get to cover it from this side of the
28:37
fence, right? So I want to know like what like
28:41
for you, like covering the Yankees or just covering
28:46
whatever you're doing and becoming a sports writer, like
28:49
you said. What what makes that click
28:55
because of like I I love this. I love seeing this aspect and
29:01
like I've I've just become in this aspect, right.
29:06
So what like when you see them every day and you get to do
29:12
this? What makes what makes you like
29:17
go every day? Like I, I love that because I
29:22
love what what George did for me because he was always like
29:26
Jabba, what do I need? Like, and he was always very
29:30
organic with me. So for you, like obviously being
29:36
a younger kid, not a kid, but like, what makes that like go
29:43
for you? For me, it's the opportunity to
29:47
tell unique stories. You know, I, I really like doing
29:51
feature stories and human interest stuff, stuff that often
29:55
has as little to do with what's going on the field as possible.
29:58
But but opportunities to show, you know, how this guy is a
30:04
human being or how maybe the rest of the world or the rest of
30:08
society relates to this sport or what's going on with this team.
30:11
You know, maybe, maybe that passion is better suited in like
30:15
a feature style job, which I'm not in.
30:17
You know, I am writing injury updates and breaking news
30:20
everyday, not necessarily the one breaking it.
30:23
That's not where my focus really is.
30:24
It's on these features. But yeah, that, that's what gets
30:29
me going. Like I, I, I want to write 1012
30:32
hundred, 15102 thousand word stories.
30:35
The injury update that I got to do, that's like the thing I got
30:37
to get to, you know, the stuff that I'm passionate about, the
30:40
stuff that really makes me go are those stories that tell you
30:44
something you didn't know about a guy or you didn't know about a
30:46
franchise. OK, so sorry to cut you off, but
30:49
no go. We're we're we'll let you get
30:52
going here soon. What right now in your career
30:58
has been one that has stuck with you?
31:02
And tell us that story about that.
31:05
Yeah. So I'll, I'll give you 2, one
31:07
that's extremely recent and one that's from a few years ago.
31:10
I'll start with the older 1. I had come across this former
31:15
Cubs prospect, Dennis Baer. I don't know if you know the
31:18
name or not, but he was coming up around the same time as
31:22
Carrie Wood. And, you know, it was like,
31:24
they're going to be the aces, the Co aces of the Cubs
31:27
rotation. And Dennis Baer blows his elbow
31:30
out and he's sitting at home, stuck on the couch, can't play
31:34
baseball. And he sees this commercial for
31:37
missing children. And he thinks to himself, like,
31:40
there's got to be a better way to do this.
31:42
He partners with the National Center for Missing Children,
31:46
partners with a whole bunch of minor league stadiums and starts
31:50
getting all these minor league ballparks to put up basically
31:53
giant billboards in the concourses of like, local
31:57
missing children. And they basically, like, turns
32:01
it into an entire nonprofit, a charity.
32:04
He's, you know, getting credited for helping find a whole bunch
32:09
of missing kids and missing people.
32:11
So I did a story on that fresh out of college and that ended up
32:16
being like 3004 thousand words. I talked to him, I talked to
32:20
families who, you know, credited him for helping reunite them
32:24
with their loved ones. That that was really a special
32:28
story for me. It was the first kind of like
32:29
long form feature that I did. And, you know, he said after
32:33
that he got calls for sponsorships for his charity and
32:38
got funding for it. And it was just, it was cool.
32:42
It was really cool. And also you have to talk.
32:44
You're talking to some of these people and their parents.
32:47
And I talked to one aunt who's, you know, person had still not
32:52
been found. And like, those were really
32:54
hard, you know, humanizing interviews to do so.
32:57
So that one's really stuck with me for a while.
33:00
And then more recently? So, Gary?
33:03
Yeah, no, go ahead. No, I'm sorry, Gary.
33:06
We just wanted to kind of kind of touch base with you again
33:10
after this. This is going to be our last,
33:12
our last question. We're really happy to have you
33:15
on. We had a little bit of technical
33:17
difficulty. I believe we're good in the back
33:18
now. But Gary, I have since we have
33:22
Jabba here. And you know, you said that
33:25
you're you were a Yankees fan, at least when you were allowed
33:27
to root for the Yankees. You know you were a Yankees fan.
33:30
So I guess I want as from your childhood memories where?
33:33
I know where you're going with this fish.
33:36
From your childhood memories, number one, who was your
33:38
favorite player growing up and #2 do you have a question for
33:41
the one and only Jabba? Chamberlain, I know where this
33:44
go. So, so Jeter was my favorite
33:48
growing up and, and my second is why, why weren't you lobbying to
33:53
get out of that game in Cleveland?
33:55
Why weren't you lobbying to get everybody off the?
33:57
Field. I knew exactly where you were
34:00
going with this. Thing it's, it's the, it's the
34:02
obvious one with you, right? 100% Honestly, it was, I was so
34:12
happy to be in the big leagues and it was it was a crazy year,
34:17
right? It was a crazy year.
34:19
Oh, sweet. Thanks, boys.
34:22
Yeah, that's awesome. And so Gary, like for me, it was
34:29
it was one of those things where I didn't have enough value at
34:38
that point to be able to say something.
34:42
And literally Joe put in his book, that's his biggest regret
34:49
as a coach. And I go, at the end of the day,
34:52
it was my call. It was my call.
34:57
And he was like, what do you want to do?
34:59
And I was like, I'll try and get through it.
35:01
Like, no, it's fine. Like we're good.
35:05
And so it was mine. And I hate that that that was
35:10
Joe's only regret. And I hate that I gave up the
35:18
run. And we can watch highlights so
35:20
we can show him we can do whatever.
35:23
But it was, I was raised by a great man and God bless my
35:29
father. I lost him three months ago.
35:32
Sorry. And he goes, you push through
35:36
and you go and in the back of my mind, I've always, always think
35:44
that I was like, dad never complained, so I can't complain.
35:49
So you just go do your shit, get your work done.
35:53
Sometimes it goes good, sometimes it goes bad, but
35:57
you're not going to take a break.
36:01
And that was, that was kind of really where it was at.
36:05
I was, I was pissed. It cost me 3500 bucks because I,
36:10
I broke a locker and it wasn't great.
36:16
But at the end of the day, every October, I'm going to see the
36:20
midges. So I'm more, I'm just busting
36:24
your chops. I think that's the no, you're in
36:26
the mindset you got to you, right?
36:28
That's the mindset you got to have when you're on the mount.
36:31
And I, I never at that point, never like I was so grateful, so
36:38
grateful. Obviously my goal was Gary, I'll
36:41
tell you as a beat writer, like you talk to prospects and you
36:46
talk to guys like that, right? My goal was to get to double AI
36:51
started in high and I was like, I got to AA, I'm good.
36:56
Then I go to the All Star game, represent Team USA, do all that,
37:02
and then a month later I'm in the big leagues and I'm like,
37:08
what in the hell is this? I'm like, all right, well, I
37:12
guess we'll figure it out. And you have those conversations
37:17
with guys because they, you know that it's just part of what you
37:22
do as a beat writer, because I've dealt with plenty of you,
37:28
I've doubled upon to you guys and you, you have to do your due
37:31
diligence with these younger kids because that's the ones you
37:36
want to be covering later. And you see what happens.
37:40
And it was just, it's, it was crazy just because it happened
37:45
so damn fast that I shit, I just had my son in April and then
37:54
less than a year later, I'm in the big leagues and I'm like,
37:58
what are we doing? Yeah, not here we go.
38:02
Imagine. I can only imagine.
38:04
And now there's like now there's even more attention and hype
38:08
surroundings. Prospects.
38:09
That was before social media's Java.
38:12
Yeah, for sure. Yeah.
38:13
Like Gary, you're so you're so. I mean, I don't know your age.
38:17
Are you over 30 yet? I'm 30.
38:19
You're 30. So so like, he's just Gary.
38:22
I'm a teacher and these kids are born with phones in their hand.
38:25
You've probably had a smartphone what you were in high school.
38:29
Yeah, since since before that problem.
38:30
Since before high school I mean jab and I had the dial UP56K
38:35
modems you know from. The dad get off the phone so I
38:40
can get on the Internet. Literally, you had to use the
38:42
phone line. Landlines are basically extinct
38:45
now. It was definitely a different
38:47
time. But Gary, listen, man, we really
38:49
had a great time with you on tonight.
38:50
We appreciate you coming. We'd love to have you back on
38:53
again for sure. You know, later on in the
38:55
season, it'll be great to touch base with you.
38:57
Maybe the Yankees are, you know, making a rally and going for
39:00
another, trying to get that World Series again, trying to
39:02
climb that mountain, man. So we really appreciate you
39:05
coming on. I appreciate you guys having me,
39:07
loved doing it. Would be happy to come back and
39:10
next time I'll job I'll ask you about the Jabba rules.
39:13
I want you to think of them all these years later.
39:15
Oh, yeah, we've, we've had those discussions on the segment.
39:18
That's a whole segment. It's been a whole segment I
39:20
think a couple of times, guys. One last time.
39:24
This has been Gary Phillips, Yankees beat writer for the New
39:27
York Daily News Gary, thank you so, so much for coming, man.
39:33
You got it. Thanks, Gary.
39:36
All right, moving forwards guys, into our next segment, what do
39:41
we got? Oh, Jabba.
39:42
Oh, Jabba just popped out for a second.
39:44
Let's get Jabba back in because we got to take a call to the
39:47
pen. It's done.
39:49
I think you can throw a strike on this pitch.
39:51
It's not going to be my John. It man feels like jello right
39:54
now. Just get it over the plate.
39:55
I want him to swing. Last time I did.
39:56
That the guy hit one that hasn't landed yet.
39:58
For a call to the pen. All right, a call to the pen.
40:04
I hope Jabba didn't just run to the bathroom.
40:07
That would that would that would kind of put a damper on the call
40:10
to the pen. But let me give you a little
40:13
kind of an ad Lib for it because in 2005, Jabba Chamberlain was a
40:19
member of the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
40:21
I'm sure it doesn't surprise anybody on this show that the
40:23
Jabba's from Nebraska and Jabba's Nebraska.
40:26
I have no idea. Yeah, sweetie, I don't know if
40:29
you knew that Jabba is from the state of Nebraska.
40:33
They like corn over there. They like these things called
40:36
runzas. Oh.
40:37
That's why it's on the Tic Tac no board.
40:39
Now it all makes sense. Yes.
40:41
Well, you know, on the Tic Tac no board we had like the one
40:44
mountain or like hill, I guess they have in the entire state,
40:47
which I guess I'm assuming is just all flat lands of corn.
40:51
But they also play a whole bunch of baseball over there.
40:53
And obviously that's where we are at the College World Series.
40:58
The College World Series has been going on for a long time.
41:01
Nebraska hasn't been there since 2005.
41:05
And this is the man himself that helped take him there to that,
41:09
to that game. Jabba got the win.
41:11
Jabba was looking up your stats that year.
41:12
Had a banging year that season in 2000.
41:15
Yeah. It's like a sub three-year array
41:18
I think. 2.81 I think. 2.81237 point four, yeah.
41:27
Speedy will have to look at the other analytic part of it, but.
41:31
College Baseball reference. It's not even a site.
41:36
Probably now it is. I know there's one for football.
41:38
I don't think there is any for college, other sports, but I'll
41:41
I'll see, maybe there's something.
41:43
If anyone can find it, it's used.
41:44
Speedy Jabba. We're both almost 40.
41:48
This happened 20 years ago. 20 years ago is a lifetime ago.
41:53
I teach high school. Those kids weren't born 20 years
41:56
ago. My son.
41:58
My son's 19. Your son's 19 wasn't a thought
42:03
in your mind at the time, Jabba. All these years later,
42:06
especially now that you're sitting there in Omaha, you've
42:08
been there all week at the College World Series. 2
42:11
generations ago or two decades ago, I guess the one generation,
42:14
1 1/2 or something. 2 decades ago, you took your team and won
42:19
the game for the first time College World Series.
42:23
Tell me about that experience and how you think about it now,
42:26
all these years later. Man, it's, it's honestly like I,
42:33
I think about the opportunity to represent your state first and
42:42
foremost, you know, represent your family and, and you know,
42:48
obviously, you know, being born in Lincoln and obviously Omaha
42:52
is only 45 minutes away, but being able to go to Rosenblatt
43:00
and now it's at Charles Schwab. And, but it was just, it was,
43:05
it's amazing to me being able to cover it now.
43:12
And I, I think it's hit me a little bit harder than I thought
43:17
because I'm like, man, I got to do this.
43:22
And like, I get to see Cam Kojol, who grew up with my son
43:28
and played against each other and get to see him and he
43:33
obviously goes down against LSU and playing for Arkansas.
43:39
And it, it's just it's yeah, that's, I get it, man.
43:46
It sucks like, because when you lose, when you get to the
43:51
pinnacle and you have that, but I'll never forget just the joy.
44:02
And I want you guys to come experience this experience
44:11
because I've done it my entire life.
44:15
Fortunate enough to play in it, fortunate enough to now cover
44:20
it, fortunate enough to play in it.
44:24
But damn it, come and experience the College World Series.
44:31
There's, there's nothing, nothing like it.
44:37
I've been in a World Series and I've done it.
44:42
There's nothing like this man. And so for me, it's like, and
44:48
it, it's been crazy to think about.
44:52
It's been 20 years. Time is the craziest thing.
44:58
I've ever in the. World to me time, just I I can't
45:02
believe certain things happened 20 years ago and I can't.
45:06
And it's crazy because literally Carter's almost 20 and I had
45:11
him. I had him when I was literally,
45:14
I lost to Manhattan College to get to the World Series.
45:23
And I actually ran into a guy. He was at one of my signings and
45:28
he was like, I lost 2 to one. I lost 2 to 1 and I gave up two
45:34
solo home runs and we couldn't score.
45:39
And he was like, I was the one to do the homework off you.
45:41
And I'm like, thanks. I was like, I was trying to go
45:46
back-to-back to the World Series.
45:49
He's probably dined out on that story his entire life. 100% he
45:53
still tells the same story, 100 percent, 100%.
45:58
So now Java like so now we're here and you mentioned your son
46:01
played with this kid that was on Arkansas, you know, hometown,
46:05
hometown hero here. How do you think?
46:09
Do you feel like like that you're like in it with the kids
46:13
a little bit because you've been in those shoes or is it kind of
46:16
like you're, you see it more as like a dad right now?
46:19
You know, just kind of looking at these kids that your that's
46:21
your son's age and you know, you're just rooting for them to
46:25
be successful, play the game the right way and, you know, just be
46:28
a great competitor out there. I think that I look at it, I
46:32
look at it both ways because being a player and and doing it,
46:37
but then being a dad too, like that game last night and
46:43
watching the kid in left field that slips and misses the ball
46:49
and gives it up and just it's, I see it as a dad.
46:58
Like from one perspective, I see it as a player because I'm like,
47:05
damn, I'd be happy if that happened.
47:07
But also like, I think what kicks in more too is honestly
47:14
like, I really wasn't excited because I felt so bad for him.
47:23
And like, I know that feeling and like I've been there and
47:30
it's like that cost him the game, and it really did.
47:35
But I don't. I don't really.
47:37
Like now, it's like when you know karts playing now and I'm
47:46
very not a. Not a great.
47:50
Dad, at this point, because I don't have any any solace to my
47:56
son, I'm like, if you suck, you suck.
47:58
Like I'm going to tell you that, but like when you get to watch
48:04
things and you get an experience like they get, which is
48:10
unbelievable. And like I said, you guys need
48:13
to experience it. And just as he's kneeling down
48:21
and. Know, and he knows.
48:24
And we do we. We all know.
48:25
As athletes, we all know as coaches too when that happens,
48:29
right? And it just it it.
48:34
Sucks like but there has to be that one person you know?
48:42
And. It's just look at that, that
48:46
Zach. Found his own highlight of you
48:48
playing right there in Nebraska. That's better than.
48:51
Me, I wasn't able to. Do that I I do just as I did
48:55
research your stats. You didn't have as good of a
48:57
follow up season as you did. No five season No O 6 was
49:01
terrible. Probably had something to do
49:04
triple. Triple walk on college I would.
49:05
Imagine. Triple to strike out the walk
49:07
ratio though that. Season looks like Oh yeah, now
49:10
my numbers were still. Great, don't get me wrong.
49:12
Like I was still punching people out, don't get me wrong.
49:15
No, that's that's not the point. The point was, so that's some
49:19
other things on your plate, as you were saying that year too.
49:21
But yeah, it's just man. It's just it, it is, it is
49:26
unbelievable when you, when you get to, when you get to the
49:29
pinnacle of what you're doing at.
49:33
Whatever level it is. It's like, I don't care if it's
49:37
like you're in a national tournament as a little kid and
49:40
whatever. It's just when you when you get
49:44
to that, you just, you kind of get a better understanding of it
49:48
and. I'm very fortunate.
49:53
To be able to do all those things like and God rest my
49:57
dad's soul, My dad always said you're going to be the best in
50:02
the city. I was all city.
50:04
You're going to be the best in the state.
50:07
I was super state. You're going to be the best in
50:10
the country. I was an all American.
50:14
He goes. You're.
50:14
Going to be the best in the world.
50:17
And I won a. World Series.
50:19
And so God bless you, Dad, I love you.
50:23
I miss you every day. But it's it's it's.
50:28
Just it's, it's crazy when you now when you're a dad and you.
50:35
See these things? With these guys that are
50:38
grinding and they are literally putting their life on the line
50:47
and. They'll sell out for their
50:48
teammates. And they'll do that.
50:51
And it was hard for. Me to cheer.
50:55
Because I wanted Arkansas to win.
50:57
Because obviously Cam, mind you, I I'll have to send you the
51:03
interview with Cam. Because Cam hit like 9. 100 off
51:09
Carter like took him deep like 3 times like and so they faced
51:15
each other and and they were good friends and got to meet his
51:19
parents and it was it was just fantastic.
51:24
But that's the thing. About what this College World
51:27
Series it is or what sports are in general.
51:32
Like him going to his mom. And it was tough, obviously,
51:41
like we just lost. Like, that's tough.
51:48
And as a dad, like I don't know what the hell I would do if
51:54
card. Ever gets to this?
51:56
Opportunity, which I hope he does.
52:00
But what I would do like. Out lighter with Jack when he
52:05
was in Vanderbilt and it's just. Like you sit in the stands and
52:10
like. I, I don't, I don't know if I
52:11
could do that Like I just want to.
52:14
I just want to be by myself. You have.
52:17
You have no control. You have all the emotions in the
52:20
world riding on it. I mean, that's the type of
52:24
stuff, you know, we hear from, you know, compulsive gamblers,
52:27
like they just have the jitters. It's got to be similar type of
52:31
feeling when you know you all you can do is just root and, and
52:35
so be supportive and you can't even get yourself to root
52:38
because you're so nervous for them and you're, you're taking
52:41
all the anxiety and you're putting yours because you've
52:43
worn those shoes and you just, it's got to be a trip.
52:48
And I'm so glad you shared that with us.
52:50
Jabba on tonight's a call to the pen.
52:53
It's been wonderful. Thanks everybody that came on
52:57
and helped out tonight. Our interns have been fantastic
53:00
without Errol doing putting up the videos, putting up the
53:02
graphics. Really can't say enough about
53:05
Jake, Aaron and Zach. Thanks boys.
53:07
You know, King Zach, they were, they were fantastic.
53:10
Another great job, Arrow we'll. Be back next week.
53:13
We stream live on everything. We are up on Apple and Spotify
53:17
the next day. We cut videos all week.
53:20
If you subscribe you get to see them all man.
53:22
Make sure you do. All you fans, Jabba in the Mouth
53:25
fans, we love you. Come back on Monday for our next
53:29
live episode of Jabba and the Mouth Night, everybody.
53:34
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Radio Network.