Latest / Sid & Friends In The Morning / Jeff Nelson | Former New York Yankees Relief Pitcher Previews Yankees vs. Red Sox ALWC Series

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Jeff Nelson | Former New York Yankees Relief Pitcher Previews Yankees vs. Red Sox ALWC Series · Sid & Friends In The Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Joining us this morning as we get set for game
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: one of the Yankees and Red Sox in the Bronx.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Later on tonight, Yankee hero Jeff Nelson. Jeff, good morning, buddy.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: How are you?
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Sid. I'm doing great. Thanks for having me.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: It's great to have you. Did you actually make it
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: through the whole Doobie Brothers concert? I'm not going to
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: lie to you. The rain delay forced us out early.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Did you sit through the whole thing?
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: I did.
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: Well, the Doobie Brothers, yes, but Santana only made it
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: like halfway, and then we left halfway.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: That was crazy, right?
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: Oh, I know. Was it an hour delay or whatever? Yeah.
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: It was long.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: It was long. I mean, now I know what you
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: guys must have done.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: You guys had to cut their set a little bit.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: Because of Santana.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: I know. So now I know what you guys must
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: have gone through during rain delays during baseball games. I mean,
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: how do you come back out with the same enthusiasm?
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: You don't. You're absolutely right. You don't. You're like, oh
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: my gosh, this is dragging. Cancel the game. Let's come
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: back tomorrow.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: I know. I kept thinking about you with the rain
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: delay with Yankee Stadium when the Doobie Brothers were behind stage.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: It was lightning up there in upstate New York. So
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: here we go again, Jeff. I mean, look, obviously you
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: won all those World Series with the Yankees. But back then,
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: it wasn't like Yankees-Red Sox. That did happen, obviously, in 2003.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: You were gone by that. Oh, you were actually back
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: that year. But Yankees-Red Sox has always been huge, more
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: like the 70s teams, obviously, Bucky Dent and Zimmer and
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: those guys. But for you as a former Yankee star,
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: any time you played Boston, it was a big deal, yes?
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: Oh, absolutely, because, Mr. Steinbrenner, there was like three teams
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: you had to beat. It was the Mets, the Red Sox,
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: and the Rays. And if you didn't, then you didn't
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: want to show your face around Yankee Stadium.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: That's the three teams that he took.
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: The most serious, but you know, the media and the
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: fans really build up the rivalry more than the players.
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: And when we wanted to beat everyone, but it was,
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: it was pretty special one. I think more, more so
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: than the Mets Yankees, but the Red Sox Yankees was
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: always a huge rivalry.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: Funny.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: You say Red Sox. We know why that's the case.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: Mets inside the same city. People are going, why the Rays?
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: And for people that don't know, that's because joints or
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: George Steinbrenner lived in Tampa, right?
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: Right. Right.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: He didn't want to deal with that nonsense, leaving his
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: house and having the Rays beat his team. He didn't
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: want to deal with that. You know, one time I
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: said to Bernie Williams, I said, Bernie, you won four
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: World Series, so did you, Jeff. And you beat Atlanta twice,
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: you beat the Padres, you beat the Mets. And I said,
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: in 2001, right after 9-11, you weren't here then, but
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: when you lost to the Diamondbacks. Would you give back
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: one of those World Series wins just to have beaten
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: Arizona after that tragic day in New York? And without hesitation,
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: Jeppe goes, yeah, any one of them except the Mets.
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: Right? Yeah, you know, it's always, I came back in
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: 03 and we lost to the Marlins and you seem
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: to remember the ones you lose more than the ones
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: you win. I mean, it's amazing. And we lost, I
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: was with Seattle then, we lost to New York. you know,
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: one for them to go to Arizona and to play
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: the diamondbacks. And I didn't like that very much.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: What was it like though, when you go from Seattle
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: to the Yankees with Tino in 96 and you win
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: a world series, that amazing world series win over Atlanta
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: right away that year, what was that like?
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: Well, you know, you're coming to a historical, historical team
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: in New York. I mean, I grew up in Baltimore,
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: so I was an Oriole fan. It's never really a
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: Yankee fan until I became a Yankee. And I, And
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: it was amazing. I felt we were going to come
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: back and try to run it again in Seattle and
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: see if we could go a little further. And Tino
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: and I both get traded to New York. I mean,
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: you could get traded to a last place team, but
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: you get traded to the Pinstripes. And that was something
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: else going to spring training. Then it was Legends Field.
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: Now it's Steinbrenner Field. You know, just seeing the guys
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: and the history that New York brings. I was always
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: a big historian as far as knowing the past players.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: I mean, I absolutely loved them.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: What was it like playing for Joe Torre, too? I
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: think you must have loved Joe Torre, yes?
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah, the most calming manager and, you know, perfect for
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: New York.
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: Never had a doghouse.
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: I thought that he made it very easy because New
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: York back then was a very tough place to play
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: as far as the fans and also the media. I mean,
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: our media coverage was a lot more than it is now.
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: And he made it easier for us to go out
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: on the field and do our jobs. And I had
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: Lou in Seattle, which is a perfect person in Seattle
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: because it was a laid-back atmosphere, and he brought his
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: fiery self. And Joe Torre was perfect for New York,
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: and he was the greatest. That's why he's a Hall
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: of Famer.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: Nelson saying, though he's talking about the former Yankee, ironically,
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: Lou Piniella. And Steinbrenner, you know, every Yankee player I
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: talked to had a run-in with George at some point.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: Didn't matter. They still loved him. And they really believed
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: that if he was still alive today, that the Yankees
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: wouldn't have gone 17 years now without winning a world championship.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: Tell me about your relationship with George Steinbrenner.
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it was great.
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: You know, but he was the guy that tested you
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: in New York. I mean, New York was always a
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: tough place to play. I mean, that.
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: you know, if you can make it here, you can
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: make it anywhere.
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: It wasn't, that's the truth. I mean, it's, uh, same
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: with playing at Yankee stadium. He tested you. And if
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: you didn't stand up for yourself and give it back
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: to him a little bit, I mean, you never wanted
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: to get into a shouting match with him because you
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: respected him too much, but you also stood up for
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: yourself and stood your ground and he respected that. And
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: he knew that, okay, this guy would probably make it here.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: You know, the teams seem to have this little rivalry.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: Some of the guys I speak to. So, for example, Jeff,
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: your 98 team won every game. I think you're like 162,
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: I know. One of the greatest teams to ever play,
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: the 98 Yankees. And if you want to take on
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: those 77 teams like Reggie Jackson or dating back to
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: even the Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle days, Yogi Berra, do
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: you ever think how your Yankee great team, who won
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: World Series four times, would have fared against those other
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: great Yankee teams?
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: We kind of hoped that we would beat them, but
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: it would be fun to play against them.
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: That would be for sure.
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: You look back and I think 98 was maybe one
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: of the greatest, if not the greatest team ever. I
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: think maybe if you go back and ask DiMaggio and
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: all those, what was it, 61 Yankees, whoever it was,
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: they said, oh, that was the greatest team ever.
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: But It was fun back then.
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: Old-timers day, when those guys would come in, it was
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: amazing to see those guys around and dress in our
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: locker room and just to know what they went through
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: and the great players that they were.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: It was amazing, but it would have been fun to
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: do that.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: It would have been a lot of fun. What kind
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: of teammate was Derek Jeter?
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: Amazing.
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: The smartest player I've ever played with and down to
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: earth and wanted to win. And everybody followed his lead,
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: even from his rookie year in 96. I mean, he
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: played like a veteran. He respected the game. He has
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: a great mom and dad that he grew up right.
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: And for a guy that was single in New York,
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: he was a superstar and he made it. And, you know,
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: one of the greatest teammates I've had.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: But you come back, this is a great Jeff Nelson,
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: and he went back and forth between Seattle and the Yankees.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: He's got to go back and forth to the bathroom
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: in the studio every single day. So you came back
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: in 03, and ironically, you talked about losing to the
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: Marlins in the World Series that year. But that was
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: the year where Aaron Boone hit that big home run
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: off Tim Wakefield, and you guys got to the World Series,
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: and now Aaron Boone is... is the skipper for the Yankees,
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: and Jeffy gets killed here, okay? Every call to the fan,
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: got to get rid of Boone. Meantime, Yankees won 93
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: this year. They win between 90 and 100 every year.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: They're in the playoffs every year, but Yankee fans won championships,
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: and they've got to go all the way back to
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: A-Rod in 2009 for that last championship. So do you
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: think Aaron Boone gets too much heat, or do the
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: Yankees got to win one?
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: I mean, I think the Yankees definitely have to win one.
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: I mean, they haven't been there since 09 and you know,
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: this is New York, you know, this is the Yankees.
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: They're used to what, 27 championships. So, you know, they're
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: used to winning. It just hasn't happened in a while.
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: I mean, this, this is a team that goes to
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: the playoffs every year. You know, that, that's a great
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: feat in itself. You know, what Brian Cashman has done
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: and what Aaron Boone has done as a manager, Aaron
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: Boone's a great communicator and, He does a really nice job,
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: you know, keeping everybody together. And nowadays I think it's
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: even more important to communicate with the players because I
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: think players are a lot more sensitive than they used
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: to be a lot more personalities.
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: Than they, than it used to be.
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: So you need that, you need that buffer and he,
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: and he does a great.
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: Job with it.
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: And, you know, you have a lot of tough teams
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: out there and, you know, it's, it's, the injuries around
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: the league are huge. And when you lose big players
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: like Aaron Judge, Stanton, Bellinger, that's.
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: Going to cost you.
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: And then some guys just don't show up in the playoffs.
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: I mean, you had Aaron Judge that had a decent
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: playoff run a couple years ago.
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: But other than that, he really hasn't had a great
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: playoff run.
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: So that takes some consideration as well.
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, when you talk about being one of the all-time greats.
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: So what's the difference, Jeff? You know, a guy shows
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: up for 162 games, and he's an amazing player. Is
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: it as easy as there's just more pressure, more eyeballs?
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: Why are guys completely different in October than they were
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: in September?
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, all of the above. And also, you know.
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: You try, I think players try to be someone there.
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: They're not, you know, it's just a, it's just a
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: regular game, even though there is more eyeballs.
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: And you're one of what now 12.
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: Teams guys try to do too much. And that's what
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: made Derek Jeter so good. And a lot of players
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: back then so good because you took it as a
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: regular game. You can't be any better than what you
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: were during the regular season. And I think some of
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: these guys and A-Rod was one of them. A-Rod had
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: a decent, decent run in 09, but other than that,
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: he really never did anything in the playoffs. And those
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: guys try to put too much pressure on themselves and
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: they try to be better than they were during the
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: regular season.
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: And that's just not going to happen.
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: Well, you talked about the injuries with this baseball team,
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: and these guys aren't even back yet. Like, Judge, we
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: think may be available. Stanton, we think may be available.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: We don't even know. So, I know you're a Yankee. Jeff,
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: I get it. You played for Seattle. You played for
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: the White Sox. You played for the Rangers. But you're
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: a Yankee. I know you want the Yankees to win,
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: but do you think this Yankee team will get it done?
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: I think their pitching is far better than a lot
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: of teams. Who knows if Aaron Judge is going to
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: be able to come back? And even what is he
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: going to be able to provide? Is he going to
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: be healthy enough to be an impact player in that lineup?
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: Is he going to be able to play the outfield?
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: There's a lot of question marks with that. I think
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: the pitching, the starting pitching is probably better than any,
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: but anyone other, the other teams in the American league,
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: they have a tougher run. I mean, they have to
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: go through the Red Sox and then they play the
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: Rays if they can get through the Red Sox. So
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: that's a tough run for them. But if they can
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: get through that, then I think they go to the
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: world series because I don't think, you know, you look
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: at Houston, the guardians and the White Sox. I don't
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: think any of those teams match up with any of
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: the Red Sox, Rays or Yankees, but I like the
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: Yankees because of their pitching. Their starting pitching is really good.
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: It's deeper than any one of the other teams, and
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: I think their bullpen's good.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: You know, going back to the bullpen, those Torrey teams
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: that won the World Series, we can talk all day
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: about Jeter deservedly so, and Tino, and Bernie Williams, and
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: all the offensive stars that showed up for the Yanks,
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: and there were lots of them. But I got to
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: tell you, that bullpen, right? So 96, you get there.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: Wetlands a closer. Mariano's a setup guy. But after that,
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: whether it was you or Mike Stanton, knowing that Mariano
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: Rivera was at the back of that bullpen, did you
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: ever have any doubt that if you were winning in
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: the sixth inning, you would win every game?
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, no, and that's what we did. We
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: shortened games. I mean, we had really good starting pitching.
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: So if our starters would give you six or seven
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: innings and we only had to worry about maybe nine
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: outs at the most, sometimes maybe six outs, maybe four
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: outs down in the bullpen because our starters are so good.
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: And that's what, you know, and even opposing teams knew it.
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: If they didn't get to our starters, they weren't winning
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: the game because our bullpen was so good.
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you guys.
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: But nowadays it's different. You know, the leases are shorter
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: for starters. The 100 pitch count is a huge deal
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: for teams. So you better have a deep bullpen because
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: you're getting 12 to 15 outs a night, especially in
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: the playoffs from your bullpen. If you can't get that,
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: then that's when you wind up losing.
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: Bottom line, Jeff Nelson, an amazing Yankee between 96 and
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: 2000 was back here in 03 and went back and
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: forth to Seattle during all those years, but is a
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: beloved here in New York. I love you as a
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: great New York Yankee and a great guy. So thank
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: you for hopping on this morning. I know you're traveling
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: today and. Let's go, Yanks, Jeff. Let's go, Yanks.
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, let's go, Yanks. Love your show, too. Love you.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: Oh, man, thank you. I love you, too, bro. Thank
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: you so much. It means a lot to me. Thank you.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: There he is, the former great New York Yankee, Jeff Nelson, Nelly,
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: and much like Donald Trump does, he closed it out
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: with an I love you. How about that? Jeff Nelson.
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: Thanks for listening to Sid and Friends in the Morning.
• 13:30
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• 13:33
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• 13:52
  Speaker 2: See you next time for.
• 13:53
  Speaker 4: A new episode so you never have to wonder.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: What the heck is going on here?