PBD Podcast Episode 242. In this episode, Patrick Bet-David is joined by Roger Clemens and Adam Sosnick. Roger Clemens is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 24 seasons in Major League Baseball, primarily with the Boston Red Sox.
FaceTime or Ask Patrick any questions on https://minnect.com/
Want to get clear on your next 5 business moves? https://valuetainment.com/academy/
Join the channel to get exclusive access to perks: https://bit.ly/3Q9rSQL
Download the podcasts on all your favorite platforms https://bit.ly/3sFAW4N
Text: PODCAST to 310.340.1132 to get added to the distribution list
Patrick Bet-David is the founder and CEO of Valuetainment Media. He is the author of the #1 Wall Street Journal bestseller Your Next Five Moves (Simon & Schuster) and a father of 2 boys and 2 girls. He currently resides in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
Why would you bet on Goliath when we got pet taved?
Value payment, giving values contagious.
This world of entrepreneurs, we can't no value to hated.
I didn't run, homie, look what I become.
I'm the one.
Third on all strikeouts, all-time strikeout leader, first pitcher ever to start a season in 2001 with 20 and one.
No one's ever done that before.
MVP, five strikeout titles, 354 wins.
I can give you a bunch of different stats on what he's done.
One time, he pitched game four of the 2000 ALCS game, and then right afterwards, game two of the World Series, logging in 17 shutout innings and let only three hits in those 17 innings with 24 strikeouts.
And an expert when it comes down to movies, give it up to Roger Clements.
How you doing, man?
Doing good, guys.
I need you as my agent.
Let's go.
I didn't know some of those right there.
That's pretty good.
Let's be clear.
Roger is more than just a baseball player.
Yes.
Okay.
So we had Antonio Brown wanted us to make sure that the audience knew you're not from Liberty City.
You're more than a baseball player.
Family members.
You have a family.
Your kids.
Is it three out of four?
All four boys start with the letter K.
It started with Kobe.
I punched out 20 and 86, and he was on his way to be born.
And so instead of with the C, we threw the K in there, and we kept trying for a girl, but the K's kept coming.
So just like your career, the K's kept coming.
Yeah, just like that.
Four boys all start with K. Four boys.
But let me get it.
Kobe, Cody, Corey, and Casey.
Man, it's pretty good.
It's a tongue twister, but that's pretty good.
If you guys were going to have a girl, did you know what the name was going to be with the K?
Carissa.
Carissa.
Yeah, I like it.
I almost do, a little one.
Man, she was tugging at my heart.
We were at a deal, an outing, where some kids were getting placed with different homes.
And it was close.
I mean, I was pulling at my heartstrings for sure.
Roger, out of your four boys, how many made it into the major leagues?
I know we just talked about three of them.
Yeah, three of the four all played professionally.
Number two actually graduated from Court on Blue.
He's a chef and in real estate.
And he played a little football, had his kneecaps reset.
So I said, can we try something different?
But yeah, I'll always play the dad role.
I tell everybody that until Casey, my number three child, Casey, just retired from the Blue Jays.
And he was a big reason why I got hooked up to come down and get to do this with you guys.
And the youngest one, Cody, is a second baseman, can play multiple positions.
He's with the Philadelphia Phillies.
Just was traded this offseason from the Detroit Tigers.
But I love it that they play the game that we all love.
And, you know, it's life lessons, teaching them to get along.
But like I told him, I'm glad that they were all Americans at the University of Texas.
I'm more proud that they graduated from McCombs Business School.
And a quick shout out when I say that Red McCombs just passed away not too long ago.
Red was a pillar around Austin at the University of Texas.
And Red McCombs.
And it's a very, very respected school.
Yeah, my wife and I, we lived in Plano for five years, and my wife's from Houston.
We met in L.A., but we lived in Dallas for five years.
And yeah, I mean, when you mentioned that school, salute, respect at the highest level.
May he rest in peace.
Was Red McCombs also the owner of the Minnesota Vikings?
That is a great question.
You pull that up.
Is it the same Red McCombs I'm thinking of?
Type in Vikings to see if that comes up.
There you go.
Oh, he was.
Yeah, I've heard that name for years because my family's from Minnesota.
Good call right there.
Hey.
So, but you know what's one of the things I saw, which was kind of cool.
Can you pull up the clip?
I think it's Cody pitching.
Oh, yeah.
Did you see that one right there?
He's pitching.
If you see this one here, which is sick, he's pitching against Shohei Otani.
And watch what happens here.
It's a really neat thing to see.
Watch this.
To the story that I just learned.
Cody Clements, who struck out Shohei Otani last night, apparently sign from Shohei Otani.
He's like, time, time.
Let me throw in the ball.
I want to get it authenticated.
So here we go.
There's an authenticator.
He's like, what am I doing on my gun?
Authenticated.
He struck out Shohei Otani.
And then Shohei Otani would sign the baseball.
How sick is that?
When you see that, what do you think about it?
Like, did he call you afterwards?
Dad, you won't believe it.
What was the reaction like?
Yeah, so there's a lot of moving parts to this and the video.
First of all, he's throwing about 65 miles an hour, and it's called an air cutter.
When we play catch in the gym at home, he was messing around with it.
You grab the ball without any seams.
And if you throw at the right speed, it almost acts like a tight slider.
And so he threw a back door on him.
And, well, first of all, he pitched in high school.
He's pretty good in high school.
And I told his manager at the time, A.J. Hench, that don't tell him or he'll have you out there.
So anytime he's pitching, you know, it's not a good thing.
That means the team's getting blown out.
What's his position?
Second base.
Gotcha.
So he's not even a pitcher.
He doesn't pitch.
He can play a little first, a little third for matchup problems, even left field.
But anyway, so he's in a blowout, which happened way too many times with the Tigers last year.
And he threw the air cutter.
It came back over the corner.
He strikes him out.
And he reacted.
And that's when he called me.
He goes, man, I didn't even know I pumped my fist out.
I was fired up.
I said, no, that's great.
I said, you know, that's what makes it fun for everybody to watch.
And it's really cool for you to do it.
Dad never struck this guy out, you know, so that, you know, and then he had the mindset to call time and throw the ball out of play.
And then he asked me, you think I send this guy with sign this?
He goes, I said, absolutely send it over.
I knew a few of the angel players.
But yeah, that was the scenario.
And again, you know, it's a bad thing when it was the highlight of the Tigers season.
By the way, what do you think about him as a hitter, as a player, pitcher and hitter?
Yeah, you know, guys, I play the dad role again.
The boys always tease me when I start getting into hitting the philosophy or whatever.
And if they ask me a question, they're just like, Pops, what do you know about hitting?
You were just a great bunner.
That's all you could do.
And so I kind of just, unless they ask me a pointy question, same thing with their teammates, their veteran teammates, I'll give them an answer.
You'll see me at games, I'm kind of locked in on what's going on because I'm trying to watch the pitchers' tendencies.
I really focus on the catcher too, because now with this pitch clock, the catcher is really going to be the quarterback, if you will.
And the catcher in the major league is second manager anyway.
And so I'm watching tendencies.
He might get a home run or something like that.
And I don't even, you know, I forget the clap and the camera will be on me.
And they're like, oh, you know, he's locked in or whatever.
But yeah, when I'm there, I'm just watching everything that's going on.
I was like that.
I obviously was a student of the game when I was 21 years old coming out of University of Texas.
And I mean, just the other day, I told the guys back in the early 80s, I kept my hitters on three by five index cards.
Then it went to my BlackBerry.
Then it went to my iPhone to the point where I tell my pitching coach in our meetings before the playoffs or a World Series game or going over hitters.
I'm over there.
I'm not texting my friends to come to the game.
Actually, logging stuff that I know.
I also kept a book on the umpires.
You know, I wanted to know that when an umpire was at this game, that it might be a home game for him, and he's left eight tickets.
He wants to look good.
And, you know, he might come out to the mound and it was Derwood, whoever says, Hey, how's you know, you know, how's Jennifer doing?
You know, how's the family?
And thanks, Rock, for asking.
He runs back down.
You might get that, you know, that borderline call and brings a personal element into it.
But all those things matter.
You're keeping notes on each player, the umpire, coaches, like you're just constantly keeping notes.
Absolutely, absolutely.
I'm looking at what I'm doing.
And then, obviously, on a game day, when you're going out there, you're going out there to see how you know how you feel.
I might not have 98 miles an hour that day.
My shoulder, I might be a little underwater, as they say.
But I was a power pitcher.
I wasn't a thrower.
I don't throw.
I pitch.
And I was afforded the luxury, obviously, being in Texas, getting to know Nolan Ryan and watch Nolan, never teammates.
But for, I think, three months in Boston during a playoff run, we signed Tom Seaver.
And Seaver's the ultimate power pitcher.
I mean, I'm watching a guy, you know, I pitched till I was 45, but at that time, I was probably 23 years of age in Boston, and I'm watching a 40-plus-year-old man out there.
I can hear him grunting in the third, fourth inning, and he's sitting at about 90 miles an hour.
And I'm like, okay.
And then he got second and third.
The game was on the line.
Boom.
He popped one in there about 94 for a strikeout.
I was like, ah, okay.
He's got a little left in the tank here.
So it was great.
And even watching him was one thing, but having the opportunity to just sit and keep my mouth shut and learn from, you know, just hear what he had to say.
Did a radio show way back when with Don Drysdale.
I mean, we can go on and on, guys.
I mean, it's, I appreciate the guys that played before me because they helped me make the living that I was able to make.
I'm going to see one of my favorites here in a couple hours when I leave you guys, Reggie Jackson.
I'm going to be a Reggie.
I'm going to be with him this afternoon.
And I tell the story famously that he was the guy I wanted to face.
I wanted to get to big league as fast as I could.
I think I pitched 12 games in the minors.
And then my second or third start in the majors, I got to face Reggie, and he was a California angel.
It was a blast.
I mean, you know, I almost couldn't make eye contact.
You know, I couldn't make eye contact with him when he came to the plate.
And, but, yeah, I mean, it was fun facing him and just the guys that over 24 years I was able to face.
Growing up, who was your guy?
You talked about Don Drysdale, Nolan Ryan.
Probably Nolan and Seaver were the guys.
Reggie was one for sure.
You know, but I faced the Don Baylors, Dave Kingmans, Luzinski, the Bull, you know, all these guys all the way through the Albert Poolholes.
You know, I think Albert called me.
I know Kirby Puckett called me Heat.
I think Albert called, but he'd say, you know, Heat would always give me one good pitch to hit.
And if I missed it or fouled it off, I got you.
But those are good battles.
I mean, you know, I talked about in the clubhouse the other day to the players.
You know, I faced a Cal Ripken probably, even though Cal was my shortstop in multiple All-Star games.
I faced Cal Ripken, you know, say 120 times.
So when the game's on the line at 60 feet, six inches, he's got like eight different batting stances, you know, where he holds his bat, playing the piano or playing the flute or whatever they call it.
He's doing.
He's seen everything I can throw at him, including the kitchen sink, you know.
So it's really a game within a game of how I'm going to try and get him out and do things like that.
So I try and tell the younger players about that.
It's changed a little bit.
We got the pitch clock strike zone.
Now they pinch you east and west.
You get north and south a little better, which I would like because I like featuring a ball high in the zone and then throwing my split finger down to jog your eye level.
So, you know, just great questions from a lot of the pitchers.
This new pitch count or this, how long it takes to throw a pitch clock.
Sorry about that.
So this pitch clock, is this the first season they're implementing that?
Yes.
The minor league guys, the minor league guys have experienced it.
But yeah.
So I kind of want to process that, like where you're at with this thing, because, you know, baseball, you know, America's pastime, the legacy of baseball, pastime, using that word intentionally.
These days, the biggest sport in America is football.
Basketball kind of has the biggest icons, if you will, LeBron, Steph, Giannis.
You know, baseball is all about tradition.
You know, growing up, I was all about baseball.
That was all I was at, you know, honoring the legacy, the past, Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, everything, Ty Cobb.
How much do you think this pitch clock is going to change the game and not honor the pastime that was baseball?
Yeah, there's a lot to it.
I mean, even when you talk about the pitch clocks, you talk about the analytics.
And I'm kind of in the middle of ground there.
I'm not in the high end of it or, you know, push it to the side.
It's going to change a little again now because you can't play.
You can't do the shift.
So my kid that's playing second, both feet have to be on the dirt.
You can't be playing, you know, having four outfielders or having a second baseman play just about right field.
Pitch clock, the main thing that, again, I preached it to two teams.
When I leave here again, tomorrow I'm going to talk to Houston.
And the main focal point will be, I think it's a focus thing now because you're speeding up and it's going to turn a pitcher into a thrower because all you're going to do is look at the catcher, get the sign real quick, and here we go.
I'm heaving it.
And you're going to make a lot of mistakes in the strike zone or you're going to throw some pitches without really being behind that pitch mentally and focused on where you want to throw it.
So I think it'll make, again, there's a couple pitchers that are wearing the wristband that are calling their own game.
I called 95% of my game from the mound just with my looks with my catchers.
Had some wonderful catchers.
I always give them guys props over 24 years.
Had some fantastic catchers that paid attention to detail.
And if one of those catchers got traded to another team and we were playing them, they knew my cadence and what I was doing with my eyes and which side of the plate I wanted to throw the baseball on.
But again, I think the main thing about the pitch clock is that guys are just going to start grabbing a ball, get a sign, and throw it without understanding how you're trying to break a hitter down.
Do you think, because here's where I'm going with this, Roger.
Do you think that this is something that's inevitable?
Meaning like, listen, you got to evolve.
That's just kind of how sports work.
Hey, you got to adapt with the times.
You know, and it's a good thing.
You know, the only thing constant is change.
Or the other end of the spectrum, sign of the times.
You look at Gen Z these days or even younger kids, you know, elementary school and all that.
Their attention span is so limited, right?
You know, if you don't get someone's attention in three seconds, five seconds, whether it's TikTok or Snapchat, they just can't pay attention.
They're not going to sit through a three and a half hour baseball game where it's a pitcher's duel and it's 1-0 going into the ninth.
And they're just like, they want it quick.
They want it fast.
There's sort of instant gratification.
There's sort of the good, bad, and ugly of this.
What are your thoughts?
And you've got kids in their 20s, 30s, and you even have, you said you had grandkids, right?
Yeah, the grandboys.
So you've got a good perspective on age and generations.
Yeah, I mean, it's just like you said, with like football, when I talk to the college football players, I mean, coaches, they got to let music blare in the clubhouse now, and they got to have everybody's got a TV in front of their locker with their swag and their highlights on it.
You just got to kind of roll with the times a little bit with these guys.
You want to speed up baseball.
He said, get rid of the walk-up music and everything else.
But that's baseball, baby.
You got your walk-up music.
Everybody's styling and popping their collar.
And now, you know.
I pitched right through it.
I mean, the early days, the early days, if you hit a bomb and you flipped your bat, do that to Nolan Ryan or Bob Gibson and see if you're even alive to play the next game.
Straight up.
I mean, those guys, I mean, that was, you know, jumping around here, my Don Drysdale story was I was 22 years old.
I just pitched in Winterhaven.
I was with the Red Sox.
I pitched my three innings against the Dodgers were in town, obviously.
And big Don Drysdale was doing his radio show.
I knew the name.
I didn't know him.
I've never met him.
Six foot five.
Our PR guy goes, when you get done icing, Don Drysdale's outside by the batting cage.
He's like to interview you for your show.
So I go out there and meet him.
He's a giant of a man.
I mean, you're not small, Roger.
Yeah, six feet, six four.
Yeah, I'm about he was six, you know, he had me by a full inch.
And so I go, soft-spoken man, we go through 20 minutes as a radio show, and he turned his radio off.
And then this different voice came out and it's like, let me tell you something, kid.
He goes, I've watched you.
You got a chance in this game.
I go, thank you, Mr. Drysdale.
He goes, you know what my best damn pitch of the game was, kid?
I go, no, sir, Mr. Drysdale.
Now I'm kind of shaking like the 10-man.
Oh, yeah, sir.
Oh, yeah.
I'm 20.
So I'm kind of got the 10-man shaking going on looking at the odds here.
And he goes, you know what, my best damn pitch of the game was, son?
I said, no, sir.
He said, it was my, he said, it was my second knockdown pitch.
You know why, kid?
He said, because then the hitter knew the first one an effing mistake.
And I was like, yes, sir, Mr. Drysdale.
And I ran out of there.
But that's the old school guys.
But yeah, so I think it's entertainment.
You know, we've got the cheerleaders now in the dugouts.
You got your walk-up songs.
The guys, you know, now I've kind of moved to, if you don't like the way things are going, play better.
If you don't like the guy flipping his bat, you know, keep the ball out of the middle of the plate.
You know, you're the one that hung it.
But, you know, like I said, I agree with a lot of the analytics.
I get it, but you still have to have an eye and a heart test.
You know, it was great for me, even in my advanced age.
I was in my 40s and say with the Yankees, Mel Stottamire is my pitching coach.
And I would come off in the seventh inning, and I was grunting out there, and you could tell that I was laboring a little bit.
And he grabbed me and he's like, you know, Joe, they want to move to the bullpen because it looks like you're emptying your tank.
But Mel and I had a little system that now I go one hitter at a time.
So I'm going back out for the eighth, knowing that if this guy gets a base hit or gets on, I'm coming out.
So my eight warm-up pitchers are more intense.
And now I'm really grinding on it.
Now, I get him out.
The best closer in the game, Mariano Rivera, only has to get four outs now.
Boom, I get a pop-up.
Now he's only got, you know, so that's kind of how we operated there instead of just, you know, dragging somebody out of the game right away.
You're in town because one of your sons is playing.
He plays for the Phillies.
Yeah, Cody's playing for the Phillies.
Cody's playing for the Phillies.
You said you gave a speech, your best Newt Rockne.
Yeah, well, the staff, there's about five guys on the coaching staff, including the manager, Robbie Thompson, probably the best hitting coach right now in the major leagues, Kay Long.
They have a great staff.
They have two frontline pitchers, the Phillies do.
But Robbie, once they traded for Cody, he called me and said, we're glad to have Cody.
If you're coming down this way, would you mind coming in and visiting with the guys for 20, 30 minutes?
So anytime the guys ask, even though I do, you know, I do a lot of work with the Astros Foundation and stuff with the Astros.
If those guys ask me to be a part of it, I'm all in.
One of my former team, Red Sox Yankees, if they ask to, you know, there's a few young pitchers that are knocking on the door to the major leagues to visit with them.
with the group of pitchers or one-on-one.
I do it.
I mean, I was one of them.
And like I said, I think as you saw me light up earlier when I had the opportunity to play with Tom Seaver, I mean, you become a sponge.
Well, I want to talk about this concept of being, I guess, fatherly advice, right?
I'm not a father.
Pat's a father of four.
He'll be right back.
But you've kind of mentioned being a dad or even a grandfather these days.
Obviously, the easy question would be like, so you played baseball, your kids played baseball.
That's, you know, that's sort of a layup question.
But a lot of parents want to give their kids advice these days, especially around coaching.
Kids these days, the knock-on kids, they're all fat, they're lazy, they're playing video games.
So speak to the dads out there, the parents out there that want their kids to participate in sports, right?
They don't have the rocket legacy, right?
They're not pop a rocket, but maybe they're athletes.
Maybe they're not even athletes, but they want to give their kids advice on what to pursue, how to go at it, play multiple sports, pick one.
You know, most of the fathers that are fathers to players these days probably didn't play in the majors like you.
What are those conversations like?
And what advice do you have for young fathers out there?
You got my, this great question.
So you got my mind racing.
There's just so much information there that I try and pass along.
I think before I get into any dad advice or mom advice, I mean, I think it's great that my oldest son teaches right now.
He's had an opportunity to go coach in the minor leagues if he wanted to, but he's teaching seven-year-olds to college guys to the pros guy, the pro guys come over and throw to him.
And what's really cool is he's got some single moms that are divorced or the kid's dad had passed away.
And he's watched these kids, he's worked with them from seven to where they're going into high school now, and they've improved so much.
And at my foundation, we get wonderful letters about how, you know, thank you for what your son's doing for my kid.
I knew nothing about baseball, and he's helped my kid and got him in a team sport to understand how to work along and be a team player and do something as a group.
So I think about that.
I think you have to understand where I came from, which people from afar, wherever it might be, that they look at you and they, and it really pisses me off sometimes because, you know, they talk about athletes having a silver spoon or something.
Well, I wasn't born with this arm.
My pops died when I was nine.
I was raised by two strong-willed women, my mother and my grandmother.
And just like my grandmother grabbed me, she said, if you're going to be a ditch digger, you'd be the best damn ditch digger in the country.
And that's the way she operated.
Of course, she was the same grandma that took a switch and hit me on my hamstrings for throwing her, picking her grapes off the grapevine and throwing them at cars.
She later said, once I made it to the major leagues, I knew that boy is going to be good because I knew he had an arm on him.
He was throwing those grapes off my grapevine at passing cars all the time.
So, you know, I watched my mom work three jobs.
When I was in high school, she was an accountant by day, and I would go with her in warehouse buildings and, you know, watch her clean, help her clean.
And so I could have a sweet red glove and a badass pair of cleats, you know.
Excuse me.
So, yeah, you kind of have to start from there.
Now, I wanted my boys to grow up differently.
And, you know, again, that's why basically, after the first couple of years in Major League Baseball, I wanted to make a generational change.
And then after I felt like I had my feet, you know, permanently in the ground in the majors, then it was about winning championships again.
It's what I learned at the University of Texas.
You know, you win and you know how to win.
So when I went to Boston, I felt like I was bringing that winning tradition with me once I got drafted.
The dads, I tell them at a 12-year-old game, your 12-year-old's playing third base, and we're sitting in lawn chairs.
And even if you were a dad that was a really good high school or college player, don't forget how fast that ball gets.
It looks super slow to us.
We're sitting there and we can feel that ball, but it gets on that 12-year-old very, very fast.
He's trying to process that.
So it's just a different game.
Our game looks great when you're sitting in the third, fourth row.
I would encourage you to come stand in the batter's box and just watch when I throw you a 95, 98 mile an hour fastball.
This isn't your local battle ball where you go put the quarter in the machine and throws you 10 balls down the middle.
It's just a, it's a whole, it's a whole different deal.
I mean, I can't tell you.
I threw a ball in one time.
A scout told me I threw a ball in 97.
A guy squared it up.
It hit me in the shin at 132.
I wanted to cry.
It hurt.
Yeah, I wanted to cry.
It hurt so bad.
I mean, my molars hurt.
They came out to the mound.
What was even worse to add to the, just to put a little salt in the wound, as they say, the ball ricocheted off my shin into the home side dugout.
We were on the road.
And time I got collected and they wrapped my big old, I had a big old knot swelling up on my leg.
I looked over.
The guy standing on second.
I said, what the hell?
What's he doing?
They go, it's a ground rule double.
It hits you and bounced in the dunk.
The guy gets second base.
I was like, are you kidding me?
Thanks a lot.
Take so.
Yeah.
So, but yeah, I try and tell the parents, even if they're playing football, baseball, basketball, whatever, and instead of hollering out so many commands when you're on the field or if there's something they did, make a little mental note.
And then on the way home, maybe turn the radio off in the car and have a good little visit about him.
Always tell the kids, take zero talent to hustle.
You have no time.
We have a children's wing at home in Houston.
There's a couple kids down there with missing a hand and a leg.
They would love nothing more to stand in the batter's box, take a full swing, and hit a comebacker to the pitcher and fly down first base, chalk coming off their cleats, flying down.
They'll never get the opportunity to do that.
Perspective gratitude.
That's it.
So it takes zero talent to hustle.
I have no problem from a eight-year-old to one of my big league guys making a physical mistake.
I love them laying out, trying to lay out for a ball, whatever that might be.
Obviously, not forgetting how many outs there are or what you're supposed to do there.
So I think, you know, sports is a great outlet.
I mean, I like that, but I also like the business side of everything, too.
We look at that a lot.
My boys are, you know, definitely into that.
You know, they get to be their own guy.
And again, I think the biggest compliment I get, it kind of oxymoron, but if you didn't know they were my boys, you wouldn't know it.
They usually introduce themselves, looking at you now, handshake and say their first name.
And so, I mean, that's the way I look at it with the dads, too.
I mean, I tell people, they say, oh, pressure and pressure and pressure this and pressure that.
Pitching in game sevens of the World Series, been in six World Series, and two of the losses were the most emotional.
But they talk about pressure.
I tell people, I say, you want to know what pressure is?
I said, come home with me.
And one of the boys are six, seven years old, and you're doing dad's pitch.
You get six pitches.
And I'm trying like hell to hit that kid's bat.
And five pitches later, I haven't hit his bat and one of the moms are up in the stand screaming at, Jesus Christ, throw my kid a strike.
You're a professional.
And I'm like, oh my gosh, I got to throw, you know, I said, that's pressure.
You literally did.
So you would go to you would be pitching to kids.
So like Cody, I got pictures of Cody when he was standing next to me in the dad's circle.
You throw the ball off the kid hits it.
You got to run off the field as the dad and they go crazy.
And so I get done pitching to our guys and I'm walking off.
The opposing coach comes, said, Rocket, my kids, everybody knows, will you throw to our team too?
I'm like, oh, my gosh.
How old are the kids, by the way?
Probably six, seven.
Okay.
So you're just beating that little kid right.
You're not supposed to have 12 kids.
You're not supposed to have 12 punchouts in dad's pitch.
You know what I'm saying?
I'm not supposed to strike out 12 guys exactly.
I'm trying to hit their ass.
Competitive nature is going to take over at some point.
Sorry, kids.
So, I mean, that's, you know, and your question was spot on.
There'll be, you know, this offseason or whatever, we'll go to a couple of these games with the grandboys and I'll have to call a couple dads or a coach over and go, guys.
Yeah.
My boys, and even me, I said, do you remember any trophies that you won up to 12 years old?
No.
I said, let's keep your boys healthy because I do a thing with Dr. James Andrews at Andrews Institute, Pensacola.
We developed the shoulder program for pitchers.
The most famous Tommy Johns on 15-year-olds and 15-year-olds.
15-year-old boys.
Yeah, he's encouraging to play other sports, set the ball down, maybe play another sport.
But I just, I preach to the high school guys.
You know, I'll go there and watch them throw and the trainer comes over and the guy pitches like for any high school guy, it's a junior, senior in high school, and they'll put the ice on the kid's elbow with the wrap and they'll wrap it.
And the next thing you know, he's sitting in a dugout for an hour.
And you got a nerve in there.
You don't want to ice.
You know, if you're a lot of guys don't ice anymore.
We did it all the time and ice agrees with me.
I got an ice tank.
There's no way I would have pitched until I was 45 years old without my body agreeing to ice.
So I had this advice.
So Pat's got four kids, two boys.
They're playing sports.
You know, I was I played college football as a basketball player as well.
I had a little game, but I had the most contentious relationship with my father ever.
Okay.
You got like, you talk about the dad that's on the sidelines yelling, screaming, hollering.
It's just, A, it doesn't help.
B, it's embarrassing.
Right.
Yeah.
And C, it's like, what are we doing here?
We're in, we're in front of everybody.
It's just not a good look for the family.
And I feel like a lot of fathers don't know how to handle, you know, watching their son in the game, right?
Mothers are always going to be cheering and protective of their kid.
But the, because more than anything, you bond with your kids, father and son, sports, wrestling, you wrestle with your kids all the time.
It's different with a mother.
Mother, you're hugging, it's kissing.
It's more affectionate.
But for you to be the guy that's like, no, take it down a notch.
Like, how do you operate when you're in the stands?
Even when they were younger, were you hooting and hollering and yelling?
Were you just kind of quiet and stoic?
Yeah, I mean, how do you handle it?
Everybody else is doing the cheering.
I kind of get stoic.
I'm watching how they're breaking.
You know, the boys always say, Dad, you know, I hit the home run.
They showed you on the, over, you know, in the seats and you weren't even clapping.
I said, well, because I was kind of locked.
I'm trying to watch this pitcher, how he's breaking you down.
I'm really focusing on the catcher because I know he's calling the game against you.
So I'm looking for patterns, you know, but you clap and react.
And then there's some other times where I'm amazed that this guy even pitched to you in this situation.
I mean, Cody, when he was at Texas his last year, he put the team on his back and carried the team.
And again, I think I could take either one of you two with me to that clubhouse, and you guys could cover the analytics part, the sports part a little bit, because, like you said, you played.
And Pat, same thing with the kids and what he's doing here.
And then even cover as what I think is most important, even with some of these guys, the business part of it and what happens off the field, which is even more important to me when they come through that door, that they have their family stuff in order.
We all have the same, we all have the same, I would say, I don't call them problems, issues.
It doesn't matter how much money you make.
You still could have a girlfriend issue coming in the ballpark when you're on the mound in a massive, a must-win game for us.
And as soon as you get out of your car in a player's parking lot, you got to turn that off because now it's your second family, and this is what makes the world go round.
So I can't tell you how many players that I wasn't a babysitter for them, but I would just be like, reaffirm.
No, that's not, it's not, it's not a big deal right now.
Just focus here, get focused on what you need to do here because once this game starts, stuff's going to be happening fast.
And then I need to hear you tell me that the game is slowed down.
That tells me that you've been practicing perfect.
You're doing quality work.
We don't need quantity.
You do quality work.
Now, if you're having trouble with your breaking ball, your release point, got a pitcher, my pitching coaches are my eyes.
I said, here's what you, whether it's been a rookie pitching coach or a veteran.
Here's my three hot points.
I want to feel tall.
You know, I want to keep my chin down.
I don't want to drift and I want to stay back because in a big game, you're trying to hurry.
Just like a golfer, golfer swings, you're trying to get out front, you're hitting a slice.
So there's just a handful, I don't even say a handful, maybe three or four hot points.
Whether you're a control guy, 86, a Greg Maddox, pinpoint control 2, a powerful power, make that ball move like you read about.
Yeah.
And or myself.
And Greg and I just did a thing for the golf channel.
We both said, even though we throw almost 10 miles an hour difference, we both pitched off our fastball.
And we both, you know, he made a great point, a big compliment.
When they went to interleague play, he pulled up my starts because he knew I pitched off my fastball and I used both sides of the plate and blah, blah, blah.
Here's questions I got.
The game.
So Anthony Edwards, the other day is in the all-star game.
And I don't know if you know Anthony Edwards is, stud of a guy in the NBA.
The guy's a rock star.
I think he plays for the Timberwolves.
He's a fireball.
I mean, he's just an exciting guy to watch.
And he says, so what do you think about what's going on with the product of the NBA?
And he says, you know, if there's one thing I could change with the NBA, I wish superstars would play every day and they wouldn't take these two, three days off, right?
And then I saw Barkley yesterday.
He's being interviewed by Stephen A. Smith, not yesterday, probably two days ago or three days ago.
And Stephen A. Smith's talking to him about the future of the NBA, the product, all this stuff.
He says, Barkley said, The NBA is about to come up for re-signing their new TV deal, you know, whatever the TV deal they got to get.
NFL gets great TV deals, but he's saying, hey, this new TV deal they did, they do.
The company's going to be asking and saying, why the hell are we doing TV deals?
People are not watching season NBA games because players are taking two, three days off and they don't want to work.
So to me, the product of the NBA season has become shitty.
That's my opinion.
And I'm a guy that loves the NBA.
I don't even watch season anymore because it's fake to me.
We got seven guys averaging 30 points a game.
Annoying.
This ain't no real basketball.
The other day, all-star game, the worst all-star game of all time.
Sacramento Kings were playing the Clippers the other day.
The winner won 176 to 175.
That doesn't even make any sense to have a score like that, right?
So I think that's hurting the NBA product.
Do you think AI and predictive analytics is taking the emotion, fun, complete game, that pride, the shout out concept out of MLB?
Do you think AI is kind of getting people to say, well, we're going to have three different pitchers today?
You're going to pitch three innings.
You're going to pitch three innings.
So, but that's kind of cool to get that.
But dude, I don't like that as a fan.
So you think these guys are no longer thinking about what fills up the seats and what gets people to watch season baseball.
Is that a concern of yours?
I think you're dead on, Pat.
Listen, let's start with the NBA.
So you got to understand when I came up with the Red Sox across the street, I got to go over and watch Larry Bird.
And I got to watch Mikael and Danny Ainge.
And yeah, some talking about your parish.
I mean, straight trash talkers, right?
And Red's there doing his thing on Park 8 floor.
So I was lucky.
I actually did a little BS show.
I think it was called The Rocket Report.
I interviewed Michael Jordan.
And I was just with Michael not too long ago in his course.
And I just smile and laugh about it that we were so young.
But what I'm saying is you're exactly right.
It seems like in the NBA, I mean, if you give an NBA player two feet, you know, I'm guarding you from two feet.
You're making that shot every time.
And I've heard the stories too.
They go down and you got your 32.
Yeah, I got my 28.
Let's play defense the last five minutes, see who wins.
But the scores are, that's, you know, that's why the scores are well over 100 and doing things.
There's just, I mean, other than the playoffs, like in baseball, I preached it's great that you guys can slug, but when you get to the playoffs, pitching and defense is going to win for you.
It's no difference to having a great defense in the NFL.
But if I'm giving you this distance from where we sit right here, Pat, I mean, you're scoring.
You're going to score 50.
And so, again, I don't watch a lot of the NBA.
I watch when I know my friends in the NBA are playing.
I watch them because we have this same conversation about what's going on.
I had the same conversation with my 30 PGA buddies, and some of them are bitching and moaning that I'm not in the top 30 and they're pissed off.
I said, well, you play better.
And we talked about early.
Do something about that and play better is what you got to do.
So the changes in Major League Baseball, you hit it dead on.
There's a bunch of old school coaches in these camps, and I'm going to experience it tomorrow.
I'll see some of them.
And they tell me, like I said, when I was on the mound in the seventh inning, and here comes the pitching coach or the manager, I got the ball tucked under my armpit.
And when he gets them out, I say, what the hell are you doing out here?
Get your ass back in the dugout.
I'm going to finish this game.
I'm going to eat as many outs right now as I can.
We talked about it earlier.
And there's only three or four, maybe a shirt, sir.
There's a few.
Verlander, he'll stretch it out now that he's got a new elbow.
He's been stretching it out and doing his thing.
And there's a handful of those guys, but you're right.
I won't mention the name, but I was in a locker room during the game talking to actually a couple of the analytic guys.
The pitcher that pitched that came out after five innings.
He was done.
He was winning the game three to one.
He saw me.
You know, you knew I was there to watch too.
And he came in like he was exhausted after five innings, rips his jersey off and kind of throws it in the laundry basket on the floor.
And I was talking.
I said, hold on a minute, guys.
I go, what are you doing?
Oh, I'm done.
I'm done, Mr. Clemens.
I'm done.
I said, yeah, you want five innings.
I said, pick that shit up.
There's no way it's dirty and hang it back in your locker.
There's no way.
There's no way that dirty.
Yeah.
I still pick that shit up.
And he started to, I go, no, I'm just kidding.
I wasn't.
But I said, no, I'm just messing with you.
So, but, yeah, so I mean, they're doing some things where they call them openers.
You know, they're bringing in the long man first, and then they're going that way too.
So I get that you protect.
They protect, they watched me early in my 20s, still at about 115, 120 pitches.
When I got in my 40s, they kept on aisle me in August because we were going to the playoffs, so they wanted me fresh in October.
A lot of times, if I was the game one or game seven, I was always game three swing because that's a big momentum.
The go down two.
A lot of times I was pitching where we were down 0-2, and I couldn't have a hiccup when I went out there.
This was, you know, a must-win is a must-win.
One of the biggest ones was game three in 2001 when President Bush came out and threw out the first pitch, through a perfect strike.
And he actually came in with his bulletproof vest in New York.
We're playing the Arizona Diamondbacks, and we were down 2-0.
And Mr. Steinbrenner had brought back all the police officers and firefighters and people that lost their loved ones.
It was probably one of the most emotional games I had to pitch because when I busted out of the locker room in old Yankee Stadium, I turned right and go about 20 yards to go to the weight room to do my cuff work and get loose.
I don't like running in front of the fans and stuff.
I'll get on a treadmill and get on my priest.
So when I go out there, I'm hot and here we go.
And I busted out of that clubhouse door and like I had some men and women, some firemen just hugging me.
And this is a month after 9-11, not even right.
So I was supposed to pitch this.
And I'll tell you guys this while I'm on the topic and I'm thinking about it.
I played 24 years.
I tell people I consider myself a great team player.
It pales to the trip that I did.
So I was supposed to pitch 9 at 9-11.
I was a New York Yankee going against my former team, the Red Sox.
Everybody and their mother were in town.
I was going for my 20th win.
I usually try and sleep to about 8:30 on game day.
We get in about one after night game order from the Yankee Stadium.
My buddy was only two floors.
We got an overlook floor that upstairs.
I put turf in that you can kind of look out the city real pretty, eight miles, nine miles from World Trade.
Banging my door down about 8:05.
And I'm like, man, what's up?
Something happened to World Trade.
So out our bay window up there on the 25th floor, I always see four-seat airplanes going down the Hudson.
So I thought it was a mishap with one of the planes that go down tour of the Statue of Liberty.
He goes, no, it's bigger than that.
So we run up.
We could hear and feel the second plane.
Go back down, turn on the tube, see all hell's breaking loose.
Dorman's at my place.
He says, you guys need to, they're going to shut down bridges.
You need to get out of here.
So we went to my buddy's place.
We loaded everybody up.
My wife was there.
I had a bunch of girlfriends there.
We had other friends we called.
People were all in town to watch my 20th.
And we busted out of there.
Fast forward.
We all know what happened, what happened in our lives, and how our world changed.
General Myers, our four-star general at the time, went to high school with my agents.
He called and said, would Rocket go to the Middle East to see our men and women?
I said, called Drew Carey, the comedian.
Drew went with us, told some jokes.
Seven days, a booklet about the size of my iPhone cover, military time.
We lost one person when we were over there.
It's really the only time I saw General Myers get up and get upset.
They dressed him down until the media knew that we went into Afghanistan to a base they just bombed.
But anyway, I met, you know, again, so if anybody, I had five uncles that served.
I lost my oldest brother.
He served in Vietnam.
And so anytime, just like I let off at this speech in front of the guys because the Phillies actually have one or two guys that had served, and now they're trying to pick up their baseball career.
I mean, back in the day, Ted Williams and all these guys.
It was a normal thing back then, but World War II.
Yeah, of course.
And so anyway, it was an unbelievable trip.
I saw people that, again, make me feel comfortable on center stage in front of 55,000 people to be able to do my job.
That night that President Bush threw out that first pitch, I was in a bullpen with Mel Stottamar, a pitching coach.
We turned around where the silhouettes, you could see about 14, 15 sharpshooters on top of the stadium.
And it was just, and it lit up like a Christmas tree.
He threw a beautiful strike.
The two stories, you guys probably, you may have heard them already.
I'll tell you the two funny things.
I'll regress here in a minute.
But I knew we were really close with 41.
I knew 43, but not as well as I did.
We even called him Gampy.
That's why he called a grandkids, Gampy.
Anytime I went to Kenny Bunkport, we got to throw horseshoes.
I got a damn horseshoe pit in my house because of him.
He sent over a 30-page fax on how to mix the clay with the sand.
I mean, he's serious about his.
HW.
Yeah, he's serious.
So 43 has got the bulletproof vest under his deal.
He wants to throw.
I said, Mr. President, you're going to have to go out the door, go to the right about 100 yards.
It's, you know, old Yankee Stadium.
You know, we got ghosts running around in that place, right?
And the batting cage is all the way down there.
I said, Posada and Jeter and some of the guys probably down there doing their T-work or whatever, doing to get ready, so you'll see them.
He says, great.
So he goes down there and those five or ten warm-up pitches, realized he can do it.
And then I wasn't there.
And this is the word I got.
And I think it was on a documentary.
But he on his way out the door with all the secret servers, he stops.
He sees Derek, shakes his hand.
He says, Derek, he goes, any pointers?
And Derek goes, well, Mr. President, yeah, you can't throw from the grass, not the dirt.
You got to get up, you know, where Rock is at on the rubber and you got to let it fly from there.
Oh, hell, I can handle that.
No problem.
I can do that.
And then he says, anything else?
He goes, yeah.
He goes, this is New York, Mr. President.
And if you bounce it, they will boo you.
And so he goes, oh, now I'm nervous.
So he told that one.
I'll go back to my trip to the Middle East.
This is why they all.
Now, again, I'm 6'4.
They had two Marines as my bodyguards, and they're both 6'6.
I look like a, no, no offense to the punters, but I look like a punter standing next to these guys.
And so they had me covered.
They said, when we tell you, when you jump in the crowd and you're signing for all our military guys, I'm going to whisper in your ear, you got two minutes to get to the chase vehicle.
You got to get the chase vehicle.
No problem.
And they both, so when I got to, we actually flew over on Air Force 2.
Then when we got to Shannon, Ireland, we jumped on.
They put me on a C-17 transport plane with 25 of the baddest ass Marines you've ever seen in your life.
And these guys were getting on me because I had a second suitcase.
I was like one of a chick.
I brought clothes and I had a second suit.
Pack light buddy.
Packed light.
No, they're all me.
So I told him, I'm pretty finicky about what I eat.
Plus, I got to be careful with seafood with an iodine in it.
Man, I look like Rocky Balboa within a cut mech.
And so, but in this second suitcase, I had nothing but oatmeal, cliff bar.
I had powder and granola and everything because the two times I pitched for Team USA jumping here getting long-winded on y'all.
But playing for Team USA, you know, I went over there and a couple guys got food poisoned.
We had to send them back.
And I found like a chef boy art for two weeks.
I found like a chef boy RD, a spaghetti and a Diet Coke.
And I lived off that for seven days, eight days over there during that USA game.
So I was being careful.
I'm not going to go over and get sick.
And so I got all this stuff and they were bitching and moaning me about it.
But I was teasing my agent before I went.
I said, hey, I'm taking this extra suitcase full of stuff because I'm not going to get over there and eat a camel or something.
Just mess with me.
Funny, isn't it?
Funny?
So day six, we're at this Prince's thing in Kuwait City.
They cook two lambs in the ground.
They bring them out.
Now, I sat at a table with some of the guys I've gotten to know.
I didn't want to sit at the head table with all their people and everything that was going on.
But General Myers is up there and everybody else.
And they go, you're up here.
You're sitting front and center with us.
Margaret Clemens, head of the table.
So I'm looking.
They got an interpreter and everything.
And they set the first plate.
And there's a pita bread, white rice, and I got a diet seven up.
And I'm saying, okay, I'm going to, this is it.
It's going to be my meal.
Out of nowhere, don't you know, they drop a baby camel, right?
Baby camel.
Huh?
Get out of here.
Teeth, everything right here.
And I'm like, you guys are messing.
Now I'm getting punked.
I said, no, you guys are messing with me now.
And I said, I'm not getting that.
Well, my agent had the guy.
They cut into it, and we're not eating.
The first cut into it by the, by the hump, okay, it looked like Bernays was coming out of it.
All right.
I'm like, you got to be kidding.
And they dug around with these big tongs.
And then, boom, next thing you know, he pulled out some meat that looked like shredded pork.
And he puts a softball size on my plate.
And everybody's looking at me.
And these guys are like, they're all, and Drew Carey's looking.
And I'm like, and I pushed that around my plate for like an hour.
An hour.
I didn't care if we started a World War.
So, you know, I'm not, you know.
So, and then, and then Drew's girlfriend at the time, she, she was dipping into my stuff.
And I was like, yeah, y'all are bitching, you know, getting on my ass for bringing this.
And now, look at that.
Now you want my oatmeal.
Yeah, now you want my oatmeal.
So anyway, that's my, but anyway, if anybody out there, and you guys know, if you, if you served or anybody has served, I freaking tip my hat to you and say thank you.
It doesn't go unnoticed.
We do a helping a hero deal where we got, we're building 100 homes for our military men and women that served for us and gave the ultimate sacrifice.
And we got Johnny Morris from Bass Pro.
He's playing a big role in this for us.
So again, I thank you guys.
What a great story.
By the way, I watched that thing on, I'm sure you saw Jeter's Captain documentary.
I thought it was really good.
And, you know, there was a whole section with you in it.
Oh, yeah.
The whole 9-11 George Bush.
That was interesting to watch that.
Obviously, you forget sports.
If you're a fan of the sports, like, you know, like we are, you know, you look at it from our lens.
Your lens is different than our lens.
We're watching you.
But when you saw that, you're like, I totally forgot.
Can you show the first pitch when he threw President Bush's first pitch right there?
Take a look at this.
An absolute perfect strike.
He's got a bulletproof vest on underneath this jacket.
Let the audio.
Let's hear the audio.
Look at that.
How great was that?
I'm out in the bullpen right there and watching it.
That stadium lit up like a Christmas tree.
By the way, that's one of the greatest first pitches a celebrity is throwing at a game with all the pressure like that.
100%.
Because the complete opposite is the one that I just sent you.
Can you play the other one that shows the top 10 worst?
Tell me which one of these is bad on your list.
Go ahead and play.
Let's hear the audio.
I think one of the girls was a gymnast and did like Cartwell.
So this is who Carl Lewis?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Let's see how Carl Lewis is.
That's it.
Stick to running, but how does that happen?
You're the greatest athlete.
Oh, this is a good one here.
I know what's happening here.
Oh, beautiful pigs.
He threw him out.
This is going to end up.
MJ?
MJ, yeah.
No, MJ.
The cubbies.
By the way, you would have thought Michael would have thrown like a perfect, you know, because he played baseball.
Well, it was aggressive, you know, so that's better than throwing a grounder.
Come on, Barack.
Yeah, here we go.
All of a sudden, it's showtime.
Oh, Lefty, that's right.
Jeez.
All right.
You catch it?
Yeah.
All right.
At least caught it.
This is the one.
This is Nolan Ryan.
Most ride this.
Look what he throws.
This still might have been 85 miles an hour.
And when he was 60, Nolan.
Oh, man.
I've been outside.
You didn't see that one?
No, that's a normal pitcher, Nolan.
He pitched inside a lot.
He just brushing him off.
He knew exactly where he's going with that.
There's a first pitch somewhere that absolutely wears out.
Yeah.
50 cents.
Oh, 50.
They don't want this album to come out.
Oh, man.
That's a splitter right there.
You found something that I've not seen before.
Joe Wall.
Oh, my goodness.
Who was that?
That was the John.
Joe Wall.
It looks easy.
The point guard.
Oh, here you go.
This is a one.
That's just a great porn.
Just embarrassing.
Can you go back to George W. Bush's, by the way?
By the way, this moment right here, this was, you know, I'm all about presidential approval ratings.
This was the highest presidential approval ratings I think we've had in that moment right there in, I don't know, 40, 50, 60 years.
You know, right now we're sort of hovering.
You're lucky these days if you get to 50%, whether it's Biden, whether it's Trump.
Even Obama was struggling to get to 50.
He was at 80% at this time.
It's pretty wild to think about 80%.
We had him at an event.
I had him at the same event that we had the late Kobe Bryant at.
And when I announced, hey, and the speakers at this event will be President George Bush.
Silent because some people were not wanting to see him.
Some people were very happy.
But it was 50-50.
I said, Kobe, everybody fought out.
They lost their minds.
So Kobe, President Bush comes, we do the event.
There's 6,000 people there, 6,200.
And we have a great conversation in the back.
And then afterwards, he's doing photo op with 100 people that qualify to do the pictures.
And I'm standing there the entire time because I just want to hear what people are going to say.
And people would say things like, let me tell you, I saw you as this.
And when you were president, I thought you were this.
And I thought you were that.
But the message you gave today, because he just opened up.
He says, let me tell you what I did.
I used to do this.
I had a bad habit of doing this.
I had a bad habit of doing this.
The way he spoke that day, everybody fell in love with the guy that day, the way he spoke, President Bush.
So it's interesting that you're saying how one day they love you, next day they hate you, next day they miss you, the next day they hate you.
You have to be patient because if you're loved today, take your time.
Someone's going to hate you in about a couple months.
And if they hate you today, be patient.
Trust me, there's love around the corner as well.
This whole concept about how you deal with love-hate relationship.
How did you handle that as a player?
Because that's got to be something you experienced.
Well, I played with two most historic teams.
I consider myself really lucky, you know, being drafted by the Red Sox out of the University of Texas.
So, I mean, the Rangers and the Astros were following me so close at Texas.
You know, again, I got to go back to when I was in high school.
I was the third best pitcher on the team.
I had two.
I took classes early so I could graduate at 17.
But when there were two other guys, a riding and lefty back in the 80s that threw over 90 miles an hour, which was rare, the scouts were coming to watch him.
Now, we got in the playoffs a couple times.
I was a better defensive end than I was probably a pitcher first baseman.
Really?
Yeah, I was 6'2 ⁇ .
I was still baby fat.
I was young.
Roger, your hands are massive hands.
Yeah, yeah, I got my granddaddy's hands off.
Is that a benefit for a pitcher?
Well, for that split finger, it is.
That it is.
Yeah.
The size of that ring by the way.
Yeah, that's our national.
I wear my national championship ring more than I do.
Why is that?
Just because, yeah, it got started.
It really happened for me at the university.
Again, jumping around, I had three wonderful coaches coming up.
You know, I lost my pops.
My high school coach, great.
great coach, better teacher of the game and life lessons.
Then I go and I get to play for Wayne Graham, one of the winningest coaches in college baseball, turned the University of Rice program around.
Great coach, better teacher of the game, baseball lifer.
And he watched me grow and mature that year.
Pop over to Texas, play for the winningest coach at that time, Cliff Gusseson.
And Gus, the same thing.
Great coach, better man and teacher of what we were doing, life lessons.
My boys go to University of Texas.
They play for the winningest coach in baseball, Augie Garrido, who since passed.
Augie gave them some great life lessons.
So again, that's where I came from.
I was the third best pitcher.
I'd tell the kids, nobody, but I threw strikes and I had a little Bugs Bunny curveball.
So when those older guys, everybody came to see him, they didn't went to bed.
They shit the bed.
Coach would bring me in the game because I threw strikes.
Coach always said after, you know, I got, I made it a couple years in the big leagues.
He said, you know, that kid, I could bring him in, turn the lights out in the stadium.
He could throw strikes.
So then when I got to Texas, there was no baseball lifting stuff.
We lifted with the football guys.
So my legs got stronger.
I grew two inches.
Fastball started jumping.
Next thing you know, I mean, the same reason why I went to Texas on scholarship, mom didn't have the money, so I was paving my way, and she wanted me to stay in school.
When I got drafted after my freshman year, the scout said, you know, if he doesn't sign right now, he'd probably never get another chance.
My mom basically told him, and I was in my room crying for two days.
She kicked the scout out of the house and said, he's going to school.
I want him to get his education.
So that's kind of how that's kind of how my path took place.
And then Boston drafted me.
I was like, Boston?
I didn't even know.
I didn't sure where Boston was.
But my mom, the history, we love history.
And she wrote me a poem about Fenway Park.
And then when I got the Fenway, the green monster, the best was when they called me up.
I don't think cell phones are there.
This is 83.
And I was watching the game.
I think Dennis Eckersley and Palmer were pitching, but they bring me in.
I get in the cab at the airport, and I've got my face in a paper, and the guy stops.
Cabby stops.
And I see this brick building.
And the cabby goes, here you go, kid.
I go, Cabby, I'm a professional ball player.
I'm going to Fenway Park.
I said, this looks like a warehouse.
Because I see the brick only, you know?
He goes, this is Fenway Park, kid.
Get your ass out of my cab.
And I get out and the team meets me and they bring me up the tunnel and the tunnel right on first base side where you see the green monster.
And then to go there and jump forward to playing as long as I did, both the two older boys, and Devin and I had a little 10-year break.
And then the other boys are in their 20s now.
They were able to see me play long enough when the boys make a comment.
It's like, pops, you know, you pitched right where Lou Garrett gave his farewell speech.
Or, you know, I played in the Bob Hope tournament 20 years.
I had Yogi Bear as my partner a couple of times, you know, having Yogi.
I mean, the guy's got, he's got 10 rings.
Was he funny as hell?
Was he funny?
Oh, yeah.
Oh, he played it up.
I told him, I said, hey, about third or fourth hole, all this media falling.
So I want to get an 8x10 of you and I. I'm going to line my putt up.
I want you leaning over like you're reading it for me.
But we were doing it.
Seriously, it was funky.
I kind of knew which way it was going to break, but I hear we staged this photo and people are everywhere.
And out loud, I go, Yogi, what do you think?
Which way?
Which way this ball going?
He goes, better you than me, kid.
And he walked off.
And it was a little bit.
Yeah.
I always told Yogi that the two catchers I wish I would have thrown to were Yogi and Johnny Bench.
And Yogi goes, why me?
I said, because I see all the old photos of you, Yogi, and you never could squat down.
I would get the high strike for sure because you could never squat.
I thought you were for sure going to say Mike Piazza.
Like the catcher you're going to throw.
I actually had, I did throw to Mike.
How was that?
And it sucked.
It sucked.
And I sucked.
It was in the all-star game.
I don't think I got, it took me about six batters to get in out.
Was there any camaraderie at all?
Or like, yeah, yeah, we were pros.
You know, Mike's a good guy, man.
But, I mean, everybody makes it such a big deal.
But I had some battles with other guys, too.
By the way, for the audience, that maybe doesn't follow it.
Just play the clip because we got two of them.
Pick one of them, whichever one you want.
This is one of them, you and Mike.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
And you grab the bat and you threw it back at him.
Well, no, if I'd have thrown at him, I'd have got him.
I threw it on the on-deck circle.
And TV made it look close.
And they were saying, oh, you said it was the ball.
Well, when you're 60 feet away and the bat shatters before a piece of the head, when the head first came, what do we know to be the head of the bat?
But when it first came towards me, you can see I went in a fielding position.
I thought it was a line drive back at me.
But there was a couple other guys that wanted a piece of him before that.
Yeah, everyone talks about that you threw the bat at him.
It's like, no.
Hold on.
The bat almost hit me first.
Yeah, well, again, I've broken.
Let's not make Rogers seem innocent to your eyes.
Roger, you were trying to get in his head as well.
You were.
Yeah, no, you don't.
He was showing toughness.
The 98-mile an hour fastball is what I'm trying to get into his mind.
When the bat broke, the first sphere you see, I'm 54 feet away once I release the ball.
And once you see that coming at you, that's why I went in and filled me.
And of course, by fate, it takes two hops and it's in my lap.
And I take it and I don't even know he's, and he didn't know where the ball was.
That's why he was jogging.
And I whistled over the shit.
That was epic.
There was a pitcher on TV.
It looks like it might be from us, but it was further than that.
And I said, just give me another ball.
There was a bunch of stuff leading up to that World Series, trying to make it.
He and I were almost a bigger story than the World Series.
And I was really pissed about that.
But we also had a scouting report, which was fine by me because our guys going to the scouting port, they said, we're pitching him in.
Fastball's in.
And if you miss, you miss inside his jersey.
And it's okay with me because Mike's a great hitter.
He hit every breaking ball that I think I threw to him.
And so I had no problem just trying to live in there.
And again, it was a game like similar when I faced, I talked about Reggie Jackson.
Somebody like Piazza, they're going to get your best.
He's one of their, obviously, best players in the league at the time and on the Mets for sure.
And I was sitting at about 91, 92.
He stepped in.
I think all three pitches, including the one that shattered back, were about 98.
Reggie bitches at me, which I'll see him.
I tell the story at banquets, which he loves.
I wanted to get to the big leagues to face Reggie.
And I was sitting at about 93 with most of the guys, and Reggie was hitting fourth.
And here we go.
I mean, I was like 97, 98 to Reggie.
And Reggie's like, what's going on?
I go, you're Reggie Jackson.
I mean, come on.
Yeah, you're going to get everybody's best.
There's no days off for guys like that.
I like what you said.
You said in an interview.
You said, you know, guys, you questioned who's the toughest hitter you face.
You obviously gave the love to Reggie Jackson because that's who you wanted to face off.
And you said, you never had a problem with home run hitters because even pool holes, you said, you have one pitch every time.
If you miss it, it's over.
I'm going to get you, right?
So you said something like that.
And he said the guys you had a problem with were more the contact.
The contact, like the Tony Gwynn type of guys.
Who were some of the guys, if you say contact, who were some of the tough guys?
Man, just to, you know, in the American League, a few teams, they had guys that were, they just had great eye-hand coordination.
You make a bastard pitch 0-2, and especially at Fenway Park, there's no foul ground.
It'd be different pitching in Oakland.
That's the most foul ground, you know.
So they would just, they're good enough.
I tell them that guys in the big leagues can put wood on a bullet.
It doesn't matter how hard you throw.
They can spoil a really good pitch.
So if I get an 11-pitch at bat with you in the first inning, now I'm not getting to the ninth inning, which I know that sounds what we just talked about, guys going for.
When I said nine, people are going nine, nine innings.
Then I might only be an eight-inning pitcher.
It happens again.
I'm only getting to the seventh.
So I'm throwing my two-seamer, which I call a bowling ball.
I threw a heavy two-seamer down in the zone.
I want you to hit it what we call the kiddie litter.
If you ever look at the place in front of home plate where they water it down really good, other home teams water it down more and they put more dry dirt on it because you hit it in that.
It's like hitting a kitty litter.
It stops the ball from getting through the infield.
And then sometimes the guys will grow, like at Wrigley, they'll grow that grass four inches high.
It's like hitting out a U.S. Open rough.
It's not getting through that.
Four inches high, Wrigley.
If you're a ground ball pitcher, I mean, that's 6-4-3 all day.
That's why you can do that.
But those guys, now, Tony Gwynn's a whole different animal.
I faced Tony in an all-star game, and I tried to ask some of the guys, hey, I know Tony, because I watched Tony take batting practice, and he played around the world with his bat and the ball in batting practice.
His first two swings, he would hit it into the cage that he was in.
Next two down on the chalk line and left.
Next two in the gap, center field, right field, come all the way around to pulling two homers down the right field line.
That's crazy.
That's how good he was with where the ball is going.
So I thought the guys were messing with me.
They go, you're going to face Tony Gwynn.
Throw him a 94-mile-anoff fastball right down the middle.
I go, that's funny.
You guys want him to take me deep.
They go, no.
If you pitch him away, he's going to hit a double that way.
You pitch him in, he's going to pull you.
I'm telling you, throw it right.
I got a photo on my phone in the all-star game.
He used my first one.
I throw it right down the middle.
He swings right through it, kind of looking at me.
He can't believe it.
And then he ended up flying out, but it was a guy exactly, you know.
We had a Tony Gwynn.
It was Wade Boggs.
Bogsy, Boggy.
Third base.
Boggsy could hit with his eyes closed with the sun shining right now.
Interesting swing.
Yeah, he's just a flat out hitter.
Paul Mollardo, was he changing your face?
Very handsy.
Very handsy.
Larry Walker, did you ever pitch to Larry Walker?
I may have.
I met Larry at some golfing events later, and we never really talked.
But I'm going to say 24 years, but for sure, I probably faced him.
Bagwell, did you ever pitch out back?
Because I know you were.
Exhibition game, probably.
Okay.
Yeah, Baggy.
So if we put Frank Thomas, Juan Gonzalez, those guys, well, those are AL, right?
So you pitch with those guys.
Yeah.
Do you have any stories with Juan or Frank or just another player you pitch that?
Just good hitters.
I mean, you got to catch them on the right day.
How about Griffey?
Griff was tough.
Griff had some homes.
My story about Griff.
We were in all-star games together, and I had the two older boys.
They're little.
This is when Nintendo was big up in Seattle.
He'd get all Nintendo games he could get.
So the boys down messing around in the lobby or whatever.
And they got on the elevator.
They run to the room.
We're getting ready to go over for media day.
And they're all getting, Dad, we just met King Groovy Jr.
I go, you did.
Yeah, what's up?
He goes, he said for us to tell you that when you face him in the second half, if you throw him some fastballs right down the middle, he'll give us all the Nintendo games.
I go, you stay away from him.
The kid.
The kid.
Yeah, I said, you stay away from drift.
Bad influence.
You got to, I mean, do Pat a favor here.
Pat's guy was Juan Gonzalez, was it not?
That was your guy.
Juan was my guy.
That was your guy.
No, he's dangerous.
You got any good Gonzalez stories for Pat Metal?
Well, I'm pretty sure I faced him with the Rangers a lot.
I just, you know, he was dangerous.
He's a guy that, you know, you had to stay out of his little hotspot because he just so strong.
Oh, boy.
Oh, I was thinking when you brought up Molotar, Robin Yount.
So my Robin Young story, I'm like right off the campus.
So I got a little piss and vinegar, you know, feeling pretty good.
And we're in Milwaukee and Ralph Howe's our manager.
Now, Ralph, you know, older, so some of the scouting reports weren't on par.
And, you know, I had a veteran staff, Bruce Hurst, who gave me my nickname The Rocket after Hursty gave me that.
We had some veteran guys, you know, on the pitching staff.
And so now I'm facing Molotar.
I was getting out and this Robin Young comes up.
And he's already won one MVP at Shortstop.
He's going to win another one in center field, right?
In the American League.
And the scouting researchers said, we're going to pitch him away.
We're going to play him away.
We're up 3-0.
And I throw him one about 96 on the outside corner, knee-high.
He hits it.
It goes by this year.
I can hear it.
It sounds like bacon in a, it's barely missed me.
It lands second row, dead center field at old Milwaukee.
That dude, old Bernie or whatever, is going down the slide in the damn balloon.
All that's going on.
Homer, 3-1.
I was like pissed off.
I was like, man, that was damn good.
I can't believe that.
Comes up next guy, Moliter's on.
I walked him.
He got a hit.
It's 5-1, seventh inning, I think.
I throw one.
It's about at least a ball off the plate.
It goes by this ear into the bleachers about third row.
People going crazy.
They pull me out 5-3.
I'm in the tunnel.
It's an old tunnel, old, nasty tunnel there.
And they didn't have covers on the lights.
And I'm hitting it with my glove.
I'm busting lights.
Cussing and swearing.
F, Robin, that's bullshit.
And I got a group of pitchers following me.
And I get upstairs and I get in the ice.
And this is, again, I don't think cell phones are.
And if you called the clubhouse, you had to go through the operator at the main stadium, and then she would patch you into the visiting clubhouse.
So I'm icing, and the guys come up.
And after I cooled off, and Hursty looks at me, he goes, he goes, rock.
He goes, let me tell you something.
He goes, great game.
He goes, but because I said, he ain't that, you know, I must have said he ain't that effing good or something, you know.
And Hursty and the guys are like, first of all, that's Robin Young.
Two things.
He is that effing good.
And number two is, don't listen to Ralph's scouting reports that are a little out of date.
And I go, thanks for telling me that now.
Yeah, well, you know, him and him and Brett got 3,000 the same season, by the way.
Unbelievable.
It was kind of wild.
Yeah.
Casey in Milwaukee.
So now I'm icing.
Phone rings in the clubhouse.
Game's over.
The guys are shaking hands.
They're on their way up.
And that's why she didn't pouch you.
They said, you got a phone call.
It's your mother on the phone.
Why am I mom calling the clubhouse?
I mean, this is weird.
She's never done that.
Something had to happen.
I get on the phone.
Hey, honey, great game.
Great game.
And this and that, she goes, hey, before you get out of the Milwaukee, will you get Robin Yaus' autograph for him?
Because he owns you.
Mom.
She wanted me to get his autograph because he owns me.
What a mom.
Yeah.
My God.
So are you seriously calling us?
She goes, yeah, because I know if I didn't call, you wouldn't get it.
But he's a good player.
Wow.
And he owns you.
Crazy.
By the way, was she like that?
She got the big guy.
Yeah, I met her.
We had a national deal for Mother's Day, and I had tried and get back at her a couple of times.
By the way, I want to show you guys a guy, a first pitch.
We haven't given him enough credit.
So, do you remember when you guys would do the Red River Classic?
Oh, gosh.
You know, I sponsored it.
We were the main sponsor in 2019, and I was the first pitch.
And I want to brag him on my first pitch.
So, I want you to join us.
Oh, God.
Yeah, you're there, by the way.
Watch this here.
Go ahead.
How do you not know this?
This is how I get picked up.
Stop it, man.
Stop ball.
Dude, can't stop podcasting.
With Toby and all of us?
Yeah, of course.
I had a good time with you guys.
What was going on?
I don't know.
We had like 50 people there from our guys.
Our headquarters are like 10 miles away.
By the way, beautiful stadium.
Yeah, Frisco, man.
Yeah, we brought the kids.
It was fun.
I love the city.
Just throwing ground.
I think I had McConaughey playing short, and he dies after both knees are bleeding after the first end.
I said, dude, this is a celebrity softball game.
You ain't got it.
I mean, he's laying out, and I got Marcus Luttrell there.
I mean, some guys are hitting bullets, man.
They didn't realize it.
It's a real, like, people show up.
This is at the beginning of the game.
By the end of it, there was people there, but people show up.
McConaughey was there?
Yeah, all of them.
There's a bunch of them.
I'm probably not even naming them correctly.
But there's a bunch of guys that were there.
Roger, let me ask you.
So, who was the greatest Oklahoma coach?
What's his name?
The coach of Oklahoma.
Everybody brags about.
He was Switzerland.
Barry Switzerland.
And Snoops.
Both of them are.
Both of them are.
Shout out to Bob Stoops, guy.
Yeah.
Hear this.
Roger, I want to ask you about a pinch-me moment.
So, you know, you're throwing all these names out there.
So we, I don't know if you've got a major pinch me moment.
For me, I interviewed Vince Vaughan one time randomly.
Nice.
I love Vince Vaughn.
Are you freaking kidding me?
So you're throwing out names that you've met.
You interviewed Michael Jordan.
You're hanging out with Larry Bird, Yogi Berra, all the names of names of names.
What's your greatest pinch-me moment that you're like, I can't do it?
I love doing this with y'all right now.
I mean, this is fun.
And like I said, I should have kept a journal.
My mom said to do it, but if I'd have kept them, I'd have probably been a two-year player and out and had nothing to big in history.
Obviously, being in Boston, I met the Kennedys and just so many cool guys.
I mean, you know, they meet you like I tell guys, you know, they're like, hey, on the mound.
I go, that's my job.
I was brought up that way.
I take it very seriously.
Like I said, I changed, you know, when I did it, again, I jumping around here with these questions, but my sisters always remind me of the two days my mom sat at the kitchen table with her hand when our electricity got turned off.
So come on, guys.
So that's, again, that's why I chased me.
Are you silver million dollars?
No, Do your homework.
Okay.
I said, you know, it might have happened for some, but, you know, I didn't have a car in high school.
I ran with my backpack from my high school to our town home.
And so, but to be able to meet some of these people and they see you and they're, hey, man, you're funny.
They see me DJing.
I go, this is stuff I love to do.
I'm pitching.
I love it.
But again, it was about winning because I'm wearing a city on my chest.
I want to perform.
You guys come get a dog and take Fred from work, take, you know, get you a beer and a dog.
I want, there's nothing worse than driving home after I've laid an egg.
I get knocked out in a third inning.
I hate it.
But again, like I told the guys the other day in the clubhouse, I won 200 games because I was on with my heater split the night.
I was on.
You had no chance.
The games that I got out of second and third, bases loaded.
And, you know, my catchers are like, you know, after the game, like, I have no idea how we did that.
You know, we won five to four.
But that's what they pay you to do.
They pay you to pitch.
I know going to the bar.
When I wake up, I go through the lineup, taking my shower.
I go through the lineup.
Were you guys prepared?
I mean, this is fun for me because you guys are bringing stuff on me that I forgot about.
So it makes it fun for me.
Now, I washed my hair.
Here, I'm going through the lineup.
I know when I get to the stadium in that game, I'm going to have second, third, and one out somewhere in that game.
I'm going to have to get out of it to win the game.
And so, it's your mindset.
I go through progressions, like I said, physically, I got you.
All the laps I ran on backfields that nobody saw, all the fielding.
I told the guys, again, in the clubhouse, I'll tell you guys, I said, you know what your strengths are.
You polish those, but you friggin' know what your weaknesses are.
And just like in other games, I know what you do best.
I'm going to try and take that away from you at the plate immediately, especially when I pitch inside.
I don't pitch inside to hit guys, I pitch inside to make a 17-inch plate, a 24-inch plate.
I tell the pitchers that pitch inside late, it does nothing for you.
They're going to climb right back on the plate.
I pitch in early.
So when the guys are still dicking around on the bench, spitting sunflower seeds, the first boom, strike.
Everybody talks about what they get in.
Second pitch, boom, inside, light him up a little bit.
Everybody on the bench goes, oh, oh, shit, here we go.
Here we go.
We got a game.
So now you get guys' attention and you do your thing that way.
But I've met so many cool people.
What's your best Michael Jordan story?
What's your best Michael Jordan story?
Well, MJ gambles with a good friend of mine, and it's crazy.
It's crazy what they do.
He's super competitive.
I got to go down and play Grove 23 a couple weeks ago.
He was there.
He kind of hit me from behind.
And I actually, myself and Erlacher won his last year of his tournament at Shadow Creek.
I think we beat what then was Bruce Jenner and Penny Hardaway.
Wow.
These are legends.
Bruce and Betty.
Shout out to Bruce.
Bruce slash Caitlin.
She hits the ball far.
And I just said, you know, if we play again and she's hitting from the ladies, Steve, we got no chance because Caitlin's a good player too.
But anyway, nice guy.
But we got after him pretty good and won that tournament.
But, you know, just watching Michael play, I thought it was really cool when he was trying to play baseball.
I think, you know, we were teasing him that somebody like that, you know, if they got close to facing one of us in the majors, whether it'd be a devastating breaking ball or a, you know, a 95, you know, you got the double A.
And we had a little thing, says he'd be writing home to mom, says, Dear mom, just saw my first big league breaking ball.
P.S., be home soon.
Be home soon.
Exactly.
Did he have any chance of ever making it to the majors?
It wasn't even a bad thing.
No, Tebow probably had maybe a little edge just being a competitive athlete like he is.
But it's a different deal, man.
It'd be like, you know, trying to backpedal on a fast break with Michael coming at you.
You got no chance.
So when you hear LeBron saying, I may play 40 Cowboys, stuff like that, you think it's the same thing?
Or you think LeBron is a different thing?
He could actually be a receiver.
No.
Yeah.
Okay.
Same thought.
Those guys, if you ever, I mean, even in college, when you're on the sidelines and you see a guy coming around and he's got eight yards to get a first down, you see it, and the gap closes in two yards.
I mean, it's crazy how, I mean, again, the biggest game we had this past year, Alabama came into Austin.
And first time I met Sark, I mean, he'd been to Matt, but it was really cool.
He said hello to all of his coaches.
Then he came down.
He saw me and gave me a hug.
He's a huge Red Sox guy.
I guess the question will be the following.
So what do you say about guys like Brian Jordan, Deion, Bo, those three guys?
Because they played.
They played.
It'd be like the guys that are trying to go on the buy.com tour and golf, too.
I mean, it's a different level.
I played with guys that are the top 10 at the time, in the 80s and 90s, even.
And there's a difference between the 11th ranked player in the world and the top five.
There's a difference in what they're doing.
Now, it might be the mental part of it, like I was alluding to earlier.
Physically, I got you.
You know, I'm on the backfield.
I know my fielding isn't great, but I got guys hitting me fungos while everybody else is leaving the stadium, and I'm taking 75 comebackers and throwing them and whistling to third, doing whatever.
And then I become an above-average fielder.
So when we get the playoff time, somebody's going to lay down a bunt in a crucial spot.
I got to get my ass on it and get the guy third.
I'm ready for that.
And the second phase is the mental part of the game, which I think is the biggest thing.
Mentally, I'm fucking going to kill you.
I got you.
Okay.
You believe that and you know that?
100%.
100%.
If you make eye contact, I want you to make eye contact with me coming to play.
But that's just the old school guys, you know, where I learned, like I said, the Drysdale, Don Drysdale interview.
What is the eye contact dude at the page?
Well, I'm just eyeballing him just a little bit and just trying to stay locked in, really.
And then after that, once he stands in a box, I don't care if it's a rookie or Albert Pooholes.
I'm not really, I know where your hot spots are, but I'm not, you know, I'm not focused on that.
I'm focused on what I'm doing.
And then emotions come into play.
Now, in 24 years, I showed my backside a few times, but I care.
That's what I said.
You know, I got that from my mom.
I care about my work.
You know, everybody started doing this with their gloves, right?
Where they're hiding it.
Sometimes I got in a little argument, a couple guys and a few, what's my t-shirt say?
I love Jesus, but I do swear a little.
So I would put my glove up and, you know, to hide that.
But that was causing my mom.
Like, we were on national TV and I got into a little swearing contest with some guy.
And after the game, mom called again.
She says, honey, can you, can you, you know, your brothers and sisters are watching.
Can you put your glove up in front of your face?
So that's, I think that's where it all starts to come from.
And it's good that she's not saying don't do it.
You're saying just cover it up.
Yeah, just cover it up.
Yeah.
So she was, you know, she was, I mean, I had to pitch the night we lost her.
I was in Austin.
She passed away in Austin, and I had to pitch that night.
And I knew she would want me to pitch.
Tribute to mom.
Her favorite movie was Field of Dreams.
So when I went to Louisville Slugger, I was able to obtain shoeless Joe Bat from that movie.
And so, yeah, that was pretty cool.
I mean, it was part of it.
But anyway, that's the transitions I go through.
And emotions, I'll play on emotions, grandma being sick, mom passing to try and elevate my game a little bit.
Whose favorite movie was Field of Dreams?
That was your mom.
My mom, yeah.
I got to tell you, if you I love Field of Dreams, Kevin Costner, and all those movies.
It was even Robin Hood back in the day, Dances Wolves.
But if you don't cry when at the end of the movie, he plays catch with his dad, who comes back to life.
I mean, like, you've got nothing left.
Big time.
By the way, best baseball movies ever.
I mean, you got Major League, you got the Sand Lot, you've got Field of Dreams, The Natural, Moneyball, even.
You've interviewed Billy Bean multiple times.
I love Moneyball.
42 recently, Jeffy Robinson.
What was it?
Major League.
What was the best line?
I'm trying to think because now they're running together.
But Robert Wall, who Robert considers him.
He was the agent, right?
He's my Hollywood agent.
So I was on Arlis like three times.
Arless was my guy for we I played I did I played like a old Christie Madison 1916 Philadelphia A's whatever it was but Robert was in there with me and it was only a baseball scene with Tommy Lee Jones called Cobb yeah and kind of dark but it was the only baseball season but What was it?
We're talking about the movie.
So it's a shower scene.
The manager is screaming at the guys, get everybody in the shower.
You got a minute to get in there and they're counting.
And they're all in the shower.
Robert's there as the pitching coach, and the manager's airing their ass out.
He goes, So, whatever his name was, the pitch coach, he goes, so-and-so, what's our record?
He goes, uh, to the manager, he goes, 8 and 16, coach.
He goes, 8 and 16.
He goes, How the hell did we win eight games?
Major Lee.
Yeah, Major League.
I think that was that coach, by the way, where he's just like, Every time I come in here, you're bitching about something.
It's an arm thing.
It's a leg thing.
It's got to be.
Well, that's where I got my jersey, lollygaggers.
Lollygagging in the infield.
That's where I got it.
Lollygagging in the infield.
I have a jersey when I DJ sometimes, lollygaggers.
So is that your favorite?
Would you say that's it?
Yeah, probably, probably.
I mean, there's some good ones.
Yeah.
I got a couple other questions here for you.
They're filming that in Milwaukee, by the way.
The one on the top right?
Supposed to look like Cleveland.
They did that in Milwaukee County Stadium.
Speaking of Milwaukee, just late-breaking news: Robin Young is on the phone here.
He wants to have a conversation with you.
But you know, you said something.
You said when you're up there, you know, physically, I got you.
Mentally, I'm locked in.
Just make eye contact.
I got it.
Then it's emotional, like those three.
Sometimes my back, got it.
All that stuff you're talking about.
Physical, mental, emotional.
Fine.
Derek Jeter said something.
He says, Roger Clemens is in another world when he's pitching.
He's there, but he's not there.
What does he mean by that?
Derek has to holler at me twice to step off the mound.
You know, when there's something going on, he has to get my attention twice.
Playing with DJ, I mean, obviously, everybody knows.
He's probably a better person than he is a baseball player, and that's saying a lot.
And teammate, one of the best.
I think that when I competed against him, he knew he was going to get my best at that time.
And then he found out when we became teammates.
They played a little joke on me when I came over.
My first live BP at in Tampa at the stadium.
I think it was Jeet, Knoblock, and Tino.
And they all climbed in the cage with full catcher's gear on.
Because Jeet said, you hit me all the time.
I said, you crowd the plate, your hands are over.
I said, most of the time I hit you, it was a strike.
So we went at it that way.
But have you seen the movie Legends of Bag of Rance?
I have.
Okay, so you know how he says, you know, like there's a scene where everybody's around.
He's about to hit the shot, and Will is trying to get him to say the audience disappears.
Did you really get to a point where the audience disappeared or no?
I tell this all the time, Pat.
You hit it right on the head.
I think it's the same scene where the fairway looks like it just exactly.
Yeah.
And that's where you get to.
The young pitching coach of the Phillies, we just talked the other day, and he was taking notes, and I got on some stuff that nobody would think about.
Like at Fenway Park and at Yankee Stadium, I had the ground crew mow their last mo job right down Broadway.
And the mower is about the width of a pitcher's rubber.
And so when I'm standing on the mound, it's like a bowler.
I have a lane where I'm going to.
And if I keep missing a ball or two off here, some of these guys start jacking with their arm angle.
All you got to do is move over one inch.
It's like if I'm hitting a slice and I'm out there gambling against you, and I got to, I'm going to go to the right side of the T-box.
I'm going to hit that.
I'll fix it on the range in an hour.
Instead of next thing you know, I'll owe you a grand at the end of the round, you know?
So that's the same thing with that.
Sometimes the turf has the seam that is going right down Broadway.
So it's just a great vision.
So now you're not thinking about, oh, am I going to do good or bad against it?
You're locked in on what you're doing.
How do you get there, though?
How do you get a lot?
What do you tell?
So, for example, like, you know, good ones can do it, man.
I know that, but there's a routine.
Like, you know, you're a public speaker.
First time you speak, you're scared shitless.
You're like, oh my God, what if I scroll about it?
You're breathing.
So how do you control?
Now, all of a sudden, do you look at them?
Do you not make eye contact?
You shouldn't just look at somebody else.
Act like you're looking, but you're not.
So, you know, so the but after the two minutes, you're rolling.
No question about it.
So, but you're but a great speaker when he's going up there, he has a routine.
He's telling himself something, right?
You're about to go to the mound.
What are you telling yourself?
Are you telling yourself, are you listening?
Like when I had Kobe, Kobe talked about how he's listening to certain music song.
You know, Friday the 13th, he will listen to that song to get himself.
He had a psychological way, he would get into the zone.
Was there a routine?
Was there a song?
Was there a book?
Was there a quote?
Was there an affirmation?
Were you telling yourself something?
You got this, Roger.
Just remember when you were 14.
It's the love of the game.
What are you feeding yourself before you go up there?
What they say about your pressure, you know, will find your weaknesses, okay?
And that's why we practice perfect.
That's why my bullpen sessions are locked in, intense.
Like I'm doing a 12-minute bullpen in between, and I'm going to be starting game three.
Or it might be a Wednesday afternoon business special.
Yeah.
It might be as simple as that, not what you wouldn't consider a big game.
I'm doing this, and I got guys moving over here, or the lawn guy, or the guy doing this, or I got somebody talking.
No, no, no, no, stop because I want to be right here.
My first three starts in spring training where you're going one, two innings, I can hear the popcorn vendor.
I can see guys moving in the dugout.
I can hear my sister or something yelling for me.
By my last two starts of spring training, it's just like that movie.
I don't hear anything.
I see the catcher and it's a game within a game.
I've had, like I said, some wonderful catchers in my career, and I'll call them out sometimes.
Some of my catchers like to move a little bit more and catch balls on their breastbone.
And I tell them, I have to call them out.
And I go, sit your ass still.
You're moving.
Am I moving, Rock?
Yeah, you're moving too much because most umpires, when they get down, they put their hand on the catcher.
And if he, I got, I, I, and if I'm painting a picture, yeah, and it's just and he goes, it's a ball.
So I want you to sit still, trust your hands.
I'm going to get it to you.
A professional player, really a double-A player onto the big league guy, if you're catching me and you're asking for a ball, and I should be able to get the ball within a ball and a half to where you want it and not make those one or two mistakes.
You know, solo home runs are good.
Three run homers.
I had the pitching coach, Bill Fisher, who's passed, went and spoke at his funeral in Council Bluffs.
To this day, he still holds a record for 91 innings without walking a guy.
So his biggest deal with me, when I struck out 20 and set the major league record, I didn't even know there was a strikeout record.
I was just going through that game.
Almost missed the game.
There's a story behind that.
Almost missed the damn game and got scratched.
Punch out 20.
He comes over.
Everybody's gone.
My wife's waiting in the park.
And I just got done icing, get my street clothes on.
And he called me Smokey after Smokey Joe Wood.
He was old school.
Fish was.
He had Tom Seaver.
That was the reason why Tom was with us.
He had Seaver when he was with the Reds.
Fish says, Smokey, he goes, Two things.
He goes, and I didn't know at the time.
He said, you know, congratulations on the record.
You know, you beat these three guys.
They had 19.
You did 20, blah, blah, blah.
He said, really proud of you throwing that rate of speed.
He goes, but guess what?
He goes, you didn't walk a single batter.
And I go, that's pretty cool, Fish.
Coming from you, that means a lot for you.
So he took two steps, turns back around, because I almost missed the game.
I got stuck in traffic and was late.
Crazy.
And it was bad.
I mean, I felt like a rookie going through the clubhouse door.
Everybody's looking at me like, are you nuts?
So he stepped back.
He walked away.
Excuse me.
I know it's not.
The Celtics were playing a playoff game and there was a concert going on.
I was getting ready to run to the stadium, but I'll finish.
He takes two steps because I almost missed again.
He takes two steps away if he comes back and he goes, Smokey, another thing.
He goes, you get to the damn ballpark anytime you want.
And I go, Fish, I will never be.
I was embarrassing.
I said, it was, it was, I mean, I was sitting and I could see the Sitco sign.
I was a mile away, had my boots and jeans on, a golf shirt.
Weiss with him.
We just had the one car.
We're living in an apartment, you know, stuck in traffic and panicking, starting to sweat a little bit.
You know, this game started at 7.35 back then.
It's like 6.50.
And so I get out, I pop trunk, I say, slide over.
I'm going to take my boots off, put my running shoes on.
I'm going to run.
How far are you from?
It's a mile.
It's a mile.
I'm going to run to the stadium from here because we're moving a car lane.
Is that Roger Clements drumming by my car?
Did you literally run?
No, I got in, started putting my things on my trunk.
So the motorcycle police officer comes in, thinks I'm broke down.
We, we, we, we, hits this thing.
I turn.
He looks at me.
He goes, holy shit.
Rock it.
He goes, hey, aren't you on the, I go, I'm supposed to be.
He parts.
That is so cool.
He hits his horn.
You got to get it, Roger.
You got to get back to.
No, no.
You got to win.
Hey, Pat, he parted that seat.
That's so cool.
He parted the seat.
I jumped out in the parking lot.
I ran in the locker room.
It's like 7.10.
They've already got a long man in the bullpen ready to go.
Fish, my pitching coach goes in the manager's office, fixing, get my ass jute out.
Sit down there, and McNamara's the manager, Mac, said, we're scratching you.
You're going to, now, I got to talk to the media about this.
And there ain't no way.
I said, bullshit.
I'm getting dressed.
I didn't take a no-frannis.
I run out, dress in a phone booth.
My pitching coach is 60.
He's never run.
You know, Fenway Park, the home to the bullpen, it's a pretty good waste.
I thought he was going to pass out.
We sprint.
I get out there.
I'm warming up.
I don't even throw a strike.
I'm bouncing the ball.
He's on the phone.
He's talking to the warriors.
He's like, leave the long man out there.
He ain't getting out of the first inning.
He's all over the fit.
I mean, I'm hitting the, I look like the same.
You look like PVD when he's throwing the first one.
This is pretty good.
It's a softball.
I look like the other.
I look like the other.
He sent out there.
Only peace and quiet.
I get the anthem.
Finally.
I got the worst temple out of my shoelace untie.
I bend over.
I mean, I remember like it was yesterday.
I thought my temple was going to fall out.
And I'm like, I get out there, friggin, rest his head.
I punch out 20.
That was that same day.
What are you talking about?
I punch out 20.
How do you lock in, though?
How do you go to 20?
It just started going.
And so, and that's why I told you.
I was icing.
Fish said, you get to the damn ballpark anytime you want.
So no song.
You don't have a song before.
You don't have any of that stuff?
Man, I played late in my career.
You know, Toby Keys, a good friend.
So I played not as good as you once was, but good once than you ever was.
And shout out to my man Toby.
He's been battling.
And, man, I did Lincoln Park for those guys.
You know, it's different guys I meet.
And, you know, I did some stuff with Nickelback.
Nickelback.
You know, I just, I just, I just kind of, you know, I got friends.
Like I said, the other sports, I watch guys, you know, you know, I watch guys in football that I root for and that I met that are really cool guys.
And again, it's, it's kind of wild.
You meet them off the field and you see them for the first time and then you see what they do.
So it's cool.
But I'm that way with like sitting right here with you guys.
I mean, it's, it's, this is cool.
I mean, I think it's, you know, I see the pictures in the studio and what you guys do.
And my two younger ones are business oriented big time.
So they're into it.
And not that my two older ones aren't.
They've got their priorities too.
So I want to show you this.
Like, I want you to see this.
Like, would you have ever had a walkout like this?
Now, obviously, you're not a relief pitcher, but when you see this here and this video goes viral on Twitter, gets 11 million views.
I wonder what you think about this.
Press play.
I want the energy.
I want all of it.
I mean, it's just the intensity of it.
Have you seen this before, Roger, or no?
Press play.
And now Timmy Trumpet takes center stage as Edwin Diaz gets ready to come in.
Tell me you've seen this before.
Watch this.
The best walkout right now.
The music, the build-up.
Adam, have you seen this?
Oh, my God.
She's about to flip out.
Look at this.
Look at the energy in the place.
Oh, my God.
Ready?
Here we go.
Timmy Trump in it.
That's intense.
Now, what makes it worth it is you got to get the save.
That's right.
I'm the starting pitcher right now, Ising upstairs right now, and I'm watching all this.
I'm saying, something great.
But let's get a couple out.
So I'm just going to tell you right now, that's cool.
And all these closes got it from the king, Mariano Rivera.
When Mo comes in, he's probably got the coolest jog ever coming in from the bullpen at Yankee Stadium.
Find one of those.
Mo will have his glove in his throwing hand.
And all you see is that 42 coming out of the bullpen.
Rivera.
Greatest closer ever, no doubt.
No doubt.
No doubt.
By the way, where did he get it from?
He got it from Ricky Vaughn, the wild thing, future league.
There it was.
Ricky Vaughn didn't have that cutter.
Ricky Vaughn early in his career looked like some of these guys thrown out that.
Moe's got him a song, too.
Press the song.
Let's hear it.
What is it?
He usually puts his glove in his right hand.
Oh, okay.
Interesting.
You got to turn it off.
I got to like it.
Enter Sandman.
I love that.
Yeah, he's a.
So I tell people, there's Pettit.
There's two things for sure in life, but there's really three.
Death, taxes, Mariano Rivera.
He's going to close out.
I like that.
It's insane.
By the way, earlier you talked about catcher-pitcher.
How much of the experts, like the guys, once you're like the best pitcher in the league, you, Randy, you know, you got Nolan, Maddox, you know, Kershaw, all these guys.
How much of it is you leading the catcher?
How much of it is the catcher leading you?
Does it change based on the experience of the catcher?
I know you said I would have loved to have Johnny Bench or Yogi and all those guys.
I totally get that.
But are you directing the catcher or is the catcher directing you?
I guess what I would want to know is the split.
Like I'm sure you're going to say there's part that you are, part that he is, but is it 60 catcher, 40 you?
Is it 80 you, 20 catcher?
What is that relationship with the catcher on the 20?
880-20.
80U.
80-20.
80U, 20.
20 catcher.
But that 80, amongst that 80, that catcher knows that 80.
They know.
80 is you.
Yeah.
Is I come in with all the pitchers or that's you?
I called 95% of my game from the mound.
Get out.
And that was before now they got watches and stuff.
Churcher the other day had his Han, and you noticed he was calling his.
He wasn't waiting for the catcher to call it.
He was calling it from his wrist.
He had one on.
I don't know if he's going to pitch with that on, but mine was all done with looks.
I mean, and like I said, I had to be careful if a guy got traded because they knew a little bit about him.
Plus, I would tell Jeet and Adam Everett, who I was with the other day, that I'm fixing to induce a ball coming to you, so heads up.
Now, Jeet would sneak up the middle a little bit towards second because, as you noticed, he had a great backhand.
He had that famous jump that he that he looked really.
I mean, that was his patented, you know, his deal.
But the catcher is super important.
But Jorge would catch Mariano, and everybody knew, especially if you're lefty, he's throwing that cutter.
Mo would break one or two bats every outing, you know, closing the game.
And he would throw that cutter.
So the hitters, you'd see the hitters sneak off just a little bit when you didn't think he was looking.
Posada would do his, and he would just follow him in further.
And so you're giving credit there to Posada for understanding that part.
Oh, absolutely.
Yeah, yeah.
And you won two World Series with the Yankees.
Is that what it was?
Yeah.
With that team nucleus right there.
We had an all-star at every position.
Yeah.
Great manager, Joe Torrey.
Great bench coach and Don Zimmer.
Had Zim in Boston.
Zim was, I mean, baseball lifer.
Did he get into it with Pedro?
Yeah, that was fun.
Oh, yeah.
I believe it.
Pedro kind of gave me the matador, but yeah, I was on the mountain.
He was getting crazy.
And they knew on the other side somebody was going to eat one eventually.
And I just threw a high-fastball to Manny.
It was a strike these days, I think.
And L hell broke loose.
But yeah, we saw this ball-headed guy go flying.
We thought it was David Holtz.
That's the one right there.
That's the one.
Go back to the battery.
Go back.
Go back.
This is a strike.
Look, watch this.
This is a strike.
That's a strike.
I don't know about that, Rog.
I don't know about that, Roger.
Look, look, look where it is.
Look, come on.
It's not even.
It's over the inside corner.
Come on.
These days, they call the high strike.
That's Manny.
Now, that is hilarious.
But I think Zim goes flying over.
There he goes.
Yeah.
Zim was hot.
Cloud.
Oh, my God.
Zim's 70.
I go, what are you doing, Zim?
Jesus.
By the way, what's opposite about this?
Go to the other clip that I sent you.
The one with, I just texted you which one I'm talking about.
I want to see his reaction to this with the audio because the look is the one I'm interested in to see what you say about this.
So let's see if you find it.
No.
I sent it to you earlier.
You should have it.
You should have it somewhere here.
If not, I can resend it to you.
But I texted it to you.
If you look at the text, just go to text.
That's the second one I sent you right there.
Right there.
Go to that one.
All right.
So this is you against Estes.
I'm getting ready.
You remember this?
Yeah, I'm trying to go deep.
Watch this.
I'm actually curious to know what you're going to say about this one here.
Like what you were thinking.
He was actually trying to hit you.
I don't know how he missed my big ass.
This is you and that, Roger.
Watch this.
They know it's coming.
There's the first pitch.
Fastball, it hits him.
Right behind him.
He threw it behind him and the walls.
It didn't hit the bank.
It went behind him.
I like what the guy says at the end.
He's upset that he didn't hit him because he was trying to hit him.
Yeah, I think the Wally Bell is saying something to Craig.
We had a couple Other players did not make any move and Mike Beyonce.
See, I'm not going anywhere.
You know, Astus has to be disappointed in that result.
He was obviously trying to hit him and he missed it.
I'm 6'4.
I know.
240.
How'd he miss me at that time?
So what's the...
I tried to stick my booty.
So what are you thinking there when that happens?
It's kind of like the tables have turned.
Now you're on the other side.
Yeah, but I played.
It's like in the National League.
The guys would say, I think the three years I was in the National League, and they're like, okay, because he has to hit two and you have to go to the plate.
It's almost better because when you get in a game that you have to clean up a game because they've thrown it one of your guys and you got to clean it up down the road, it's even better in the National League because now instead of throwing it one of my teammates, they can hit me.
So if you're going to hit me, hopefully you put me out of the game because if not, then I got the magic bullet again.
So that's the, I say that's the ugly part of the game, but it's the old school part of the game.
When I have a teammate that comes, they really don't sit next to me on the bench or come down the tunnel.
But when they do, I tell them, hey, you know, what's up?
I said, you got a problem with this guy?
And some very famous players go, I got a problem with this guy, Rock.
He hits me.
I go, we'll take care of it later.
So if it presents itself, you clean the game up.
There's been times where my teammates, pitchers, were supposed to clean up a game and then it fell to my game.
So I got to be the shitty one.
But that's, you know, you get respect from your teammates.
That's what you do.
And, you know, like I said, I'm with those points.
I didn't miss this.
Did you hit him back or no?
No, no, he missed me.
And then they said, that's it.
You had your chance.
One of their, who am I thinking of?
Gosh, who was the guy that's in the bullpen for them?
I played golf with the guy.
He brought it up.
He's like, no, you had your chance.
You missed him.
So that was it.
So I actually got a little bit closer to the plate.
I think my knees are in the strike zone.
And I thought he was going to throw maybe away, but he threw it right in there, strike three.
I thought it was.
Roger, I was watching a clip with what's his name?
Stephen A. Smith.
And he's talking about how the hell do certain people not belong in the Hall of Fame?
We have to ask the question because you can't do this without having a conversation about that and the controversy of it.
You, I own, I want to say, I don't know how many rookie cards of yours I own.
I think I own 60 Barry Bonds PSA 10 rookie cards, right?
I own some of the bigger Ted Williams card, Yoki Bera, all those guys and Babe Brood, PSA 8, 1933 Gaudi's like a million dollar card.
I want a lot of these baseball cards.
I love baseball cards.
But there's certain guys you're like, dude, I mean, this last Hall of Fame, you got what, 65.2, I think, was a number, some number like that.
You need to be at 75 with that.
And you've commented, you said something very important.
I think it was like 10 years ago where you said, in our family, we're not even looking at the whole concept with Hall of Fame anymore.
It's not, you know, first half of my career was about, you know, a generational wealth.
I've done that.
My family's taking care of second half.
I wanted to win.
You did that.
Great.
You're a champion.
Your numbers are incredible.
And there's a lot more people who are critics and not even fans of yours that would say, this guy belongs in the Hall of Fame.
What are your thoughts?
You've spoken about this, probably not something you like talking about regularly, but what are your thoughts about this whole, there's plenty of these guys that we feel belongs there.
What do you have to say about what they're doing right now?
Yeah, well, you said it, Pat.
I mean, after year one, when it became political, we quit worrying about it each year that comes.
Writers would call or people would call to say, hey, could I do an interview in this?
I go, guys, I've already made my blanket statement.
There's nothing really to add.
I have zero control over that.
And like you said, I probably get more, all my public appearances, I probably get more people that wish me and say, you shouldn't.
The only answer you can say is thank you.
I appreciate it.
Because they looked, bottom line, they looked at the facts and we did it.
We went about it the right way.
What we did was we stopped not one now that I know of, but since three people from making money off our last name and trying to sell themselves on that fact.
And so, again, I can tell you when I, General Myers, all the guys when I did miss, they called me after all the Congress stuff and said, hey, I had to sit in that same seat.
It's not comfortable.
They were going to try and trick you.
There was no facts.
They had some guy reading a doctor's report that the doctor never even saw me.
I mean, it was almost like a trap because of what they were doing.
I think the guy, Wax, I called him Waxhead.
He was up there sitting on a stack of phone books just trying to preach to you and let you get your story out and what things that meant to you more than my dad, like, you know, even the health risk of it when I got family heart issues in our family and stuff that, again, I need to write about at one time because I want it to be a, if I, I told the family,
I want it to be a great book and I want to give credit where credit's due, but I'm going to cut some guys off at the knees too about some stuff that's never really been out there.
Or like I told people, if you can read past the third grade, you would have known what was going on.
And I said, I like Jerry Springer and I like watching this shit, but it turned into a straight Jerry Springer show.
But again, President Bush called me, the support that I had from people that know us and know us as people.
You know, that's the way it is.
But the Hall of Fame is not going to change who I am as a person.
I tell people that's what I did for a living.
It's not who I am as a person, but I took it very seriously.
But it's not going to change being in the hall.
It's not going to change it.
Are you an NFL guy or no?
Did you follow the NFL?
Do you follow the product NFL or not really?
I mean, I root for the guys.
Do you remember Sterling Sharp?
Remember Sterling Sharp, Shannon Show?
No, no, no.
I know both of them.
So one on the golfs a little more.
Who's on TV now?
Shannon right now is on TV.
Shannon, so it's Sterling.
Sterling's the golfer.
Yeah, he is.
Did you see?
I hope I got to try to find this man.
Did you see the speech Shannon gave at his Hall of Fame speech and how he brought in his brother and what he said about Sterling Sharp?
Oh, brother.
I mean, I'm at a, oh, thank God I found it.
Okay.
I want you to see this.
And the reason why I want you to see this, I have a couple different things where I would go.
For me, just play this first and then I'll give my thoughts.
I want to kind of get your commentary and thoughts on this because, you know, what you've done with your 24-year career of staying in the league, that is not easy to do.
But play this clip.
And then it's a TikTok click.
It's not even a, it's very emotional.
Very emotional.
On the angle he takes.
I had no idea where he was going.
If you can turn it off.
This is his brother.
This is rewind.
Is he older than his older brother?
Yes.
Okay.
So watch.
Play.
Go ahead.
Of 267 men that's walked through this building to my left, they can honestly say this.
I'm the only pro football player that's in the Hall of Fame, and I'm the second best player in my own family.
Watch this.
Very emotional, guys.
Watch, this is nothing.
You have to hear what it says next.
The faith had dealt your different hand.
There's no question.
There's absolutely no question in my mind.
We would have been the first brothers to be elected to the Hall of Fame.
The 44 men and women that I thanked and congratulated early for giving me and bestowing this prestigious honors upon me, all I do is ask.
All I can do is ask in the most humblest way I know how is that the next time you go into that room or you start making a list, look at Sterling Sharp's accomplishments for a seven-year period of the guys that's in the Hall of Fame at the receiver position and the guys that have the potential to be in this building.
That's all I ask.
I don't say, hey, just do that.
The next time you go in that room, think about Sterling Sharp's number for seven years.
That's all I ask.
See what he's doing?
Managing expectations.
So for me, here's how I see this.
We had Kurt Schilling here two months ago.
Okay.
You're seeing him give this speech.
If you watch the whole speech when he gives and you're seeing Sterling is just like, you know, Terrell Davis one time was crying and the Broncos were playing like 13 years ago and his tears were dropping.
Do you remember the running back?
Of course.
And you're like, I've never seen anybody cry like this before.
And they're in the Super Bowl.
It's an emotional moment.
Somebody in freaking baseball, Hall of Fame, needs to give a speech like this and say, there's a bunch of guys.
Now you hear the criticism saying, you know, the Major League Baseball doesn't allow Republicans in the Hall of Fame because it's become political and you can't make comments like that or this and this and that.
You went to a Trump rally.
How dare you go to a Trump rally and you're doing this and you're doing that.
Kurt Schilling, you've been saying all this stuff.
There's a list of names that you can talk about.
The Bagwells, the Reigns, the Hoffman, the Schilling, the U, the Bonds, the Martinez, Mucina, Trammell, Smith, McGriff, Kent, Walker, McGuire, Sheffield, Wagner, Sosa.
There's a lot of names, right?
These are guys that crush it.
I was in the Army, 1998.
And Major League Baseball had just come off their strike.
I think they had whatever the year was, 96 or 95, 97.
I don't know what the year was.
Nobody was watching baseball.
Nobody was watching baseball.
Nobody was interested in the product.
It was boring.
It was dying.
Stadiums were empty.
Then all of a sudden, these two guys come up.
And one's name is Mark McGuire.
The other guy's name is Sammy Sosa.
And every night when we would come back to the barracks, dude, we would stay up till God knows what we just wanted to see the, you know, just want, it's like, what freaking, you know, rock and roll.
They revived.
Baseball owes Sammy and Mark Maguire billions of dollars.
MLB.
You owe those two guys revived the flipping game.
So here's where I take it.
I watch football and I look at some of these guys, what they look like.
You know, I'm a guy that's tried primo balling.
I did the TRT for like five or six weeks and Clem Buterall, some of the stuff that, you know, because I wanted to be a bodybuilder and you're kind of like, shit, I got to get into the center.
You really find out what the bodybuilders are.
You're like, oh shit, I can't do all that stuff.
But TRT, you know, you got these HGH, some of the stuff that Hollywood's doing it, football, they don't really get tested as much as some of the other leagues.
These guys playing football.
By the way, if you're not on something and you're getting hit by 350, I'm worried about your neck.
I'm worried about your body.
I'm worried about what you're doing.
So to me, it's not even about the conversation about that.
There are guys that gave their lives to this game that entertained the hell out of fans like myself and increased the product of MLB that belonged there.
But I feel like some of the existing guys are playing politics and some of them need to grab their, you know what, and make a speech and say, hey, man, when are we going to do, make an exception for these guys to get in?
I played against these guys.
So I know you can't say anything about it yourself because you've already gave your message and I'm not looking for you to have a reaction to it.
All I'm saying is this is my opinion.
These are my thoughts.
I think the game, if we were to look at baseball in a 20-year period and we said, okay, during that 20-year period, no problem.
Take Maguire out.
Take Sosa out.
Take Bonds out.
Take Clemens out.
Take these guys out.
What the hell is baseball?
Take those products out.
Who the hell is coming to watch the game?
Who's trying to see the temperament, the mindset, the travel, the sacrifice, the nine months out of the you're on the road, you're having kids, you're going through all this stuff.
Take all that stuff out.
Nobody's coming to watch the commissioner play.
They're coming to watch you play, right?
Michael made a comment about this in the last dance when they were talking about, you know, they don't come to watch the GM play.
They don't come to watch the owner play.
They come to watch us play, right?
He gave a representation for the guys, and Michael wasn't the guy that made a lot of money at the NBA when, as in his contract, yes, last year he made 33 million or whatever the number is, but he was never the highest paid guy.
He set the tone for everybody else afterwards.
Absolutely.
But it was also getting some perspective to say, these writers are voting you in?
Who the hell are you to vote a player in?
And you ain't played.
What opinion?
So to me, it's a little bit confusing.
I watch what they say, the speeches.
This guy's not in.
He doesn't deserve this.
He doesn't deserve that.
Hey, writers, you don't have a job without these players.
If these guys weren't playing, putting their bodies through what they're putting through, you don't have anybody to talk about.
You have a job because they play.
So anyways, that's my rank.
Not your rank.
I'm mad with it.
I appreciate your passion.
I can hear it in your voice.
Excuse me.
You know, like Greg Maddox told me he was voting for me.
Mad Dog knows me as a person and knows the person.
And I said, I appreciate your vote, Doggy.
But again, it's not going to change me as a person either way.
What I heard from you, entertainment.
I know we're entertainers, but this was still my, like you alluded to earlier, my first couple years have changed the generational difference for my family.
You know, pay off my mom's bills, you know, get her a car, da, da, da, da.
And then it was about winning championships.
The guys that know me, you know, I hear some asinine comments from guys that have no clue.
Like I said, if you could read past the third grade, you would understand what went down and how it went down.
I'm never going to play the victim, but I am going to stop people from using my name and spreading lies about me when they say it.
I do that when people shit on one of my teammates and said, hold up, you got him on a bad day.
See, like being, you know, signing autographs.
I signed 50, the 51st person.
I'm an ass.
So you can't please everybody all the time.
So true.
I'm not going to come off phony because I'm trying to get you to like me.
And, you know, this is who I am.
This is how I was brought up.
And I let the people, you know, like I said, I did some inner city work in Baltimore.
This Baltimore congressman made a couple.
He made them after I was in his office, took 25 photos with his staff and interns, signed all these autographs, and he was one that brought up you silver spoon athlete.
I go, hold up a second.
You know, I gave him the quick rundown, very stern about my background.
I said, you're reading a piece of paper.
You're coming out here in front of the world and you're getting stats on me five minutes from an intern.
And that's what you go off of.
didn't take the time to learn about me, who I am as a person, where I came from, or what this might be, or you got some other dude spreading lies just because he's trying to get my pocket.
So that's what I should have done when I went to college.
I should have just got my wallet and laid it on the table.
I mean, that's all it was about.
So I have some great, great friends like Reggie Jackson that are in the hall and they say stuff all the time.
Again, I don't think it makes you, for me personally, I don't think it makes you hit a ball further.
I don't think it makes you throw strikes being a control pitcher.
I think it breaks you down and hurts you.
A lot of these guys, I think it broke them down a little bit.
But, you know, like I said, I'm not going to get bitter over it.
We just quit worrying about it to come up day after day after day.
And like you said, I remember calling Jim Rice, my former Red Sox, and Jimmy got in on his 10th try.
So you either have the numbers to get in or you don't.
They made him wait 10 years because he pissed off a lot of reporters.
I called him and said, Hey, Jim Ed, I said, congratulations and everything.
I said, but let me ask you something, how'd you get better in 10 years?
Did you go play semi-profile and hit another 100 homers?
I didn't see it or read about it.
So you're either in the first one or you're not.
And I appreciate your perspective because you're the player, but I'll give you the perspective from the players' perspective.
I'm sorry, the fans' perspective.
The fans' perspective, I'm a voter.
We're voters.
We're not, dude, we don't do what you guys do.
I'm a business guy.
I run businesses.
I've busted my ass the last 20, however, many years in insurance.
I've done very well for myself, and now we're building a media company.
But from the fan's perspective, when you're dealing with a million things in your life, dad's not healthy.
This guy's going through this.
That guy's going through this.
You're having girlfriend problems.
You're having kid prompts.
You're having this.
You just want to sit there and just watch a damn game and have everything you were stressed out about be gone.
Fans are voting for you guys, bro.
So it's a different perspective for us than it is for you when you're like, hey, what else can I do?
I've done my part.
I get it.
But a fan is like, no, I followed this guy for this many years.
That guy needs to be in.
So it's a different perspective.
I get that.
And I appreciate you sharing that.
One last question I got for you.
It's going to be like, why are you asking this question as a last thing?
It's just for my own shits and giggles because I freaking follow this game.
Hank Aaron said something one time about the whole, you know, the whole, you guys got the Cy Young, you shouldn't be the MVP.
Yeah.
When you won the MVP.
And it says, look, you know, pitchers have their own deal.
Cy Young.
We have MVP.
I'm not changing my position.
They shouldn't have given him the Cy Young and the MVP at the same time.
You come back and you said, I have the quote somewhere here where you said, hey, I'd love for him to come here.
I wish he were still playing.
I'd probably crack his head open to show him how valuable I was.
That's kind of like what you said.
That was the Young Rocket.
Young Rocket.
This is the Hank Aaron.
Everett Hank.
Well, like Pedro's saying, wake up, Babe Ruth, I'm going to hit him in the ass, right?
Exactly.
So let me, quick story.
So my oldest son is Kobe Aaron Clemens.
He's named Aaron.
His middle name's after Hank Aaron.
So that tells you all you need to know about the Young and Piss and Vinegar rocket.
Big respect for that.
Of course, I thought your last question was Be about DJ no requests and what me let me just tell you if we got time, how you put things in perspective.
And it goes along with that MVP award.
So I win the MVP in the Cy Young, my first.
I'm a Red Sox.
I got to go to New York City.
We call this the butter story.
Everybody loves it.
And it's true.
Go to New York.
Pretty green.
I got DiMaggio, Mano, Ted Williams.
I'm looking right as a whoo-hoo.
Now, Donnie Mattingsley there.
I just, I'm the one that, you know, Donnie finished second in the MVP.
Baseball.
Now, this little soup, we're at the top table, and you're getting a cold piece of chicken, uncooked piece of steak, a little bitty baked potato, and a dinner roll.
And the dude comes by, straight Yankee fan.
He's looking at me like, the look he gave me, I was like, okay, he's spitting my food.
There's no way.
There's no way I need it.
But I'm going to work on this dinner roll and maybe this baked potato.
But he throws me a little cube of butter on the thing.
And, you know, mustache, drip, his name's got to be Tony for sure.
You know, like, walks by, does it, so I get through that dinner, right?
I only got one cube of butter.
I needed one more, but what the hell?
First year up there.
Fast forward, I win my second Cy Young back to back.
Back in the penguin suit.
Here we go.
Now I'm popping my feeling good.
I'm on Ted, how you doing, Mick?
How you doing?
Hey, Rocky.
Yeah, I'm feeling it.
Talking away.
Here comes the bullshit thing.
Same guy.
Same freak.
Tony Super Mario.
Looks like Super Mario.
He goes by me and I'm like, hold on, guys.
Hey, I said, hold up, man.
Hold up a minute.
He just gave me one.
I need another cube of butter.
It's all I'm looking for for my baked potato.
You know, just come on.
So I'm talking.
I see him come out of my guy.
And here he comes again.
I said, dude, stop.
I said, I've been trying to get you for 10 minutes.
My stuff's getting cold up here.
I said, all I'm trying to do is get another cube of.
I said, you know who I am, right?
He goes, oh, yeah, I know who you are.
I go, good.
I said, I'm trying to get some butter.
He goes, evidently, you don't know who I am.
I go, I don't.
He goes, I'm in charge of the fucking butter.
And he walked up.
And I went.
And that's what everybody did around me.
And I just went.
I'm in charge of the butter.
He said, I'm in charge of the damn butter.
And he walked off.
And so that kind of tells you, keeps you in your, in your that keeps you in check.
Yeah.
What a great story.
So there you go, boys.
By the way, you never played for Rangers.
You played Astros.
But was there any time that you almost got close to playing for the Rangers?
They were just, I thought I was going to get drafted by him early in my career.
That was it, really.
So I played, again, I played with the history was there.
And then going home to play, we flipped a football town into a baseball, you know, those three years.
And I teased those guys.
I have no idea how I won a Cy Young with Houston because we only had three and a half hitters on the team.
You couldn't give up anything, but they were wonderful.
Just again, you talk about the Hall of Fame.
I have more guys that I owe a lot to being great teammates that are not in the hall.
And, you know, I'd be surprised if someone said that they didn't know where I stood when I was their teammate.
But again, that's my upbringing.
Well, much love to you, man.
I appreciate you for coming out.
Really enjoy this.
This is cool.
I had no idea what direction.
We had some stuff, but we had no idea what direction was going to go.
But two hours felt like five minutes, bro.
Let's go.
Literally, two hours felt like five minutes.
This is cool.
And thanks for what you guys do and what you guys did for us.
