Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio News. Welcome to the deal.
Speaker 2: I'm your host, Jason Kelly here with my partner Alex Rodriguez. Alex,
Speaker 2: we're gonna get to our interview with Michael Kay. Of course,
Speaker 2: play by play legend for the Yankees.
Speaker 1: So much to talk to him about.
Speaker 2: I've got some things I want to ask him about you,
Speaker 2: about the Yankees, and lots of other stuff. He's had
Speaker 2: an incredible career from growing up in the shadows of
Speaker 2: Yankee Stadium to now being literally the voice. He was
Speaker 2: the voice also on Saturday that a lot of people
Speaker 2: were hearing when you went back to Yankee Stadium for
Speaker 2: a very big moment. It was so awesome to watch
Speaker 2: from afar. Tell us about it, tell me what it
Speaker 2: was like.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Jason, I wish you were there, because I know
Speaker 3: you were there with family a few weeks ago. But
Speaker 3: it was It's really an incredible afternoon, an incredible weekend
Speaker 3: for that matter. I was flooded with unexpected emotions or
Speaker 3: fifteen years feels like fifteen seconds, and it's.
Speaker 4: Just really cool and interesting.
Speaker 3: There's something that happens to grown men, I guess grown
Speaker 3: people when you win something so big, so special for
Speaker 3: a city, especially in plays like New York City, and
Speaker 3: to do it with all your guys and to be
Speaker 3: basket in those great memories.
Speaker 4: It was so much fun.
Speaker 2: And so this was the coming together, just to make
Speaker 2: sure everybody knows. So this was fifteen years since the
Speaker 2: two thousand and nine World Series, the last time the Yankees,
Speaker 2: one last time they even played in the World Series,
Speaker 2: if I'm correct about that. And we can talk about
Speaker 2: the Yankees in a second, but I want to stay
Speaker 2: with you. You know, going back to Yankee Stadium is
Speaker 2: always I don't know if it's tricky, but like it's weighted,
Speaker 2: it's weighty. What were you feeling as you, you know,
Speaker 2: sort of walked out and walked into the crowd, walked
Speaker 2: up the dugout steps.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Right, when I was in a dugout steps, I was
Speaker 3: kind of just joking around with Mariano Rivera and a
Speaker 3: few of other guys, and I.
Speaker 4: Was flooded with emotions.
Speaker 3: I mean, even going back to the torture and the
Speaker 3: agony of defeat versus the Red Sox in two thousand
Speaker 3: and four, just five years prior to that, after being
Speaker 3: up three to zero in that series and then losing
Speaker 3: four in a row, and then you cut to five
Speaker 3: years later and.
Speaker 4: Just a thrill of victory and to be able to lock.
Speaker 3: It down and close that World Series against the Philadelpha
Speaker 3: Phillies who had won the championship in eight the prior year,
Speaker 3: it was incredible. And obviously to get a nice ovation
Speaker 3: a Yankee Stadium. I haven't been back in a while.
Speaker 3: It was like a dream come true.
Speaker 2: You were nice enough to share with me that before that,
Speaker 2: before you came out, you were in the clubhouse with
Speaker 2: the team, and not just with the team, but with
Speaker 2: Derek Cheters. He's been a guest on this show. We
Speaker 2: talked a lot about your relationship over the years. That
Speaker 2: feels like a very big moment. It's one thing for
Speaker 2: him to like sit and chop it up with us,
Speaker 2: but to be, you know, sort of officially together in
Speaker 2: the clubhouse.
Speaker 1: What was that like?
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was nice.
Speaker 3: You know, Boone in and the hitting coaches asked us
Speaker 3: to talk to the hitters, and I walked in with
Speaker 3: their Jeter and Horror Pasad and the three of us
Speaker 3: just spoke to them for about twenty or thirty minutes
Speaker 3: and kind of just went over really sometimes in a
Speaker 3: long season, Jason, you need to hear a voice outside
Speaker 3: of like mom and dad, which are your manager and
Speaker 3: your pitching.
Speaker 4: Coach and your hitting coach.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and when they hear from a different voice and
Speaker 3: they're hearing exactly the same thing, it just brings a
Speaker 3: lot of reassurance to the players and coaching staffs. And
Speaker 3: hopefully we were able to cement the thought process and
Speaker 3: our message was short, it was tight, and basically, they
Speaker 3: have all the talent in the world. They just have
Speaker 3: to figure out a way how to play hard, how
Speaker 3: to compete, and how to eliminate, you know, the little
Speaker 3: mental mistakes. And there's no doubt that they can win
Speaker 3: a championship this year.
Speaker 2: All right, So you're feeling good about this team because
Speaker 2: I don't know. I look around, I watch the games,
Speaker 2: I talk to people.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 2: They're making it hard to love them sometimes, this Yankee team.
Speaker 4: I think they have enough talent to win.
Speaker 3: I think their biggest opponent is themselves, right, And the
Speaker 3: one thing you can control is to play hard every
Speaker 3: single night, which you know they have not done that
Speaker 3: thus far this year. But Derek had a great message
Speaker 3: is whatever the numbers are to this point.
Speaker 4: That's it.
Speaker 3: Those are going to be your numbers. Maybe two percent here,
Speaker 3: two percent there. The only thing that matters is why
Speaker 3: we're here fifteen years later is winning and winning a
Speaker 3: championship in New York is vital and that's what they
Speaker 3: have an opportunity to do.
Speaker 2: All right, So before we get to Michael Kay, just
Speaker 2: give me thirty seconds on Michael Kay, because this guy
Speaker 2: you've known forever. You knew of each other before you
Speaker 2: came together. You hosted a show called Kay Rodden Alternate Broadcast,
Speaker 2: and he made some big calls over the the course
Speaker 2: of your career.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think Michael Kay is one of the most
Speaker 3: important members of the Yankees family in there's Zeichgeist.
Speaker 4: I mean, if you know, probably the.
Speaker 3: Most important person not named Aaron Judge, because he's a.
Speaker 4: Guy that he's a legacy connector.
Speaker 3: You got to understand when he was in his twenties
Speaker 3: and now he's above in the other side of sixty.
Speaker 3: He started as a New York postwriter, then he went
Speaker 3: to the Daily News, and then he went to MSG
Speaker 3: and he's kind of done it all. But he's grown
Speaker 3: up in the shadows of Yankee Stadium. He's like the
Speaker 3: single most authentic fan. He just happens to be really
Speaker 3: great at his job and be the voice. But when
Speaker 3: you think about a guy that can say I introduced
Speaker 3: Joe Demajo, Yogi Bearra, Reggie Jackson, Lou Panela, Derek Cheeter,
Speaker 3: he's the one guy that can connect all those dots.
Speaker 3: He's an incredible person and for me personally, I'm just
Speaker 3: a big fan.
Speaker 4: Of his work. Both as a player when.
Speaker 3: I had big moments, I wanted him doing it because
Speaker 3: no one does the big moments better than Michael Kay,
Speaker 3: but also just someone that is a soothing voice that
Speaker 3: is very habitual and you know, recognizable.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, and we're going to ask him about the calls
Speaker 2: he made and one particular call that he didn't make
Speaker 2: much to your chagrin.
Speaker 3: Yes, and it has to do with something like five hundred,
Speaker 3: but we'll leave it right there.
Speaker 1: We'll believe you that.
Speaker 5: All right, coming up, Michael Kay.
Speaker 2: All right, So now we're going to bring in Michael Kay.
Speaker 2: I've so been looking forward to this conversation, mostly between
Speaker 2: the two of you. This is going to be super fun. Michael,
Speaker 2: thanks so much for joining us. I'm going to start
Speaker 2: by asking you how long have you known this guy.
Speaker 2: When do you recall first meeting Alex, Well, he was
Speaker 2: definitely with.
Speaker 6: The Seattle Errors. So that's a long time. So it's
Speaker 6: over over thirty years, right, Alex beautiful.
Speaker 2: So let's go back there, mean, let's go back to
Speaker 2: your college days. You grow up and you go to school,
Speaker 2: you know, practically in the shadow of Yankee Stadium. When
Speaker 2: did you know that that's what you wanted to do?
Speaker 2: And when did you know that you were actually going
Speaker 2: to get a chance to do this for a living.
Speaker 6: Well, those things are separated by a lot of times.
Speaker 6: So what I wanted to be the Yankee announcer. I
Speaker 6: was nine years old and I was very rational even
Speaker 6: as a child. So when I realized that I could
Speaker 6: not simply hit and I was afraid of getting hit
Speaker 6: by the ball, I knew I was not going to
Speaker 6: be the Yankee first baseman. So I wanted to be
Speaker 6: involved in the Yankees in some way because I loved
Speaker 6: the Yankees. There were years, like when I was nine
Speaker 6: or ten or eleven, that I watched or listened to
Speaker 6: every single Yankee game, much of the chagrin of my parents.
Speaker 6: So that was at nine years old. I wanted to
Speaker 6: be the Yankee announcer. But you know how many kids
Speaker 6: want to be, you know, the Yankee announcer. But that
Speaker 6: was that was the dream. Now in terms of when
Speaker 6: I thought it was going to be a reality. While
Speaker 6: I was at school, I had fallback plans. I started
Speaker 6: to write as a sports editor of the newspaper at school,
Speaker 6: and I got into you know, I worked at the
Speaker 6: New York Post.
Speaker 7: So I just didn't think it was very a real
Speaker 7: viable thing at that point.
Speaker 6: But then once I became a writer covering the Yankees,
Speaker 6: I was the rain delay guests all the time on radio,
Speaker 6: and I tried to like always make myself, you know,
Speaker 6: the expert on the Yankee so when they needed me
Speaker 6: on radio or TV, I'd be that guy. And I
Speaker 6: could start to see the germination of maybe that happening.
Speaker 6: And I by traveling with the Yankees when I was
Speaker 6: their beat writer, I kind of got rid of the
Speaker 6: accent a little bit, and I think that that's when
Speaker 6: I started to think, well, maybe maybe, with a lot
Speaker 6: of luck, that this could happen.
Speaker 3: So Michael, we've talked about this offline, and you know,
Speaker 3: just for listeners some point to know that we're very
Speaker 3: good friends.
Speaker 4: And I always ask you what kind of writer you are?
Speaker 3: You like a Tom Berducci, Are you, like, you know,
Speaker 3: one of the greatest writers? And I think your answer
Speaker 3: was very honest. You said I wasn't the greatest writer.
Speaker 3: I was always a good writer, and I could write fast.
Speaker 3: But I'm paraphrasing, so I want you to correct me
Speaker 3: and keep me honest here. But I had a nose
Speaker 3: to get information. People just felt comfortable by the way
Speaker 3: company included I will tell you a lot of stuff.
Speaker 3: What was it about you that was able to get that?
Speaker 3: And do you think your work as a journalist has
Speaker 3: helped you on television, because I'd never even say you
Speaker 3: don't say or you're always on point.
Speaker 6: I definitely think it's helped me because I still do
Speaker 6: this day, Alex, even when I'm doing a baseball game.
Speaker 6: I try to approach it as a writer or a
Speaker 6: journalist with that kind of thought in terms of I
Speaker 6: don't think I was a great writer by any stretch
Speaker 6: of the imagination, and I'm not being humbled at all.
Speaker 6: I got the words down, and the newspapers you had
Speaker 6: to get them down in a certain amount of time,
Speaker 6: get them in. It was important not to miss deadline.
Speaker 6: I never missed deadline. I was always the fastest writer
Speaker 6: on the staff. But my strength was as a reporter.
Speaker 6: I got people to tell me things. And I think
Speaker 6: that what you see from me on TV, when you
Speaker 6: hear from me on radio, what you're seeing right now,
Speaker 6: this is not an act. This is who I am.
Speaker 6: Alex knows me forever. I'm not different on TV than
Speaker 6: I am in real life. So when I'm talking to somebody,
Speaker 6: I think they just get comfortable. And I'm not trying
Speaker 6: to be a phony. I'm not trying to be too
Speaker 6: face to get them to tell me stuff. I'm just
Speaker 6: curious about things. So my curiosity, I think gets people
Speaker 6: comfortable and gets them. I get them to draw out
Speaker 6: a little bit and probably say things that maybe they
Speaker 6: didn't want to say. And that's why one of the
Speaker 6: things that I'm most proud of is the center Stage
Speaker 6: show that we used to have on Yes and kind
Speaker 6: of derailed because of COVID. Because when you have an
Speaker 6: hour to sit down with somebody and it's not about you,
Speaker 6: it's about them, and you're listening and you're actually curious
Speaker 6: about their life, I think you could get them to
Speaker 6: tell you really interesting things. And I can't tell you
Speaker 6: how many people that we had on that show that
Speaker 6: at the end of the show would say, boy, I
Speaker 6: told you things I never ever thought I would even
Speaker 6: talk about because you just got comfortable. Snoop Dogg told
Speaker 6: me this is the best interview I've ever done in
Speaker 6: my life. He told me that three years after he
Speaker 6: actually was interviewed. So all of that stuff made me
Speaker 6: feel good. And I think I bring that curiosity and
Speaker 6: almost that wide eyed innocence into everything I do because
Speaker 6: I really do care what people do for a living.
Speaker 6: I want to know how did you get here, how
Speaker 6: did you become successful? Because I want to apply that
Speaker 6: to my own life as well, not only to do
Speaker 6: the interview, but actually the use it in my life.
Speaker 2: You know, I do wonder going back to this kind
Speaker 2: of transition to the booth, it's a really interesting moment,
Speaker 2: not just in your career, but sort of in the
Speaker 2: history of broadcasting. Jerry Cardinal was a guest on this show.
Speaker 2: He obviously was pivotal and creating Yes Network. Tell us
Speaker 2: about that move to the booth, not just for you,
Speaker 2: but also kind of what it meant for Yes Network
Speaker 2: to sort of come onto the scene. From a business
Speaker 2: perspective and from a broadcaster's perspective, well.
Speaker 6: The first move to the booth obviously was to the
Speaker 6: radio side. So I covered the Yankees for five years,
Speaker 6: two for the Posts and then three for the Daily News.
Speaker 6: And during that time, the MSG network got the rights
Speaker 6: to the Yankees, so I pitched to them.
Speaker 7: You know, it's weird that.
Speaker 6: The biggest news is always broken in the newspapers because
Speaker 6: the newspapers before the Internet, it was always a day
Speaker 6: behind real life. I said, you're on the air live
Speaker 6: with our postgame show with Al trowing. Let me go
Speaker 6: on the air, go into the clubhouse and tell you
Speaker 6: why that guy threw that pitch, why that guy struck
Speaker 6: out on that pitch, why he hit a home run,
Speaker 6: and put it on the air immediately, because TV is
Speaker 6: the medium of immediacy, and they actually bought it, and
Speaker 6: that was my entree into getting a regular gig. And
Speaker 6: I was lucky because the Deli News allowed me to
Speaker 6: do it, and their only thing was don't break news
Speaker 6: on the TV because it was still paying you for
Speaker 6: the newspaper. So that was my foot in the door,
Speaker 6: and I became kind of looked at as an authority.
Speaker 6: And then when John Sterling, his partner left on the
Speaker 6: on the radio side, they were looking for somebody to
Speaker 6: work with him, and they had like five thousand applicants.
Speaker 6: I mean, being the Yankee radio announcer is a big
Speaker 6: deal and some wow, I got the gig.
Speaker 7: So I worked with John for ten years.
Speaker 6: And I'll tell you what, Jason, if that was the
Speaker 6: only job that I ever had, I would have been thrilled.
Speaker 7: If I would have been an old man and retired.
Speaker 6: And just doing radio, I would have been thrilled because
Speaker 6: I had reached my goal of being the ache announcer.
Speaker 6: Then they started they S Network, and I just think
Speaker 6: that the formation of the S Network, it was so
Speaker 6: forward thinking by George Steinbrenner, and I think that has
Speaker 6: changed the entire landscape of the regional sports networks.
Speaker 7: And it showed organization. And Alice can speak of this
Speaker 7: as well.
Speaker 6: There is something there that you could make money just
Speaker 6: off your team and own the rights for yourself and
Speaker 6: produce your own games.
Speaker 7: I think, yes, change is a whole game in that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure. I mean that you're exactly right. Did
Speaker 2: it feel like that in the moment. I mean, obviously
Speaker 2: that's again a big moment for your career. But also
Speaker 2: did it feel like you were doing something historic or
Speaker 2: were you just sort of like doing your thing and
Speaker 2: it was happening around you.
Speaker 1: What was the feeling of the moment.
Speaker 7: Well, the feeling in the moment that it was. It
Speaker 7: was definitely big because you could see they put a
Speaker 7: lot of money into it.
Speaker 6: I mean, they did not short shrift it at all.
Speaker 6: It was big time right from the very beginning. They
Speaker 6: didn't scrimp on.
Speaker 7: Coster at all. Whatever. But there's one funny story, like
Speaker 7: Alex I grew up really really poor.
Speaker 6: All right, So I was on the radio and I
Speaker 6: was making a nice living. And my mom at that point,
Speaker 6: so we started YES in two thousand and two. She
Speaker 6: must have been she was in her seventies. And the
Speaker 6: first year of YES, we weren't on cable vision and
Speaker 6: my mom lived in a cable vision area, so she
Speaker 6: couldn't watch the Yankees. And every time I come over,
Speaker 6: I try to drop by every day and she'd be
Speaker 6: sitting there. She goes, what an idiot, you gave up
Speaker 6: the radio. Now you're not even on TV. I said, Mom,
Speaker 6: I am on TV. She goes, you're not on my TV.
Speaker 6: You gave it all up. A nice job, you had
Speaker 6: a job you could have kept for years, but you're
Speaker 6: a big shot.
Speaker 7: You had to go for the big, big thing.
Speaker 6: And now, look, I said, man, just give it time.
Speaker 6: So at that point I didn't feel like it was
Speaker 6: that very big. But then the next year when it
Speaker 6: was settled then the games were on cable vision, I
Speaker 6: think she felt a little bit better, and you could
Speaker 6: just see that it was such a big deal around baseball,
Speaker 6: and I think other owners were jealous as well. So
Speaker 6: at that moment, when we got total clearance on all
Speaker 6: the cable systems, we knew that it was something big.
Speaker 3: So, Michael, one of the things that I love about
Speaker 3: the Yankees, and I know you do too, is that,
Speaker 3: and I think this comes from George Steinbrenner. The longevity
Speaker 3: of the employees of the team members have been there forever.
Speaker 4: And I saw it this weekend.
Speaker 3: Most people have been there for twenty twenty five, thirty years,
Speaker 3: whether it's Sonny or Debbie or a lot of the
Speaker 3: support staff. My question to you, is you still going
Speaker 3: to When I hear you every night is like you're
Speaker 3: twenty one years old.
Speaker 4: You're so excited you have.
Speaker 3: So much gratitude to still be the voice of the Yankees.
Speaker 3: Where do you get that appreciation and how do you
Speaker 3: do it? Because after so many years, it's like day
Speaker 3: one for you.
Speaker 7: Well, thank you for that. And I think that's important too.
Speaker 6: I hate any guy or gal in a job that
Speaker 6: phones it in, you know, it just takes it for granted.
Speaker 6: And you know, I've got longtime friends, most of my
Speaker 6: real close friends of people that I met in Collins,
Speaker 6: like Mike Breen. I've always told them, if you ever
Speaker 6: hear me complain about this job, just slap me right
Speaker 6: in the face, because this is a special job. This
Speaker 6: is a once in a lifetime opportunity. And you know what,
Speaker 6: there's things that.
Speaker 7: You give up.
Speaker 6: Would I like to spend even more time with my family,
Speaker 6: of course I would, But this job allows me to
Speaker 6: make things possible for them that they wouldn't have if
Speaker 6: I didn't have this job.
Speaker 7: So everything in life is a trade off.
Speaker 6: And every day walking to booth, Alex, and I've told
Speaker 6: you this when we did the k Rod stuff, I
Speaker 6: just look around, even if it's for a couple of seconds,
Speaker 6: and I realize.
Speaker 7: You're pretty lucky.
Speaker 6: You're big headed freak You're pretty lucky that you're here
Speaker 6: every single day, so I never take it for granted.
Speaker 6: And I think it's important to provide to the fans.
Speaker 6: When they tune into Yankee Baseball, they're tuning in to
Speaker 6: get away from the realities of life and all the
Speaker 6: things that are going on. That's their escape, and if
Speaker 6: the guy that's on the air is not happy to
Speaker 6: be there, it's going to bleed over to them. So
Speaker 6: I never want them to feel that way. And really,
Speaker 6: short answer to your question, I know how lucky I am.
Speaker 6: I mean, I never take it for granted, so I do.
Speaker 6: I'm pumped up every time I'm on the air, even
Speaker 6: if I'm tired, But once that light goes on, I know, Wow,
Speaker 6: you're a pretty lucky guy to have this job.
Speaker 2: I feel the same way about my job, and I
Speaker 2: know Alex does too. So it's nice to hear that
Speaker 2: that is how you feel, because it does come through.
Speaker 2: As Alex says, all right, let's talk about k Rod.
Speaker 2: That was the collab that you guys did together. Take
Speaker 2: us back to how that came about Michael and what
Speaker 2: it was like doing it.
Speaker 7: Well, I loved it.
Speaker 6: It's one of the favorite things that I've ever done
Speaker 6: in my career, and Alex was so easy to work with.
Speaker 6: And you know the way it came about was, as
Speaker 6: far as I know, I was being considered for Sunday
Speaker 6: Night Baseball. I ended up not getting that it wasn't
Speaker 6: anything I applied for, but you know, I was being
Speaker 6: considered to maybe do the play by play, which Alex
Speaker 6: was also in the booth for, and that that wasn't
Speaker 6: that it didn't it.
Speaker 7: Didn't work out.
Speaker 6: And then I got a call from Norby Williamson and said,
Speaker 6: would you be into doing like an alternate cast where
Speaker 6: you know, it is Sunday Night Baseball. We do eight
Speaker 6: of them and it's going to be you guys interview people.
Speaker 6: And I said, well, who would I be working with?
Speaker 6: And he said it would be it would probably be
Speaker 6: Alex Rodriguez and I said that'd be great. And as
Speaker 6: he said, I said, that'd be great the k Rod broadcast.
Speaker 6: He said, what I said, k Rod? He goes, you
Speaker 6: just came up with that. I said, I said, yeah,
Speaker 6: I said it just fits. I mean it used to
Speaker 6: be the met reliever they called him k Rod. This
Speaker 6: could be k Rod And he goes, well, I'll have
Speaker 6: to run it past Alex. I don't know if he'd
Speaker 6: liked that you got your name first, I said, Rod
Speaker 6: k doesn't work. So I have very, very very fond
Speaker 6: memories of both of those years. And and you know,
Speaker 6: once Alex signs an exclusive deal with Fox, I knew
Speaker 6: that that show had ended, but I miss it.
Speaker 7: I missed it.
Speaker 6: This is the first year without doing it, and all
Speaker 6: the time I think about, I'll see it would be
Speaker 6: so fun to do a k rat to today's show.
Speaker 6: But you know, I guess all things must pass.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and Jason, my experience was very similar. I honestly
Speaker 3: felt like Mike when I need a ski mask. The
Speaker 3: fact that they were paying us to hang out with
Speaker 3: one of my best buddies, it was absolutely incredible. I'm like,
Speaker 3: what a gig, what a country?
Speaker 2: So Michael, speaking behind the scenes, I also sort of fascinated.
Speaker 2: You've said a couple of times that you know, there
Speaker 2: are jobs that you got that you didn't even essentially
Speaker 2: apply for or even raise your hand for. Tell us
Speaker 2: about your career path in that regard and sort of
Speaker 2: how you've made key decisions. You know, obviously there are
Speaker 2: times when you put yourself out there, but there are
Speaker 2: other times when you were people just valued your work
Speaker 2: and then said, you know, here's another thing or here's
Speaker 2: another op oportunity.
Speaker 1: How have you navigated that well?
Speaker 6: I think unfortunately, I don't say this with any recognition
Speaker 6: for any young person. I think a lot of this
Speaker 6: has to do with being selfish. And I didn't get
Speaker 6: married till I was forty nine years old, and a
Speaker 6: lot of these decisions that I made that led to
Speaker 6: what you might say is my success. I didn't have
Speaker 6: to make it thinking of a wife, and I didn't
Speaker 6: have to make it thinking of children. If I had,
Speaker 6: I don't think I would have left the radio to
Speaker 6: the S network, because that was a gamble. Was the
Speaker 6: YES Network going to actually be a long term thing.
Speaker 6: I would have stayed on the radio. I might have
Speaker 6: stayed on newspapers just to know, Okay, you're going to
Speaker 6: have a steady paycheck. So I guess the fact that
Speaker 6: I never wanted to be married until I met my wife.
Speaker 7: Jody, that that probably helped me along.
Speaker 6: I mean, you know, you talk to a lot of
Speaker 6: kids in colleges and I said, well, you know, how
Speaker 6: did you do this? And I wish I had some
Speaker 6: kind of great answer for them. So much of it
Speaker 6: is fortune, So much of it is luck, just being
Speaker 6: in the right place at the right time. But the
Speaker 6: one thing I always do tell people, and this is
Speaker 6: the one thing that I'm a big proponent of, and
Speaker 6: I tell my kids as well, never punch a clock.
Speaker 7: Never worry about your work. It too long. You got
Speaker 7: to work.
Speaker 6: I think there's so many people in the world that
Speaker 6: have similar levels of talent. I mean, there's an outlier
Speaker 6: like a Bob Costas out there all the time, but
Speaker 6: most people have the same talent level, give or take
Speaker 6: you know, a smach And when it's time to get
Speaker 6: moved up or it's time to get a promotion, the
Speaker 6: people that are doing the promoting are always going to
Speaker 6: be the ones that say, Wow, that guy works hard.
Speaker 7: You know.
Speaker 6: People can't hit like Alex Rodriguez, or they can't throw
Speaker 6: like Alex Rodriguez, but.
Speaker 7: They could play as hard as Alex Rodriguez.
Speaker 6: And I think that's the one thing that you control,
Speaker 6: control the controllable, and that's effort. And the one thing
Speaker 6: I will always give my employer is top effort. I'm
Speaker 6: always going to work as hard as I possibly could.
Speaker 6: So again, long answer to your pointed question. I just
Speaker 6: think selfishness in terms of the fact that I made
Speaker 6: all these decisions just for me, and then once I
Speaker 6: got married, I was in these jobs and I didn't
Speaker 6: have to worry about that.
Speaker 7: But now I could see how it.
Speaker 6: Would have fet you because I had these two great jobs,
Speaker 6: a radio show on ESPN and the Yankee Gig on Yes,
Speaker 6: but my son is nine, my daughter's eleven, and I
Speaker 6: do want to be a big part of their life
Speaker 6: growing up, and at some point I think I'm going
Speaker 6: to have to give something.
Speaker 7: Up in order for that to happen.
Speaker 6: So that was the decision I never had to make
Speaker 6: when I was single, and I think that's important.
Speaker 3: So Michael, I want to take you back, call it
Speaker 3: thirty five almost forty years when you were just a
Speaker 3: young lad and you were writing for the New York
Speaker 3: Post or the newspaper industry, and at that time you
Speaker 3: had like the rap pack where you had like Bob Clappage, you.
Speaker 4: Had Jack Curry, John Hayman, Joel Sherman.
Speaker 3: You guys were like rock stars walking around, really smart,
Speaker 3: really competitive. You would drink, you can drink all night,
Speaker 3: but then you're competing a health.
Speaker 4: For the best story the next day. I thought that
Speaker 4: was fascinating.
Speaker 3: But take our listeners back to, like, approximate how much
Speaker 3: were you making on your first paycheck back in those
Speaker 3: days when you were in your mid twenties.
Speaker 6: Well, when I finally became the Yankee beat writer for
Speaker 6: the Post, Alex, I think, I think I got like
Speaker 6: forty five thousand.
Speaker 7: Dollars a year.
Speaker 4: Wow.
Speaker 6: And you might look at that and go, well, that's
Speaker 6: not that much, But believe me, that was more than
Speaker 6: my dad ever made. That was more than I dreamed
Speaker 6: that I would ever make. And I thought, wow, this
Speaker 6: is unbelievable. And I remember I broke a lot of
Speaker 6: stories at the New York Post because at that time,
Speaker 6: Billy Martin was the manager and for some reason, he
Speaker 6: took an incredible liking to me, and he hated he
Speaker 6: didn't like Bill Madden of the Daily News, so he
Speaker 6: would give me every single story just so that Bill
Speaker 6: Madden would get beaten and the Post would put him.
Speaker 7: On the front page.
Speaker 6: And I remember I kept going to the Post and said,
Speaker 6: you know, I should be making more money. I'm giving
Speaker 6: you guys all these front page exclusives and stuff like, oh, this.
Speaker 7: Is all we have. This is all we have.
Speaker 6: And I remember one day I'm walking out of the
Speaker 6: Yankee Stadium and it's about one in the morning, and
Speaker 6: Mike Lupik is walking out with me, and he would
Speaker 6: doubt columns for the Daily News and you know the
Speaker 6: Yankee parking lot. When you were crossing the old stadium allege,
Speaker 6: I saw Billy Martin's carr there.
Speaker 7: It was one in the.
Speaker 6: Morning, and I said to Mike, I said, I gotta
Speaker 6: go check. I'm sorry, I gotta go check. I said,
Speaker 6: something's up, just my reporter in town. I went up
Speaker 6: and I went back into the into his office and
Speaker 6: he was sitting there drinking, and he told me he
Speaker 6: was going to quit the Yankees because the umpires were
Speaker 6: holding their hatred of him against his team and he
Speaker 6: couldn't have that. Well, I ran back to the press
Speaker 6: room and I wrote this story and it was on
Speaker 6: the front page, Billy wants to quit, a big story taken.
Speaker 7: All around the country. Huge.
Speaker 6: And then the next day Mike Lupeka went to the
Speaker 6: publisher of the Daily News and said, we got to
Speaker 6: get this guy.
Speaker 7: Wow, no matter what, we got to hire this guy.
Speaker 6: And so at the end of the year they promoted
Speaker 6: Bill Madden to the baseball columnists and they hired me
Speaker 6: from the Post. I couldn't believe it. To this day,
Speaker 6: I still can't believe it. They offered me ninety two
Speaker 6: thousand dollars. Wow, they doubled my salary. And then all
Speaker 6: of a sudden, the Post said, well, we'll match it,
Speaker 6: and I said, no, I asked you for years to
Speaker 6: give me a raise and you didn't do it. I'm
Speaker 6: not going to play the Dai News against you. They
Speaker 6: made me this offer, I'm going to go there. So
Speaker 6: that was like a big deal in the industry because
Speaker 6: it also helped other writers because I was making I became.
Speaker 7: Like when a Rod went to Texas Jason.
Speaker 6: I changed the salary structure a little bit because I
Speaker 6: got all this money to go to the daily news,
Speaker 6: which is kind of a cool thing.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, and to that end, I mean, first of all,
Speaker 2: that is an amazing parallel.
Speaker 7: It.
Speaker 4: I know how much you study.
Speaker 3: First of all, you're a fan first, and I think
Speaker 3: that that's what you're able to predict what the fans
Speaker 3: are thinking at all times. And I mean you're usually
Speaker 3: nine or ten out of ten, which is phenomenal. But
Speaker 3: is there other guys are the same job that you do,
Speaker 3: pass or present, that you look, that you study, that
Speaker 3: you admire from afar.
Speaker 6: Well, you know, I always say, you know, I had
Speaker 6: a sister, I didn't have a brother, so and then
Speaker 6: you know my dad and I always said that there
Speaker 6: were four male voices that were heard in my house
Speaker 6: growing up, th Rizudol, Frank Messer and Bill White. I
Speaker 6: know you were a Met fan, but they were like
Speaker 6: Murphy Nelson and Kener for you. So I don't think
Speaker 6: I modeled myself after any broadcaster growing up. I mean
Speaker 6: I looked at the success obviously of Marv Albert and
Speaker 6: you know the way he handled big moments. I look
Speaker 6: across town. Gary Cohen is just excellent. You know how
Speaker 6: he broadcasts for the Mets. We've kind of run on
Speaker 6: parallel tracks the same years that we've worked and stuff
Speaker 6: like that. I look at him and I think he's amazing.
Speaker 6: There's a lot of guys around baseball, like I love
Speaker 6: Vin Scully. John Shomby is amazing, you know with the
Speaker 6: Chicago Cubs. There's so many great announcers in our sport.
Speaker 6: And you know, you don't steal, but you try to
Speaker 6: take a little bit out of everybody.
Speaker 7: So my son was a big, big consumer of all
Speaker 7: the all the calls.
Speaker 6: That they put up on social media after games, and
Speaker 6: like I hear him, Like he can be sitting next
Speaker 6: to me on the couch and he's playing him and
Speaker 6: there could be like little nuances in a call that
Speaker 6: I hear and I go, oh, maybe I'll tweak that
Speaker 6: a little bit and use it for myself. I don't
Speaker 6: look into this stealing. I look at it this borrowing.
Speaker 6: But yeah, I think there's so many great people in
Speaker 6: our industry, and I try to take a little something
Speaker 6: from all of them.
Speaker 2: Well, I know Alex would love to rewrite history and
Speaker 2: go back and have you call his five hundredth He
Speaker 2: told me, he told me that earlier that he wished
Speaker 2: he could redo that, he wished he could hit that
Speaker 2: win again.
Speaker 7: Okay, so Jason, here's the deal. And I told Alex's
Speaker 7: to his face. The guy took forever to hit the
Speaker 7: five hundred home run. I finally had a day off
Speaker 7: and he decides to jack on the left field that day.
Speaker 7: If he had done a lot sooner, I would have
Speaker 7: done it.
Speaker 1: But again, he just kept waiting and waiting and waiting.
Speaker 6: And I didn't make the call, but I did make
Speaker 6: the call in a six hundred, and I did get
Speaker 6: his last one, a six ninety six, so that makes
Speaker 6: me feel good.
Speaker 7: And I got his three thousand as well.
Speaker 4: That's true.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there you go.
Speaker 4: And I know where I.
Speaker 7: Was too, walking in Central Park and like I got
Speaker 7: my phone buzzed and said, Alex Rodriguez, sis is five hundred.
Speaker 7: Almost threw the phone in the fountain. I said, yeah,
Speaker 7: of course, thanks Alex.
Speaker 1: Maybe that's what he needed.
Speaker 2: Maybe he needed the pressure off of you making the
Speaker 2: call to actually it all ties together.
Speaker 4: It all ties big bumber in my career bag bummer.
Speaker 2: All right, here we go, Alex. We want to be
Speaker 2: respectful of your time, Michael. So we're going to move
Speaker 2: to our lightning round, so this will be quick. We'll
Speaker 2: bounce it back and forth. What's the best piece of
Speaker 2: advice you've received on deal making or your business?
Speaker 6: Know your value and you know I got some of
Speaker 6: that from Alex Rodriguez. Don't think that you're not as
Speaker 6: valuable as you really are. You should know exactly what
Speaker 6: you do for company, and you should be uh renumerated
Speaker 6: in that way.
Speaker 4: What's the worst advice you've ever received.
Speaker 6: I was told like the you know, sometimes if you're
Speaker 6: in a tough negotiation role.
Speaker 7: This I know this is a lightning round. But I
Speaker 7: talked with Scott Boris, who used to represent Alex, and
Speaker 7: you know, we talked about he never represented a broadcaster,
Speaker 7: but I have a good relationship with Scott, and he said, well,
Speaker 7: i'll you know, maybe I said, maybe you could represent me.
Speaker 6: He said, well, if you do, if that ever happened,
Speaker 6: if I tell you to walk away, you got to
Speaker 6: walk away.
Speaker 7: I said, no, no, no, no, no, you don't walk
Speaker 7: away from the Yankees.
Speaker 6: I said, you could walk away if you're one of
Speaker 6: seven hundred players and you know that there's going to
Speaker 6: be bidding. You don't walk away from the Yankees. So
Speaker 6: that was probably the worst.
Speaker 1: That's good, that's really good.
Speaker 7: All right.
Speaker 2: So you can't say Alex is an answer to this.
Speaker 2: Who's your dream broadcast partner, dead or alive? Who would
Speaker 2: you want to be in the booth with if you
Speaker 2: could pick anyone?
Speaker 7: Oh man, I really love the people I worked with.
Speaker 4: It.
Speaker 7: Yes, I know that's a cop out, so I won't
Speaker 7: go that route. And I you know, I idolized Vin Scully,
Speaker 7: but Vin Scully worked alone, so I don't know if I.
Speaker 6: Get any works in edgewise. It'd probably be fun to
Speaker 6: work with. You know, I have an unbelievable respect for
Speaker 6: Joe Buck. I would probably like to do a game
Speaker 6: with Joe Buck.
Speaker 4: Michael, what's your hype song before a big game?
Speaker 6: Well, let's see, you can think I'm corny. I love
Speaker 6: building a butter cup. That always puts me in a
Speaker 6: good move. But probably for baseball it's glory days.
Speaker 5: Ah.
Speaker 3: Nice, Nice, I already think you're corny.
Speaker 4: Mike gol just just just the same.
Speaker 7: They played that song. I'm like, what to build me up?
Speaker 7: Bud Ah?
Speaker 1: That's great, that's great, all right.
Speaker 2: And finally, what's your advice for you know, folks who
Speaker 2: can't be Alex Rodriguez who want to work around baseball,
Speaker 2: what should they be doing?
Speaker 6: All I can do is give advice maybe on being
Speaker 6: a broadcaster. Never turned down an opportunity to be on
Speaker 6: the air wherever it is, whatever it is, whether it's
Speaker 6: a podcast or it's a five thousand radio station, just
Speaker 6: be on the air as much as you possibly can,
Speaker 6: because that's that's the most important currency that we deal with.
Speaker 7: And again and I'll shoot it.
Speaker 6: That is, never let anybody, anybody in the world out
Speaker 6: work you, because that's the one thing you can control.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, this has been so fun.
Speaker 2: I was really looking forward to en I know Alex
Speaker 2: was too because he knows you so well. You know,
Speaker 2: it's one of these voices that's been in my head
Speaker 2: for so long, and you're written words as well. So
Speaker 2: thank you so much for the time. We really enjoyed it.
Speaker 6: Thank you guys. It was a lot of fun. And
Speaker 6: Alice gets get Krot back together somehow.
Speaker 3: Yes, Michael, and I just want I wanted to say
Speaker 3: thank you for obviously being on our show. You're a
Speaker 3: great friend, and really thank you for a very emotional
Speaker 3: weekend for me coming back to Yankee Stadium. Your incredible
Speaker 3: introduction as usual, it's like we've got the band back together.
Speaker 4: Made it very memorable for me and my girls. Thank you.
Speaker 7: I'm glad and I was so happy for you.
Speaker 6: The reception you got it was amazing and I thought
Speaker 6: the reception was incredibly, incredibly warm.
Speaker 7: You could speak to that better than me, but I
Speaker 7: was happy for you.
Speaker 4: Thank you, Michael.
Speaker 2: The Deal is hosted by Alex Rodriguez and Me Jason Kelly.
Speaker 2: This episode was made by Stacy Wong, Annamasarakus, Lizzie Phillip,
Speaker 2: and Victor Evez. Our theme music was made by Blake Maples.
Speaker 2: Our executive producers are Kelly Laferrier, Ashley Honig, and Brendan
Speaker 2: Newnham Sage Bauman is the head of Bloomberg Podcasts. Additional
Speaker 2: support from Rachel Scaramzzino and Elena Los Angeles. Thanks for
Speaker 2: listening to the deal. If you have a minute, please subscribe, rate,
Speaker 2: and review our show. It'll help other listeners find us.
Speaker 2: And remember, if you're a Bloomberg subscriber, you can listen
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Speaker 2: All you need to do is find the Bloomberg channel
Speaker 2: and connect your Bloomberg account.
Speaker 1: I'm Jason Kelly.
Speaker 2: See you next week.