WEBVTT - Vol. 6: Jim Leyritz 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:04.080 Charges. That's created by Portalais and Control Media. It's produced 0:00:04.080 --> 0:00:10.760 by dB Podcasts in association with I Heart Radio. This 0:00:10.880 --> 0:00:13.960 time a former Son's player who you might remember as 0:00:14.040 --> 0:00:16.280 t Rex. More video in just a moment, but this 0:00:16.480 --> 0:00:18.840 is Rex Chapman's mug Shawn, and we are learning a 0:00:18.920 --> 0:00:22.000 lot more about the charge of the Charge. What were 0:00:22.000 --> 0:00:24.720 the darkest moments for you? You You know, were there times 0:00:24.720 --> 0:00:27.280 that you thought you were at your wits in man, 0:00:27.440 --> 0:00:29.720 it was difficult, and there were times that I had 0:00:29.760 --> 0:00:32.280 to be strong for the boys during the day, but 0:00:32.360 --> 0:00:34.440 then I would go out at night in my backyard 0:00:34.440 --> 0:00:37.200 and I would just break down. Here was this Jim Lair, 0:00:37.240 --> 0:00:40.040 It's going through this Dui man spotter and then all 0:00:40.040 --> 0:00:43.000 of a sudden, now add on life beater. People always 0:00:43.000 --> 0:00:45.879 ask me, would you change anything about your life? And 0:00:45.920 --> 0:00:48.120 I said I would not change anything. But that night, 0:00:51.760 --> 0:00:55.640 Welcome to Charges. I'm your host Rex Chapman. Today on 0:00:55.680 --> 0:00:57.880 the show, we have someone who's been on the top 0:00:57.880 --> 0:01:00.520 of the mountain and also made a fatefulness vision that 0:01:00.640 --> 0:01:04.240 led to a mountain crumbling beneath him, almost completely swallowing 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:08.080 him whole. Thankfully, brick by brick, he built his way 0:01:08.080 --> 0:01:10.480 out from under the rubble and destruction to have a 0:01:10.560 --> 0:01:14.000 life of service to on their tragedy. My guest today 0:01:14.040 --> 0:01:17.000 is a fellow Kentucky Wildcat, though he's most known as 0:01:17.040 --> 0:01:19.959 one of the most clutch hitters in New York Yankees history, 0:01:20.360 --> 0:01:24.440 Jim lay Ritz. If you watch baseball in the nineteen nineties, 0:01:24.600 --> 0:01:26.520 you had to know Jimmy behind the plate and in 0:01:26.560 --> 0:01:30.120 the batter's box. He wasn't someone who necessarily dominated the 0:01:30.160 --> 0:01:32.479 stat sheet day to day, but when it was your 0:01:32.520 --> 0:01:35.479 team in October, you better believe he was a guy 0:01:35.720 --> 0:01:38.440 you wanted to see up there. So what happens when 0:01:38.480 --> 0:01:40.680 you're the literal king of New York and you're playing 0:01:40.760 --> 0:01:43.880 day's end right off into the sunset? Show up every 0:01:43.920 --> 0:01:46.480 fall in the Big Apple, have fans by the steak dinners, 0:01:46.520 --> 0:01:48.040 and you dine out the rest of your day as 0:01:48.040 --> 0:01:52.000 a hero? Right well, not exactly. In fact, in two 0:01:52.080 --> 0:01:55.120 thousand seven, a tragedy happened that costs one person their 0:01:55.160 --> 0:01:58.800 life and put the rest of gems on trial. The 0:01:58.840 --> 0:02:01.320 purpose of this podcast us is to give my peers 0:02:01.360 --> 0:02:04.080 a platform as they bear themselves to the mercy of you, 0:02:04.320 --> 0:02:08.200 the public. Some stories are cheerier than Others be warned 0:02:08.240 --> 0:02:16.560 that this episode may be difficult to listen to at times. 0:02:17.400 --> 0:02:20.480 I'm honored to have here today Jim Layris to tell 0:02:20.560 --> 0:02:22.800 us his story and talk to us about the journey 0:02:22.880 --> 0:02:25.600 he has been dedicating his life to making sure his 0:02:25.720 --> 0:02:29.280 second chance is its lasting legacy. Jim, thanks for joining us. 0:02:29.320 --> 0:02:33.000 How are you, my fellow Wildcat brethren. Hey listen. When 0:02:33.000 --> 0:02:34.960 I heard Rex Chapman wanted to have me on and 0:02:34.960 --> 0:02:38.160 I'm going to UK alum and as a kid growing 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:40.680 up in said Santi, how I loved basketball, was my 0:02:40.760 --> 0:02:44.720 first love and didn't watch you come in university Kentucky. 0:02:45.160 --> 0:02:48.120 It's a pleasure to be interviewed by you. Man. That 0:02:48.200 --> 0:02:50.560 means it really does mean a lot. I know, the 0:02:50.600 --> 0:02:53.000 older we get it. It sounds better to hear those 0:02:53.040 --> 0:02:55.240 things from back in the day. So I don't take 0:02:55.240 --> 0:02:58.160 it lightly. But I played every sport growing up, baseball, football, 0:02:58.200 --> 0:03:02.800 I swam um baseball. I couldn't hit. I mean I 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:05.280 was scared to get hit right, I was stepping out 0:03:05.360 --> 0:03:07.400 all the time. But by the time I got to 0:03:07.680 --> 0:03:09.760 a Kentucky you were a legend. I mean you played 0:03:09.760 --> 0:03:12.600 for coach Madison, Keith Madison at UK. You know, I 0:03:12.680 --> 0:03:15.320 hung with some of the baseball players as well after 0:03:15.400 --> 0:03:18.079 you left, and you were famous before the internet, Man, 0:03:18.080 --> 0:03:19.560 we didn't have a lot of guys going and playing 0:03:19.600 --> 0:03:21.519 in the big leagues from UK at that time. Tell 0:03:21.560 --> 0:03:24.000 me about the game of baseball. You're a kid in Ohio, 0:03:24.040 --> 0:03:27.120 doesn't follow, you know, any traditional route to the big leagues. 0:03:27.240 --> 0:03:29.359 How did you come into the game and what did 0:03:29.360 --> 0:03:31.919 it mean to you? Yeah, you know, it was a 0:03:31.960 --> 0:03:34.519 situation I grew up and again, like I said, basketball 0:03:34.600 --> 0:03:36.680 was my first love. But after my junior year school 0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:39.440 high school, my dad said, listen, realistically, if you want 0:03:39.440 --> 0:03:41.640 to be a professional athlete, you have to play baseball. 0:03:42.080 --> 0:03:45.120 And it was a tough thing to hear. But at 0:03:45.160 --> 0:03:46.840 the same time, I was just you know, I was 0:03:46.880 --> 0:03:49.840 like okay, and um, you know I played with a 0:03:49.880 --> 0:03:52.160 guy that you know, guy named Barry Larkin. Him and 0:03:52.200 --> 0:03:55.200 I were teammates. Yeah. So coming from Cincinnati, I grew 0:03:55.280 --> 0:03:58.240 up a big Red Machine fan. Uh, that was my influence. 0:03:58.320 --> 0:04:00.560 Tommy Brennaman was one of my best friends growing up, 0:04:01.040 --> 0:04:02.880 and I used to go to spring training as a 0:04:02.880 --> 0:04:06.800 bat boy in the in the seventy four seventy six, 0:04:06.840 --> 0:04:10.360 the big years of the big red machine, and it 0:04:10.440 --> 0:04:12.800 was just something that you know what, I remember, Johnny 0:04:12.840 --> 0:04:16.919 bench Uh one time gave me his catchers but signed 0:04:16.960 --> 0:04:18.880 it to me. As a whole story behind it. We 0:04:18.920 --> 0:04:21.080 don't have time for all that, but he signed it 0:04:21.120 --> 0:04:23.479 to me, and that day I became a catcher. And 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:25.640 because of that is the reason I got an opportunity 0:04:25.640 --> 0:04:27.760 to play in the Biglicks. Growing up in Kentucky, we 0:04:27.800 --> 0:04:30.680 didn't have pro sports anywhere around. We had to go 0:04:30.720 --> 0:04:33.320 to Indianapolis to watch the Pacers, and we had to 0:04:33.360 --> 0:04:36.400 go to Cincinnati growing up there. I can only imagine 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:40.799 that that team Pete Rose, Dave Concepcion and George Foster 0:04:40.960 --> 0:04:42.720 and all those guys. I only came to a couple 0:04:42.720 --> 0:04:45.240 of games, but man it it made such a huge 0:04:45.240 --> 0:04:48.560 impression on a kid from you know, the country in Kentucky, 0:04:49.800 --> 0:04:52.640 Jim Layritz was an absolute stud as a young baseball 0:04:52.680 --> 0:04:56.039 player and was projected as the number two prospect before 0:04:56.080 --> 0:04:58.920 Hall of Famer Barry Larkin. He had played at a 0:04:59.000 --> 0:05:02.600 junior college and Origina before transferring to the University of Kentucky, 0:05:02.720 --> 0:05:06.440 where he became a stud. Four days before the MLB draft, 0:05:06.680 --> 0:05:11.120 Jim fractured his foot playing tennis and found himself going undrafted. 0:05:13.240 --> 0:05:16.320 Talk to me about your journey from college to the 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:18.920 big leagues, especially in the late eighties and nineties. What's 0:05:18.960 --> 0:05:21.200 it like in the minor league farm system? You know, 0:05:21.240 --> 0:05:23.880 how do you as a catcher show your value? Yeah? See, 0:05:23.880 --> 0:05:27.560 back in those days, Um, I was never drafted, and 0:05:27.640 --> 0:05:29.680 so I was playing in a collegiately got in Hayes, 0:05:29.760 --> 0:05:32.320 Kansas and they signed me out of there. And it's 0:05:32.360 --> 0:05:34.880 just really interesting because the only reason I signed with 0:05:34.920 --> 0:05:37.200 the New York Yankees it was between them and the 0:05:37.240 --> 0:05:40.400 Kansas City Royals. It is because the Yankees said, we'll 0:05:40.400 --> 0:05:42.120 pay for you to go back to college and finish 0:05:42.160 --> 0:05:45.280 your college. And my mother was like, you take that offer, 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:47.839 because I want you to finish your you get your degree, 0:05:47.839 --> 0:05:50.400 which I never did. But I spent four years in 0:05:50.440 --> 0:05:53.200 the minor leagues. After my first year in the in 0:05:53.240 --> 0:05:56.400 the minor leagues, had a great year. Uh, And then 0:05:56.440 --> 0:05:58.359 all of a sudden, I went to Double A and 0:05:58.400 --> 0:06:00.840 the Yankees drafted a kid in the first round, a 0:06:00.920 --> 0:06:04.040 catcher out of Stanford University, and all of a sudden 0:06:04.040 --> 0:06:06.000 they came to me and said, hey, listen, you're not 0:06:06.040 --> 0:06:07.840 gonna catch anymore, you're gonna go back and learn how 0:06:07.839 --> 0:06:10.600 to play the outfield and third base again. And so 0:06:11.240 --> 0:06:13.560 it was just a continual thing of changes. And I 0:06:13.560 --> 0:06:15.240 look back at it now, Rex and I go listen, 0:06:15.279 --> 0:06:18.200 thank god they did, because that versatility is what kept 0:06:18.240 --> 0:06:20.479 me around eleven years in the big leagues. You know, 0:06:21.040 --> 0:06:24.599 at the time, the Yankees stunk, so it was an 0:06:24.640 --> 0:06:27.560 opportunity to go through the minor leagues fairly quick and 0:06:27.600 --> 0:06:29.280 get a chance to play at the big league level. 0:06:29.360 --> 0:06:32.120 And when I first got caught up in you know, 0:06:32.160 --> 0:06:35.160 the Yankees were horrible. Gene Michael was the GM at 0:06:35.160 --> 0:06:37.200 the time, and he called me in the office. He said, listen, 0:06:37.640 --> 0:06:41.119 Mr steinbergers on suspension. It's the only reason I'm giving 0:06:41.240 --> 0:06:44.600 the minor league guys an opportunity because normally Georgia trade 0:06:44.640 --> 0:06:46.520 for the free agent. He didn't bring up the minor 0:06:46.560 --> 0:06:49.120 league kids. And he goes, I'm gonna give you a chance. 0:06:49.240 --> 0:06:51.560 If you do good, you're gonna open up the door 0:06:51.600 --> 0:06:55.039 for a lot of your other teammates. Now I'm going, well, yes, 0:06:55.120 --> 0:06:58.599 thank you, but okay, now that's not too much pressure, right, 0:06:58.960 --> 0:07:02.240 And what hell are you At the time, twenty five ish, 0:07:02.360 --> 0:07:05.200 I was actually twenty six years old. Yeah, so yeah, 0:07:05.240 --> 0:07:07.800 See back then you had to spend three or four 0:07:07.880 --> 0:07:10.040 years in the minor leagues before you even got a chance, 0:07:10.680 --> 0:07:14.360 uh to get called up. So at twenty six today, 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:16.200 it would be I would be old getting called up. 0:07:16.400 --> 0:07:18.640 Let me ask you, because you come through in the clutch, 0:07:19.480 --> 0:07:22.680 and that's a big part of your professional career. Were 0:07:22.720 --> 0:07:26.120 you that guy in baseball basketball growing up? Were you 0:07:26.320 --> 0:07:29.440 not afraid? Did you have success doing it early as 0:07:29.480 --> 0:07:31.560 a young kid, because I know I kind of did 0:07:31.600 --> 0:07:33.880 and it it just bred the success. Did you always 0:07:33.960 --> 0:07:36.400 have sort of that clutch thing? And you two things 0:07:36.440 --> 0:07:40.840 happened to me that at age fourteen, I wanted that pressure. 0:07:40.840 --> 0:07:43.320 And when number one was my father. And the funny 0:07:43.360 --> 0:07:45.520 thing about my father, he was a mix between Bobby 0:07:45.600 --> 0:07:49.880 Knighton and what if I scored twenty points in the 0:07:49.880 --> 0:07:51.920 game he did, why don't you score thirty? You know 0:07:52.320 --> 0:07:53.920 I went three for four? Why didn't you go for 0:07:54.120 --> 0:07:56.240 for four? He was that kind of guy. And then 0:07:56.280 --> 0:07:59.320 the other one was Pete Rose. Uh, Pete Rose. At 0:07:59.360 --> 0:08:01.320 fourteen years so old, I was picking up balls in 0:08:01.360 --> 0:08:03.720 the batting cage and you know, Pete was hitting and 0:08:03.720 --> 0:08:05.800 we were picking the balls up for me and Tommy, 0:08:05.920 --> 0:08:07.880 and I stopped him and I said, Mr Roys, can 0:08:07.920 --> 0:08:10.680 I ask you a question, how are you so clutch? 0:08:11.240 --> 0:08:13.480 You know, because at that time he was Mr Clutch, 0:08:13.520 --> 0:08:16.160 He was you, Mr Hustle and everything else. And you know, 0:08:16.320 --> 0:08:18.640 I said, He said, well listen, Jimmy. He said, you 0:08:18.720 --> 0:08:22.920 see right now spring training. I treat every at bat 0:08:23.000 --> 0:08:25.800 during this spring training like I do the last game 0:08:25.840 --> 0:08:28.680 of the World Series. And I said, well, why do 0:08:28.720 --> 0:08:31.120 you do that? He said, because no matter if I 0:08:31.200 --> 0:08:34.120 treat every at bat is the most important thing that 0:08:34.360 --> 0:08:37.440 I will never think about what's going on around me, 0:08:37.760 --> 0:08:40.160 whether it's the World Series, whether and he said, it 0:08:40.200 --> 0:08:42.440 takes away the pressure as far as my thinking goes. 0:08:43.240 --> 0:08:45.000 And I was like, wow, you know, and this is 0:08:45.080 --> 0:08:48.240 fourteen years old. And from that point on, Rex my 0:08:48.320 --> 0:08:50.400 mindset was give me the ball. Give me the ball, 0:08:50.640 --> 0:08:52.600 whether it was you know, come up in the last 0:08:52.600 --> 0:08:55.560 inning to hit, or I take the last shot. The 0:08:55.600 --> 0:08:59.559 other thing my dad taught me was, even though our 0:08:59.640 --> 0:09:04.400 sport were team sports, there were two moments in one 0:09:04.440 --> 0:09:07.520 in baseball one in basketball that it wasn't a team sport. 0:09:07.600 --> 0:09:09.400 It was when you were going into the batter's box, 0:09:09.800 --> 0:09:11.280 and it was when you were shooting a free throw, 0:09:11.960 --> 0:09:14.600 and my dad said, you can't blame anybody else if 0:09:14.640 --> 0:09:17.040 you miss your free throws. And he used to make 0:09:17.040 --> 0:09:22.520 me and that was his thing. He shot, like, yeah, exactly. 0:09:22.880 --> 0:09:26.080 You know, but I think that's really why I really 0:09:26.240 --> 0:09:28.840 wanted that pressure moment. I love that pressure moment, and 0:09:28.880 --> 0:09:31.400 I was able to come through because I didn't think 0:09:31.440 --> 0:09:34.520 of what was going on around me. I was concentrated 0:09:34.520 --> 0:09:38.240 on the most important thing was that at bat. Awesome. Awesome. 0:09:38.760 --> 0:09:40.960 What's it like being a major league baseball player? A 0:09:41.000 --> 0:09:43.719 hundred and sixty two games a year plus the playoffs, 0:09:43.840 --> 0:09:45.960 especially as a catcher, you know, one of the more 0:09:46.040 --> 0:09:49.000 daunting and taxing positions in the game. Well, you know, 0:09:49.040 --> 0:09:50.720 that's where I kind of had a break because I 0:09:50.760 --> 0:09:54.240 wasn't the everyday catcher. You know, I caught Andy Pettitt 0:09:54.320 --> 0:09:56.280 was I was his personal catcher, and you know, there 0:09:56.320 --> 0:09:57.839 would be one or two other guys a week that 0:09:57.880 --> 0:09:59.679 I would catch. But I was able to play other 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:02.040 poss asians. So it was able to give me a 0:10:02.040 --> 0:10:03.679 little bit of a break, a little bit of arrest, 0:10:04.160 --> 0:10:05.720 but it was I was still able to play in 0:10:05.720 --> 0:10:08.600 the lineup, which is a huge thing because most catchers, 0:10:08.840 --> 0:10:11.440 when they don't play, they're not in the lineup, you know, 0:10:11.480 --> 0:10:14.000 because they can't play other positions. Man, it's got to 0:10:14.040 --> 0:10:16.680 be a grind though, I mean, no matter what you're 0:10:16.800 --> 0:10:19.240 you know, if you're relieving all of it, because I 0:10:19.280 --> 0:10:22.480 mean just the you know, some of the monotony of 0:10:22.520 --> 0:10:26.120 the days. You're spending days in different cities, and look, 0:10:26.200 --> 0:10:28.400 I know, you know, I know, we have the greatest 0:10:28.480 --> 0:10:31.880 job in the world as a professional athlete, but it's 0:10:31.920 --> 0:10:35.360 not without its issues. How daunting is it? Just getting 0:10:35.480 --> 0:10:39.839 up and going every single day, every single day? Yeah, 0:10:39.880 --> 0:10:41.520 it was interesting. In my first couple of years in 0:10:41.520 --> 0:10:43.280 the big leagues, I lived in Florida and my family 0:10:43.360 --> 0:10:46.640 was from Ohio and they all still live in Cincinnati, 0:10:47.000 --> 0:10:49.800 and every offseason I'd come home, like when you come 0:10:49.800 --> 0:10:52.720 into Ohio, I'm like, guys, I've been traveling all year. 0:10:52.880 --> 0:10:55.400 If you want to come see me, you come to Florida, 0:10:55.559 --> 0:10:58.199 which wasn't a bad place to go to. But in 0:10:58.280 --> 0:11:00.559 the beginning they didn't understand, and then all of a 0:11:00.600 --> 0:11:02.960 sudden they started to realize, well, you know, you're on 0:11:03.000 --> 0:11:05.600 the road, and even like no one lives in the 0:11:05.600 --> 0:11:08.360 spring training town. So you're away thirty days right then, 0:11:09.080 --> 0:11:11.280 and then you go away for your season, you know, 0:11:11.480 --> 0:11:14.120 which was I went from Florida to New York. So 0:11:14.200 --> 0:11:16.200 if I saw my house three months out of the year, 0:11:16.640 --> 0:11:21.760 I was lucky, you know. And especially in ninety and 0:11:21.760 --> 0:11:23.680 when we started winning and going to the playoffs in 0:11:23.679 --> 0:11:25.920 the World Series. We never got home to the end 0:11:25.960 --> 0:11:29.360 of October, and so you had November, December, January. In 0:11:29.360 --> 0:11:31.520 February you were packing back up and going to spring 0:11:31.520 --> 0:11:34.280 training again. So it was a little bit difficult. And 0:11:34.320 --> 0:11:36.960 like you said, the mental grind of a hundred and 0:11:37.000 --> 0:11:39.120 sixty two games in a hundred and eighty days plus 0:11:39.160 --> 0:11:42.320 spring training, that was more of a grind than anything else. 0:11:42.559 --> 0:11:45.000 And everybody always says today, hey, what do you miss 0:11:45.000 --> 0:11:47.040 about the game? What do you miss? Do you miss playing? 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:49.760 And I said, I missed playing, I missed the camaraderie 0:11:49.760 --> 0:11:52.840 with the guys, I miss seeing the fans. I don't 0:11:52.880 --> 0:12:06.719 miss the travel ever in the field, back in the 0:12:06.920 --> 0:12:18.040 track and the room, dancing in the streets in New 0:12:18.120 --> 0:12:25.880 York right now and it's the County Stadium, all right. 0:12:25.960 --> 0:12:28.640 Let's fast forward a little bit nineties six World Series 0:12:28.720 --> 0:12:31.600 Game four, you hit a three run home run to 0:12:31.640 --> 0:12:34.480 tie the game, the Yankees winning six games. What do 0:12:34.520 --> 0:12:36.960 you remember about the parade and how you were treated 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:40.160 that summer and then you're traded, you know, being caught 0:12:40.240 --> 0:12:42.320 up in the nineties when we were losing a hundred games, 0:12:42.360 --> 0:12:44.520 and you know, we got really close to ninety four. 0:12:44.760 --> 0:12:46.360 We were going to be in the World Series of 0:12:46.440 --> 0:12:48.760 ninety four, and then of course the strike hits. Then 0:12:48.800 --> 0:12:50.360 we get to the point where we finally get down 0:12:50.400 --> 0:12:52.839 manically to a playoff game. We win the first two 0:12:52.840 --> 0:12:55.840 games against Seattle, and then we get swept. You know, 0:12:55.960 --> 0:12:57.520 it was kind of like and I hit a huge 0:12:57.559 --> 0:12:59.960 home run that year in the playoffs, but they became 0:13:00.120 --> 0:13:02.559 a footnote because we didn't win. When we get to 0:13:02.679 --> 0:13:05.079 ninety six and I come up in the eighth inning 0:13:05.120 --> 0:13:06.920 against Wallers and I hit the big home run that 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:10.400 ties it up and completely shifted the momentum, and then 0:13:10.760 --> 0:13:12.440 we went on to win that game. On the way 0:13:12.480 --> 0:13:17.640 Bogs Walk win the series, and the parade rex it 0:13:17.800 --> 0:13:21.400 was nuts. It was I remember. I remember the ninety 0:13:21.400 --> 0:13:24.560 four Rangers winning because I was a huge hockey fan 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:26.840 and I dragged out of the ninety four Cup with 0:13:26.880 --> 0:13:30.440 the Rangers. But I remember the Rangers the Rangers parade 0:13:30.440 --> 0:13:33.360 in ninety four, and I was like, man, that would 0:13:33.400 --> 0:13:35.720 be awesome to have one of those for us. And 0:13:35.720 --> 0:13:38.320 then we get the ninety six We win that and 0:13:38.559 --> 0:13:41.440 there were four and a half million people at this 0:13:41.520 --> 0:13:44.320 parade and it was just one of the most awesome 0:13:44.360 --> 0:13:46.679 days that we ever had, I can imagine. But then 0:13:46.720 --> 0:13:50.760 you're traded. I mean that had to be just kind 0:13:50.760 --> 0:13:54.640 of bitter sweet, right. Well, it was a situation where 0:13:55.040 --> 0:13:58.080 I wanted to play every day and I at this 0:13:58.160 --> 0:14:00.480 particular time, you know, Mr Steinbanner of me because I 0:14:00.480 --> 0:14:02.400 just hit the biggest home run for him, and he 0:14:02.400 --> 0:14:04.600 already started loving me after ninety five because I hit 0:14:04.640 --> 0:14:07.080 that one on and so we had a really really 0:14:07.080 --> 0:14:10.080 good relationship. And after the ninety six season was over, 0:14:10.120 --> 0:14:13.040 I was in Tampa working out and I walked into 0:14:13.120 --> 0:14:16.400 Mr Steinbrenner's office and said, you know, am I gonna 0:14:16.440 --> 0:14:18.520 play more next year? You know, is there any way 0:14:18.520 --> 0:14:20.640 that you can find out? Because if I'm not, I 0:14:20.640 --> 0:14:22.480 would appreciate it if you give me an opportunity to 0:14:22.520 --> 0:14:25.240 go play somewhere else. He was like, let me talk 0:14:25.280 --> 0:14:28.600 to Mr Tor and so he knew he was drinking 0:14:28.600 --> 0:14:31.920 buddies at my agent and uh, so I get a 0:14:31.920 --> 0:14:36.240 phone call. That helps. So I get a phone call 0:14:36.280 --> 0:14:38.800 like four days later from my agent saying did you 0:14:38.840 --> 0:14:41.360 talk to Steinbrenner And I said, yeah, I just kind 0:14:41.360 --> 0:14:42.880 of asked him I wanted to play every day, and 0:14:42.880 --> 0:14:45.040 I said, you know, I was comfortable doing that. And 0:14:45.040 --> 0:14:46.960 he said, well, he just called me and said if 0:14:46.960 --> 0:14:49.640 I could make a deal for you, that he'll allow 0:14:49.680 --> 0:14:51.840 you to go somewhere else to play every day. And 0:14:51.880 --> 0:14:53.360 he said, I've been on the phone for the last 0:14:53.400 --> 0:14:56.360 two days and I've got a deal with the Anaheim Angels. 0:14:56.880 --> 0:14:58.880 You're gonna get a three year contract, which was my 0:14:58.880 --> 0:15:01.560 first multi year cont racked and they want you to 0:15:01.600 --> 0:15:05.360 come there and catch every day. And I was like wow. Now, 0:15:05.360 --> 0:15:07.120 at the time, Rex, I was working out at the 0:15:07.160 --> 0:15:10.800 complex in Tampa with the Yankees. So they trade me 0:15:11.440 --> 0:15:12.920 and I come in the next day and I walked 0:15:12.920 --> 0:15:15.840 into Mr. Steinbrenner's office with my bag and I said, hey, 0:15:15.840 --> 0:15:18.040 thank you so much for everything. I appreciate you give 0:15:18.120 --> 0:15:21.240 me the opportunity to go play somewhere else. And he said, Jimmy, 0:15:21.280 --> 0:15:23.000 he said, you will always be a Yankee. He said, 0:15:23.000 --> 0:15:24.920 why do you have your bag? I said, when I 0:15:24.960 --> 0:15:27.680 can't work out it anymore. I'm an angel now. He said, 0:15:27.680 --> 0:15:30.040 you go put that bag back in your locker. You 0:15:30.040 --> 0:15:32.280 can work out at this field as long as you want, 0:15:32.720 --> 0:15:34.040 you know, as long as you don't come back and 0:15:34.120 --> 0:15:37.480 kill us. You know that that type of situation. But 0:15:37.920 --> 0:15:40.320 he was just such a great loyal guy. And and 0:15:40.360 --> 0:15:42.400 like I said, most people didn't know that I actually 0:15:42.440 --> 0:15:45.000 asked for the trade, and so it actually was a 0:15:45.000 --> 0:15:47.720 benefit for me to be able to get that opportunity. 0:15:47.880 --> 0:15:51.160 What did that three years of security? Uh? That three 0:15:51.240 --> 0:15:55.520 year deal? How gratifying was that for you? Yeah? It 0:15:55.680 --> 0:15:58.440 was something that even though I had some good years 0:15:58.440 --> 0:16:02.320 with the Yankees, even you know, I need four. Um, 0:16:02.360 --> 0:16:05.200 I wasn't getting anything more than a one year contract. 0:16:05.640 --> 0:16:08.440 And it was every off season was like what am 0:16:08.480 --> 0:16:09.720 I gonna do? What am I gonna do? Where am 0:16:09.760 --> 0:16:12.880 I gonna play? What's gonna happen to have that security? 0:16:13.080 --> 0:16:15.800 For the Angels to do that, um and give me 0:16:15.840 --> 0:16:18.440 that three year deal. I didn't really care after that 0:16:18.480 --> 0:16:21.040 whether or not I got traded seventy five more times. 0:16:21.280 --> 0:16:24.080 I knew that I had three years, you know, Baseball 0:16:24.160 --> 0:16:26.960 is different. You know. Baseball is a guaranteed contract, and 0:16:27.000 --> 0:16:29.600 to have that kind of security, Uh, it meant the 0:16:29.640 --> 0:16:31.360 world to me. And it meant that I finally had 0:16:31.400 --> 0:16:35.120 an opportunity to play every day. There was no better 0:16:35.160 --> 0:16:38.760 feeling than having that. It's amazing you admitted using infant 0:16:38.800 --> 0:16:41.000 it means during your career when they were still legal 0:16:41.040 --> 0:16:43.560 in the league. What was the process behind that? How 0:16:43.640 --> 0:16:46.360 much did it actually help? Was it for injury recovery 0:16:46.440 --> 0:16:48.960 performance or was there more to it? How did you 0:16:49.040 --> 0:16:51.000 become introduced to him? Well, this is where you and 0:16:51.000 --> 0:16:53.320 I are kindred spirits. I mean, the bottom line is 0:16:53.360 --> 0:16:56.440 I have a d h D really really bad, all right, 0:16:56.520 --> 0:17:00.200 And had they had the medicine and knowing that and 0:17:00.280 --> 0:17:03.440 fetta means helped a d h D, they probably would 0:17:03.440 --> 0:17:04.840 have given it to me back then like they do 0:17:04.960 --> 0:17:08.119 now to the players that abot you know, and I 0:17:08.160 --> 0:17:10.639 didn't know back then when I took them that that 0:17:10.760 --> 0:17:13.760 was actually helping me concentrate, That was actually having me focus. 0:17:14.359 --> 0:17:17.400 That was the advantage, you know. And again it had 0:17:17.440 --> 0:17:20.880 nothing to do with given making me stronger, making me better, 0:17:20.920 --> 0:17:23.879 you know. It was just the ability to focus the 0:17:24.040 --> 0:17:27.600 and then let my natural abilities come out, and had, 0:17:27.680 --> 0:17:30.159 like I said, had it been diagnosed back then, it 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:33.919 would have been fine. I can't that makes complete sense, um, 0:17:33.960 --> 0:17:37.080 you know, and I would get bored in baseball, you know, 0:17:37.119 --> 0:17:39.880 I'd lose concentration for you knew it. I'm just looking 0:17:39.920 --> 0:17:41.840 at the girls and forgetting what's going on in the 0:17:42.000 --> 0:17:45.840 on the field. So that makes complete sense. And that 0:17:45.920 --> 0:17:48.320 was a situation where, you know, guys were taking a 0:17:48.359 --> 0:17:50.280 lot of guys were just taking it. Just instead of 0:17:50.320 --> 0:17:53.199 drinking five cups of coffee, it was maybe safer to 0:17:53.240 --> 0:17:56.119 take an infett a mean, you know. And again it 0:17:56.200 --> 0:17:57.480 was just one of those things that I gave you 0:17:57.520 --> 0:17:59.399 about a three and a half to four hour lift, 0:18:00.080 --> 0:18:01.840 just long enough to get through a baseball game, which 0:18:01.920 --> 0:18:06.399 unless we were playing the Red Sox, uh, but just 0:18:06.480 --> 0:18:08.520 long enough to get through a game and to be 0:18:08.720 --> 0:18:11.040 had that concentration for that full three and a half 0:18:11.119 --> 0:18:14.480 four hours. Looking back, do you think you had any 0:18:14.520 --> 0:18:17.840 any destructive character traits or vices during your time as 0:18:17.880 --> 0:18:21.400 a player that carried over into your retirement. Oh yeah, 0:18:21.440 --> 0:18:23.800 I mean, you know, I made a lot of personal decisions, 0:18:24.080 --> 0:18:28.879 you know, relationships, sexual, you know, doing things sexually and uh, 0:18:28.880 --> 0:18:31.000 there were so many things that. Number one, it was 0:18:31.080 --> 0:18:33.520 just a smartasport because you were in the major leagues 0:18:33.880 --> 0:18:36.600 and everything was there. And a kid from Cincinnatio, how 0:18:36.680 --> 0:18:39.679 growing up, you know, I was not privy to that 0:18:39.720 --> 0:18:42.200 type of thing. It was you know, you get lost 0:18:42.200 --> 0:18:45.560 in it sometimes. And even though I was still having 0:18:45.600 --> 0:18:47.800 success on the field, and even though I was still 0:18:47.840 --> 0:18:50.960 doing well, it was one of those situations. Not playing 0:18:50.960 --> 0:18:53.600 every day, I had a lot of free time, you know. 0:18:53.960 --> 0:18:56.000 And I was the kind of guy that you know, 0:18:56.080 --> 0:18:58.560 I embraced New York. I wore a cowboy hat, I 0:18:58.600 --> 0:19:01.160 had a cowboy boots. I was known as Country Jim, 0:19:01.880 --> 0:19:05.000 and uh, you know, my first experience in a nightclub 0:19:05.040 --> 0:19:07.800 in New York was sitting at a table that they 0:19:07.840 --> 0:19:09.520 got for me because I was Jim Larious of the 0:19:09.520 --> 0:19:13.040 New York Yankees, the new rookie sensation. And I'm sitting 0:19:13.080 --> 0:19:16.000 there with my cowboy at my cowboy boots, and all 0:19:16.040 --> 0:19:18.639 of a sudden, these three big black bouncers come up 0:19:18.680 --> 0:19:20.600 to me and go, excuse me, can we ask you 0:19:20.640 --> 0:19:22.840