Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. The hardest part was
Speaker 1: having patience. You know, as a player, you get a hit,
Speaker 1: you don't get a hit. You win a game, you
Speaker 1: lose a game. It's instant gratification or failure. When you're
Speaker 1: building something, especially in organization, a sports organization, where basically
Speaker 1: you're turning something around right, you're going in another direction,
Speaker 1: it takes time that can be very, very draining mentally
Speaker 1: because you want it to happen right away.
Speaker 2: Alex, this is one that I very much had circled
Speaker 2: on the calendar. Derek Jeter, I mean the captain coming
Speaker 2: in to talk to us. Who is Derek Jeter?
Speaker 3: To you, well, he's a five time world champion. He
Speaker 3: was a teammate that I was lucky enough and fortunate
Speaker 3: enough to win the title in O nine with him.
Speaker 3: We played for almost fifteen years, about twenty feet away,
Speaker 3: and he is someone that I have a tremendous amount
Speaker 3: of respect. Look, we've known each other for over thirty years.
Speaker 3: I believe there's a third time in over thirty years
Speaker 3: that we've been interviewed together, Wow, in any capacity. So
Speaker 3: I learned a lot listening to him, and I think
Speaker 3: the listeners will really get a kick out of this.
Speaker 2: One, all right, So I have to fully confess I
Speaker 2: told you this before we'd sat down for this interview,
Speaker 2: like I didn't totally know what to expect, because as
Speaker 2: well as I've gotten to know you, a lot of
Speaker 2: headlines over the years and a lot of speculation about
Speaker 2: what the relationship was between you guys we fully address.
Speaker 2: I think you know there was a rocky period in
Speaker 2: that relationship, and yet I will say, you guys tell
Speaker 2: some stories about those early days, you know, when you
Speaker 2: were still teenagers and what that was like sort of
Speaker 2: coming up together. And you know, one of my takeaways
Speaker 2: at least was no matter what happens, if you have
Speaker 2: that sort of foundation in a relationship, there's hope.
Speaker 3: I thought you were going to say, even though you
Speaker 3: didn't like me, you liked him as a player. I
Speaker 3: was waiting for that because that is told to me
Speaker 3: all the time, you know, Jason. The interesting thing about
Speaker 3: Derek and I have a lot of love and respect
Speaker 3: for Derek. I think with time you grow a certain
Speaker 3: amount of appreciation. And I told him recently because we
Speaker 3: are now joined at the hip at Fox covering the
Speaker 3: baseball playoffs and World Series that I appreciate him even
Speaker 3: more today than I did when we played together. Yeah,
Speaker 3: because what he showed the power of restriction, as I
Speaker 3: call it, is so much hard, harder to restrict than
Speaker 3: to act. Yeah, and he was really good at that.
Speaker 3: He had tremendous discipline.
Speaker 2: The other thing that also occurred to me Alex as
Speaker 2: we were getting ready for this and then even in
Speaker 2: the conversation, was you guys have both made a commitment
Speaker 2: to stay close to the game. He went into the
Speaker 2: front office. He now is your broadcast partner on Fox.
Speaker 2: This love of the game and this sort of even
Speaker 2: shared experience after baseball is fascinating to me.
Speaker 3: We're so similar in some ways, in opposites in others,
Speaker 3: and I've really admired the way he's transitioned in his
Speaker 3: post baseball career. And he went through ownership and management.
Speaker 3: I went to just ownership because I wouldn't know how
Speaker 3: to manage a basketball team. I'm really excited for people
Speaker 3: to get to hear this episode because one of my
Speaker 3: favorite ones on this episode of the Deal the Captain
Speaker 3: Derek Jeter.
Speaker 2: Wait, so when did you guys first meet Heldria.
Speaker 1: I was eighteen he claimed to be seventeen.
Speaker 3: As a fact.
Speaker 2: Where was it.
Speaker 3: It was the Mark Lats Stadium, Michigan. Had come down
Speaker 3: to the University of Miami and he had signed to
Speaker 3: go to the University of Michigan. Was already a pro
Speaker 3: with the Yankees, and I was an upcoming draft and
Speaker 3: I had signed to go to University of Miami. So
Speaker 3: it was like Kitch school versus my school. It was cool. Wow.
Speaker 3: And I was talking to Casey Close at the time
Speaker 3: and really got to like Casey Close a lot. And yeah,
Speaker 3: I'm still no case who's been with Derek's hole.
Speaker 1: Casey's my agent. Ye. We had actually spoke on the
Speaker 1: phone prior.
Speaker 2: To really when people used to talk on the phone. Yeah,
Speaker 2: exactly what was it like back then for young athletes
Speaker 2: because it's not like you weren't following him on social media?
Speaker 1: No, it was it was more of I was older.
Speaker 1: I think you know, Alex has always been inquisitive. He
Speaker 1: asked a lot of questions, which I'm sure you know. Yeah,
Speaker 1: when we spoke the first time, and I even remember
Speaker 1: is just asking some questions about my experience. I was
Speaker 1: trying to share some my experience just being a year
Speaker 1: older so there, I think there were some similarities when
Speaker 1: it came to that. Outside of that, well, I mean
Speaker 1: from Kalamazoo's from Miami.
Speaker 3: So my memory, Jason is that obviously there was no
Speaker 3: social media, but for high school players there was this
Speaker 3: thing called Baseball America and this would come out of
Speaker 3: me two weeks and I remember I would take my
Speaker 3: mom and she would give me a couple bucks and
Speaker 3: we'll go to seven eleven. I would buy it, and
Speaker 3: a lot of times I would go early, three four
Speaker 3: days to see I wanted to read every piece of that.
Speaker 3: And I remember seeing Derek with this burgundy high school uniform.
Speaker 3: I believe he had Nike high tops, and I'm like
Speaker 3: reading about this guy and he's like, okay, he's my
Speaker 3: color skin. He's from Calamuz, Michigan. That's strange. He's a
Speaker 3: first pick for the Yankees, right six pick overall, but
Speaker 3: he's six foot three and like, Okay, well if he
Speaker 3: can be a first round or well maybe I can too. Yeah.
Speaker 3: So I just remember being incredibly inspired and impressed that
Speaker 3: someone can be in Kalamazoo, play a much shorter season
Speaker 3: than we play in Miami and you'll still be the
Speaker 3: number one pick by The New York Yankee. Thought that
Speaker 3: was pretty cool.
Speaker 2: Yeah, all right, so we'll officially officially staright now. So Derek,
Speaker 2: if you would't mind, please introduce yourself. Tell us what
Speaker 2: you're doing these days.
Speaker 1: Derek Jeter, What am I doing these days? Outside of
Speaker 1: being a parent. I have four young kids and doing
Speaker 1: some stuff commentating with Fox Sports alongside Alex, David Ortiz,
Speaker 1: Kevin Burkhart, a few business interests as well, a few
Speaker 1: companies that I've founded, boards that I'm on. I'm pretty busy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm pretty busy, but it's a good busy.
Speaker 3: I think.
Speaker 1: You know, when you talk to athletes, a lot of
Speaker 1: times when they retire, people think they just stay at
Speaker 1: home and they start playing golf and drinking wine all
Speaker 1: day long. As good as that sounds, I think, start
Speaker 1: preparing yourself for the next chapter. So keep myself busy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, all right, we're going to get into all that,
Speaker 2: but I want to go back and start if I
Speaker 2: can partner with sort of where you'd left off in
Speaker 2: that story. It's like going to the Yankees. That's probably
Speaker 2: you know, this show is called The Deal, biggest business
Speaker 2: decision you probably make in your early life is or
Speaker 2: they make about you. You're going to the New York Yankees.
Speaker 2: Do you remember that moment.
Speaker 3: And pass in a scholarship to go to Michigan, which
Speaker 3: is pretty impressive as it is.
Speaker 1: Well, I think they made the decision. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: because in sports it's a crapshoot. You don't know who's
Speaker 1: going to draft. Do you have no IDEA Draft's a
Speaker 1: little bit different nowadays than it was when when we
Speaker 1: were drafted and we sit around a way for a
Speaker 1: phone call. So yeah, as Alex mentioned, I had signed
Speaker 1: to go to university in Michigan, drafted by the Yankees.
Speaker 1: Yankee fan growing up, the only team I ever wanted
Speaker 1: to play for, So in that sense, I was very fortunate.
Speaker 1: Education was huge in my family. My dad got his
Speaker 1: PhD in sociology at Western Michigan University and Calm Zoo, Michigan,
Speaker 1: the reason why.
Speaker 3: I grew up there.
Speaker 1: It was really a decision. It was a big decision.
Speaker 1: It wasn't as easy of a decision as some people
Speaker 1: may think.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: So I signed with the Yankees and they agreed to
Speaker 1: if and when I wanted to go to school, they
Speaker 1: pay for me to go to University of Michigan. So
Speaker 1: I went University of Michigan my first off season and
Speaker 1: still a freshman. So you've seen that movie Back to School,
Speaker 1: Ronnie Dangerville.
Speaker 3: That's going to be me.
Speaker 1: It's coming out, It's coming, it's coming soon.
Speaker 3: But by the way, Jason, just to bring you back
Speaker 3: to nineteen ninety two, because I was watching from the
Speaker 3: sidelines in Miami. From Miami, you know, Derek was born
Speaker 3: to be a New York Yankee, and he grew up
Speaker 3: watching the Yankees, admiring the Yankees, wanted to be a
Speaker 3: short stop like Zoota and all of that. But what
Speaker 3: was interesting is leading into that draft, Houston had the
Speaker 3: number one pick and there was a lot of talk
Speaker 3: that Derek would be one one in Houston. They actually
Speaker 3: ended up drafting the cow State Fullerton superstar in Phil Nevian.
Speaker 3: And then Cincinnati had the fifth pick and they also
Speaker 3: said they were going to pick Derek. They chose Chad Mattola,
Speaker 3: and then it fell to number six with the Yankees.
Speaker 3: So the Yankees got a huge break by having Derek
Speaker 3: be available, which no one thought he would be available.
Speaker 1: Thank God. Yeah for me, Yeah no, because I was
Speaker 1: a Yankee fan. I didn't even know the Yankees drafted six.
Speaker 1: You know, Alex just sits at home because he was
Speaker 1: the first pick.
Speaker 3: You know what I mean.
Speaker 1: From the phone to ring, I'm sitting out there sweating
Speaker 1: it out, waiting to see who was going to draft me.
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's like a crap shoot. I never thought
Speaker 1: I would be drafted by the Yankees, but you know,
Speaker 1: luck was on my side.
Speaker 2: I guess obviously you were a fan, but it's one
Speaker 2: thing to be a fan. It's an entirely different thing,
Speaker 2: I would imagine because I'm only a fan, but you
Speaker 2: put on those pin stripes for the first That's an
Speaker 2: entirely different proposition because now not only are you a Yankee,
Speaker 2: you're playing in the biggest stage. Did that feel weighty
Speaker 2: to you?
Speaker 1: No, not necessarily. I think playing for the Yankees now
Speaker 1: it's a little bit different than when I first arrived.
Speaker 1: They hadn't had a lot of success. Yanks didn't won
Speaker 1: a World Series since seventy eight. You know, they haven't
Speaker 1: been to one, I think to nineteen eighty one they
Speaker 1: lost to La So I think the expectation level was
Speaker 1: a little bit different when I first got to New
Speaker 1: York and now, I think the expectation levels have changed.
Speaker 1: They've risen because of the success of the franchise. But
Speaker 1: you know, when you get there, you don't I don't
Speaker 1: think you put that much pressure on yourself. You're trying
Speaker 1: to keep your job, you know.
Speaker 3: I don't know if you remember.
Speaker 1: We had a conversation. I think this was in nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety five, towards the end of the year. We're playing Seattle,
Speaker 1: and you had mentioned, Man, I wish they'd just give
Speaker 1: us an orientation year. We can hit to sixty.
Speaker 3: Our first year and get comfortable.
Speaker 1: You never had the orientation year, but that was our mindset.
Speaker 1: We just want we're there, we want to stay there.
Speaker 1: We do anything we can to stay in the major leagues.
Speaker 1: So I don't think I ever put that much pressure
Speaker 1: on myself with thought about it as being weight.
Speaker 3: I don't know if you remember this one. I mean,
Speaker 3: we're here in La probably after that year ninety five,
Speaker 3: and we're both of going into our orientation year and
Speaker 3: we're in a cab ride and I think we might
Speaker 3: have both left our money back. That's when we actually
Speaker 3: needed to have cash and that right now, and we
Speaker 3: were just like, man, if we can just make a million.
Speaker 1: Dollars in our careers.
Speaker 3: If they put a contract right in front of me
Speaker 3: for a million dollars for my career, I think I
Speaker 3: would sign it with you. He's like, hell yeah, I
Speaker 3: man a lot of money. I'm glad we have a
Speaker 3: contract for or pen.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Wow. I mean it's interesting you say that, Derek, because
Speaker 2: baseball was at a different moment in the early nineties.
Speaker 2: What was the scene like as a player?
Speaker 1: I would say, in my opinion at that moment when
Speaker 1: we first came up, baseball is the number one sport
Speaker 1: in the country. I really do feel that way. I
Speaker 1: think now, you know, basketball, NFL is taken off, but
Speaker 1: at that moment, I just think baseball was the number
Speaker 1: one sport. Yeah, and so many people played it. I
Speaker 1: mean we all played it when we were younger. So
Speaker 1: that's probably the biggest difference in my mind. And we just,
Speaker 1: you know, supposed to sport. Anyone can play any size shape.
Speaker 1: You don't have to be seven feet tall. You don't
Speaker 1: have to you know, you don't have to be take
Speaker 1: this the right way. You don't have to be in
Speaker 1: the best of shape to play baseball, you know. But
Speaker 1: I just I'm a little biased. I don't know what
Speaker 1: you think about being a number one sport back in
Speaker 1: the early nineties, mid nineties, but that's the way I
Speaker 1: looked at it.
Speaker 3: Everything just felt so big, and partly was we were
Speaker 3: teenagers coming up and we had a tremendous passion for
Speaker 3: the game. And I don't know if data supports us,
Speaker 3: but I certainly feel like baseball was number one. And
Speaker 3: I remember the nineties and when you guys started winning
Speaker 3: those championships, that wasn't just a New York story. That
Speaker 3: was like a global stories. I mean, the Yankees being
Speaker 3: back on top was so good for the health of
Speaker 3: the game of baseball. They're a little bit like the
Speaker 3: Cowboys and Lakers. You either love them or hate them,
Speaker 3: but you never walk by and say, how do you
Speaker 3: feel about the Yankees. I don't have an opinion. Everyone
Speaker 3: has an opinion, and Derek was right in the forefront
Speaker 3: to lead those CHAMPIONSHI years, which is awesot.
Speaker 1: Never ignore New York teams, right, you know, I think
Speaker 1: baseball's you know, once again, people are in sad bias,
Speaker 1: but I think baseball's in a better condition When the
Speaker 1: Yankees are doing well, when the Red Sox are doing well,
Speaker 1: when the Dodgers are doing well, when the Cubs they
Speaker 1: just won recently, when you have those big market teams
Speaker 1: that are having some success, I think is better for
Speaker 1: the sport.
Speaker 2: And so picking up where Alex just was, you know,
Speaker 2: the team starts experiencing a lot of success. So what
Speaker 2: does that do for you in terms of seeing not
Speaker 2: just the business of baseball, but the business of Derek Jeter,
Speaker 2: Because then you get to negotiate some contracts and like,
Speaker 2: how does that evolve through the nineties for you?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think, like I said before, when you're young,
Speaker 1: you don't think about the business of baseball. You're just
Speaker 1: out there playing. Yeah, like Alex mentioned, we've re signed
Speaker 1: a one million dollar contract for life if we had
Speaker 1: the chance to do it. Because you're not thinking about
Speaker 1: the business side. I think you've sort of alerted or
Speaker 1: made aware of the business side once you start going
Speaker 1: to arbitration. Yes, that's when you sit down and you
Speaker 1: understand how other people may feel about your performance on
Speaker 1: the field. I have a better understanding for it now
Speaker 1: because I was on the other side of it, or
Speaker 1: I should say another side. It shouldn't be one side
Speaker 1: or the other, it's another side. Of the sport. But
Speaker 1: I think that's when I realized that the business of baseball.
Speaker 2: So what did you learn about that? Because you did
Speaker 2: go through it. You know, you went through arbitration. You
Speaker 2: were negotiating some pretty key contracts for yourself through the
Speaker 2: end of the nineties there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know it was harsh. I think arbitration.
Speaker 3: You ever go to arbitration, but I heard it's nasty.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean going through arbitration for the first time,
Speaker 1: it's hard. You're actually sitting in a room looking across
Speaker 1: the executives from your organization and they're telling you basically
Speaker 1: how you're no good. Yeah, and you never had that understanding.
Speaker 1: You never thought they felt this particular way. So if
Speaker 1: you don't have thick skin, you can't go through it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because there have been players that you know, you get
Speaker 1: scarred by the organization, you never recover from it. I
Speaker 1: got scarred, right, but I was just able to hide
Speaker 1: it a little bit better. But yeah, so when you
Speaker 1: go through that situation, suation, that is a harsh lesson
Speaker 1: in business. And you know, my contract negotiations from that
Speaker 1: point forward, the long term extension I had, it really
Speaker 1: wasn't that. You know, Alex did me a favor. He
Speaker 1: signed a long term deal before me, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, So I sort of piggybacked off of his deal,
Speaker 1: but it didn't really get messy until the end of
Speaker 1: my career.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and what about Steinbrenner, I mean on the other
Speaker 2: side of that table. I mean, we got to talk
Speaker 2: about George because both of you guys had a relationship
Speaker 2: with him. You had, you know, long term relationship. What
Speaker 2: did you make of him as a young person, and
Speaker 2: then as you went along, what did you make of them?
Speaker 1: One he was smart, he wasn't in the arbitration room.
Speaker 3: He kept the distance.
Speaker 1: But no, I think Alex knows as well. In my opinion,
Speaker 1: he's one of the greatest owners in all the sports,
Speaker 1: you know, because he cared about the organization. He cared
Speaker 1: about winning. He would do anything it took to win.
Speaker 1: He was willing to pay the players, but he had
Speaker 1: high expectations. There's a lot of accountability there. He liked
Speaker 1: to challenge his top player to see if you could
Speaker 1: take it. He would challenge you publicly. He would do
Speaker 1: you got theirs towards the end of the boss, you know,
Speaker 1: but when he was younger, he would challenge you publicly,
Speaker 1: and then he'd see how you respond. He'd walk into
Speaker 1: a clubhouse after a game, after a series. If you're
Speaker 1: playing well, he's shake your hand. If you weren't playing well,
Speaker 1: he'd look you up and down, shake his head and
Speaker 1: go to the next guy. That's just what he would do.
Speaker 1: But he wanted.
Speaker 3: No question.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, there's a story. I mean, you know, stories
Speaker 1: of him and Well's going after it, you know, I mean,
Speaker 1: going after each other. So there's a lot of stories
Speaker 1: when it comes to the boss. But you have to
Speaker 1: have thick skin in order to survive in New York,
Speaker 1: and he demanded excellence and he wanted you to win
Speaker 1: every day. He was an old football coach, right, so
Speaker 1: you know he didn't really understand that in course of
Speaker 1: one hundred and sixty two game schedule you could actually
Speaker 1: lose a game like that didn't It didn't translate. Something
Speaker 1: didn't click in his mind in that sense. We had
Speaker 1: the same mindset. You know, every game you play, you
Speaker 1: have a chance, you have an opportunity to win a game,
Speaker 1: and he expected that.
Speaker 3: And there when it came down to, like your first
Speaker 3: championship in ninety six, I know how much that meant
Speaker 3: to him. How happy was he. I know how much
Speaker 3: he loved you and how much he loved him, and
Speaker 3: how special your relationship was. And like you said, I
Speaker 3: got there to a little bit of tours to end.
Speaker 3: Can you share some of the things that he inspired
Speaker 3: you with, that motivated you, that kind of bonded you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we used to always he lived in Tampa. I
Speaker 1: lived in Tampa for twenty some years. We used to
Speaker 1: always get together in the off season and we get
Speaker 1: together for lunch. And you know, he's a big Ohio
Speaker 1: State guy, a big Michigan guy, so we had that
Speaker 1: rivalry to you know, compete with. But he listened to
Speaker 1: the players, not saying he listened to every opinion I had,
Speaker 1: but he would ask And I do think if you're
Speaker 1: in professional sports, if you're in an ownership position, you
Speaker 1: should listen to the players who are in the clubhouse.
Speaker 1: You don't have to make every decision based on their input,
Speaker 1: but you should at least hear their input because that's
Speaker 1: how you know the balance of things that are going
Speaker 1: on inside the clubhouse. Was good like that, and you know,
Speaker 1: we had their relationship. He asked me about players, he'd
Speaker 1: ask me about not saying he listened to me like
Speaker 1: I said, yeah.
Speaker 3: So take any names out of it, Derek, I don't
Speaker 3: need to mention names, but give me an example of
Speaker 3: how an example, and.
Speaker 1: I'll and I'll give you a name. I remember in
Speaker 1: off telling, yeah, telling mister Steinbrenner that Louis Soho helped
Speaker 1: me more than any infielder at the time that I
Speaker 1: played with, or any coach. And he re signed Soho
Speaker 1: after that. Wow, you know, because Louis was a guy,
Speaker 1: you know, the best. Louie is the best, and I
Speaker 1: learned so much from him. And if you're in the
Speaker 1: front office, so to speak, you may not know the
Speaker 1: value that Louis Soho brings to young players in that clubhouse.
Speaker 1: But the boss wanted to know.
Speaker 3: I'll give you a Louis Soho story. So I had
Speaker 3: him in Seattle and Louis like, you just got to
Speaker 3: love the guy. He's one of these guys. And Tim
Speaker 3: Rains is like this, you look at him, you start laughing. Yeah,
Speaker 3: he hasn't even opened his mouth, but he's so damn funny. Well,
Speaker 3: Louis has that in Spanish, right, He's Venezuela and I
Speaker 3: was nineteen years old. He was backing me up, whatever
Speaker 3: that means.
Speaker 1: And he was forty five at the time. Forty five
Speaker 1: at the time.
Speaker 3: And there was a play that I got as a
Speaker 3: short stop and I kind of a little lack of
Speaker 3: days ago and got it forced and we couldn't get
Speaker 3: the double play. You know, I'm nineteen. I think I'm
Speaker 3: pretty cool. We're playing at the Kingdome. So I come
Speaker 3: in like running around and he's looking at me like
Speaker 3: giving me a bad look. And Louis never gives you
Speaker 3: a bad look, and he's like, what were you doing.
Speaker 3: I said, well, I got the forest, I got one out.
Speaker 3: He was no, No, He's like, screw the you gotta
Speaker 3: get too. Attack that ball and give him a good
Speaker 3: toss and get too. We need to outs there. And
Speaker 3: I'll never forget that, because the point is if there's
Speaker 3: an opportunity to get to get to and sometimes a
Speaker 3: player can tell you that and not a coach. Right.
Speaker 3: And I'm glad that he was such a leader for
Speaker 3: you as well, because he really changed my career.
Speaker 2: What did he do specifically for you?
Speaker 1: We'd work every day in ground balls. He made it fun.
Speaker 1: You play every single day baseball for a reason. One
Speaker 1: hundred and sixty two games. It didn't get monotonous. You know,
Speaker 1: you have to have fun with it, but have fun
Speaker 1: but same time work extremely hard at it. And Louis
Speaker 1: was big on that. He made it fun though.
Speaker 2: Through the nineties. Obviously, you guys are are keeping in touch.
Speaker 2: You're sort of taking a look at what he's doing.
Speaker 2: You guys are playing each other now and again. This
Speaker 2: is called the deal. So let's fast forward a little
Speaker 2: bit too. He shows up in New York. There's a
Speaker 2: pretty important deal that has to be cut at that
Speaker 2: point because he's also a short stop. Do you remember
Speaker 2: how all that went down?
Speaker 1: Yeah, well I wasn't a part of that deal. You know,
Speaker 1: when mister Steimer and had called and said that we
Speaker 1: were signing Alex, he said, we're signing Alex as a
Speaker 1: third basement, which I never thought would happen. I mean, why,
Speaker 1: if you're him, why would you switch positions. I guess
Speaker 1: he really wanted out of Texas, so he's willing to
Speaker 1: play anywhere. But it was never a deal, no one ever,
Speaker 1: and I give it to him. He never asked to
Speaker 1: play shortstup, never brought it up. I never heard any
Speaker 1: whispers about it because he had committed to play in
Speaker 1: third base, and that's what I was told at the time.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's interesting. My side of that story is Tom Hicks,
Speaker 3: who was the owner of Texas, was having some financial
Speaker 3: situation where he needed to move some contracts around. And
Speaker 3: I remember walking into his house on a Saturday morning
Speaker 3: after the season, and I think the Wild Card was game.
Speaker 3: We were watching Minnesota and his Oakland in his home
Speaker 3: in Texas, in his home office, and he said, Alex,
Speaker 3: I need to trade you. Can you give me three teams?
Speaker 3: I said, okay, give me to a Monday. And I
Speaker 3: called him back Monday and I said Red Sox, Angels,
Speaker 3: and Mets. And I said the Mets was really interesting
Speaker 3: because I grew up watching Magic versus Bird and the
Speaker 3: first thing I would do in the morning is see
Speaker 3: what Derek did in the old box score when we
Speaker 3: had to read the papers. So I thought, me going
Speaker 3: to New York would be great for baseball. I would
Speaker 3: be with the Mets, he's with the Yankees. Were both shortstops.
Speaker 3: We both like the Angels. We always have great weather,
Speaker 3: great places to play. And then the Red Sox was like, okay,
Speaker 3: that's a good rivalry too. I worked in the Red
Speaker 3: Sox deal for two months. That deal literally at the
Speaker 3: one yard line, fell apart, and Cashman at MVP dinner said, hey,
Speaker 3: if you're willing to move to third base, maybe we'll
Speaker 3: make something happen. Well, I'm not a big drinker. I
Speaker 3: was three focus in.
Speaker 2: I'm not a big drinker. Now changed the record.
Speaker 3: It's a little blurry. And then by my third cocktail,
Speaker 3: go yeah, maybe I'll play third base, And two weeks
Speaker 3: later it happened that quickly. So it just happened within
Speaker 3: ten days.
Speaker 2: I mean that the core of that group that got together, obviously,
Speaker 2: you know some things happened in between. Then do you
Speaker 2: want a world championship? When we come back, we discussed
Speaker 2: Alex and Derrek's two thousand and nine World Championship, preparing
Speaker 2: for life after baseball and lessons learned owning and running
Speaker 2: the Miami Marlins and yes, one of the most talked
Speaker 2: about relationships in baseball history. The core of that group
Speaker 2: that got together, obviously you know some things happening in between.
Speaker 2: Then do you win a world championship like it? And
Speaker 2: after another little spell of not what does that championship do?
Speaker 2: In your mind? You know nine it.
Speaker 1: Is hard, man, I mean, winning is hard. It's difficult
Speaker 1: to do. There's been plenty of years before two thousand
Speaker 1: and nine, we thought we were going to win a
Speaker 1: World Series. We thought we had a team that was
Speaker 1: going to win, no doubt me can go to two
Speaker 1: thousand and four, we had three zero lead against Boston.
Speaker 1: We thought we're gonna win a World Series. So it
Speaker 1: is hard to do. I never took it for granted.
Speaker 1: I know Alex didn't because he hadn't won it before then.
Speaker 1: But it's a lot of work.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 1: It really is a lot of work. So I don't
Speaker 1: want to say you exhale. You can exhale for a minute,
Speaker 1: but then you have to get ready for the next year.
Speaker 1: But every team is different, you know. With the group
Speaker 1: of two thousand and nine, with some new players, he
Speaker 1: had CC with AJ we had texts, but some of
Speaker 1: the guys that were there before we had been through
Speaker 1: some losing seasons. So man, it was a good feeling.
Speaker 3: I'd tell you For me, Jason, I remember giving Derek
Speaker 3: a big hug at Yankee Stadium, but it was so
Speaker 3: much relief. I certainly excelled because I had played fifteen
Speaker 3: years and ultimately I mean, I would have been absolutely
Speaker 3: heartbroken to move position, to come here for the greater
Speaker 3: good of the team and to come up short. Remember
Speaker 3: I grew up watching Dan Marino and Charles Barkley, two
Speaker 3: of my favorites, right, and it breaks my heart to
Speaker 3: this day. They say they yeah, but and it was
Speaker 3: just complete validation and I was just so thankful to
Speaker 3: God to put this thing to come true, you know,
Speaker 3: as a great baseball fan. It was the greatest threw
Speaker 3: of my baseball career by far. And I would move
Speaker 3: to third base one hundred out of one hundred times
Speaker 3: to be part of the Yankees championship run that year.
Speaker 1: One thing, you know that Alice was talking about switching
Speaker 1: positions and finally winning a championship. We didn't the guys
Speaker 1: that were there before. I say we There was a
Speaker 1: few of us that were there before. We also didn't
Speaker 1: want at the end of our career say, oh, well,
Speaker 1: we were lucky. We won four on that lucky but
Speaker 1: we won four out of five our first five years
Speaker 1: in the big leagues and that we couldn't win again,
Speaker 1: you know. So it's the thing in New York is
Speaker 1: it's a constant reminder every single day that you have
Speaker 1: not won, you know what I mean, It's like, you
Speaker 1: gotta win this year.
Speaker 3: You got to what.
Speaker 1: They don't care what you've done in the past, which
Speaker 1: is a great the reason why I think a lot
Speaker 1: of people can't play in New York. You can't deal
Speaker 1: with the expectation level. So we were constantly reminded from
Speaker 1: two thousand up into two thousand and nine. So you
Speaker 1: get tired of hearing the fact that you haven't won
Speaker 1: in nine years. You need to win again. And I
Speaker 1: think you know, New York is a hot spot. You
Speaker 1: talk about the business part of it, New York is
Speaker 1: a hot spot. So when you win, I'm sorry, it
Speaker 1: elevates everyone at that point, you know, because I've always
Speaker 1: said playing Yankee stadiums like performing on a Broadway play.
Speaker 1: You feel like it's the top ticket in town. You know,
Speaker 1: you feel like the lights are brighter. Everyone comes out,
Speaker 1: every celebrity, you know, every entertainer is there to watch
Speaker 1: the Yankees play. And the reason they show up is
Speaker 1: because you win.
Speaker 3: One thing I've always marveled at, Derek. I've gone through
Speaker 3: so much in my life through therapy and all that
Speaker 3: kind of stuff to really it was I'm forty eight,
Speaker 3: and I was around forty five where I look back
Speaker 3: at Derek's Korean and I said, holy, I really got
Speaker 3: an opportunity. I never thought we would ever get close again,
Speaker 3: because we've had, you know, you know, our setbacks, partly
Speaker 3: because of my shortcomings. But I said, I really have
Speaker 3: an opportunity to appreciate what an incredible career you had
Speaker 3: and to be in the greatest city, the biggest market
Speaker 3: in the world, but yet be a little bit unknown
Speaker 3: of what's going on off the field. And I remember
Speaker 3: how much I failed and tripped, and the more I tried,
Speaker 3: it was like quick sand, the deeper I will get
Speaker 3: myself into it, And was say, Alex you he would
Speaker 3: say two things to me. All you gotta do is
Speaker 3: make contact, dr dance so damn strong, and stop striving out.
Speaker 3: And then he would say to me, you don't have
Speaker 3: to tell them anything. And when he told me that,
Speaker 3: it makes sense. How the hell did you do that
Speaker 3: and do it so well?
Speaker 2: Well?
Speaker 1: I always wanted to have a separation with what I
Speaker 1: did publicly, my job, my career, and my private life.
Speaker 1: I truly believe once you let the toothpaste out of
Speaker 1: the tube, you cannot put it back in. Once you
Speaker 1: give people a little taste of what you're doing in
Speaker 1: your private life, they want more. They want more, they
Speaker 1: want more, and they feel as though you owe it
Speaker 1: to them. Now I understand it. I was just never
Speaker 1: comfortable sharing my private life, you know. I always wanted
Speaker 1: to keep it to myself because my job came first.
Speaker 1: That was I wanted no distractions. And I also understood,
Speaker 1: you know, when you're playing profession sports, I knew I
Speaker 1: did not need the media to do my job. Eventually,
Speaker 1: they're going to need me at some point, right, So
Speaker 1: if I went out and performed on the field, I
Speaker 1: didn't have to worry about what anyone said because when
Speaker 1: I wasn't opening the door to my private life. So
Speaker 1: only thing you could talk about or confirm was what
Speaker 1: I did on the field. And I just had an
Speaker 1: understanding of that from a young age. I don't know,
Speaker 1: I don't think anyone told me it. I just knew
Speaker 1: that I would try to do whatever I could in
Speaker 1: my mind to limit distractions. I would address something once
Speaker 1: that's it, I wouldn't talk about it again. The more
Speaker 1: you talk about it, the more the story continues on.
Speaker 1: You know, people would ask us about our stud I
Speaker 1: would address it one time, don't ask.
Speaker 3: Me again, and I would talk about it every week
Speaker 3: and he's like, dude, you're killing me, Like you don't
Speaker 3: have to answer. He was great again. I mean, by
Speaker 3: the way, stuff I would never talk about publicly to anyone.
Speaker 3: But there was some real stuff that I was going
Speaker 3: through my life that he gave me the greatest advice
Speaker 3: and I didn't listen and it hurt me tremendously. So
Speaker 3: my point is, over the years, I get to understand
Speaker 3: Derek Jeter's greatness as a human being so much more
Speaker 3: than when I played, because I was just too close
Speaker 3: to it, and quite honest, I didn't have the tools.
Speaker 3: And that's not an excuse. I really tried. I just
Speaker 3: didn't know what the hell I was doing. I was
Speaker 3: pretty good on the field though, that's where I shined.
Speaker 2: You know, were you frustrated with him when he didn't
Speaker 2: listen to you?
Speaker 1: Well, I would only say frustrated if it became a
Speaker 1: big story. Yeah, Well if we're talking about things that
Speaker 1: didn't matter on the field, not just with him. I
Speaker 1: mean it could be anyone. You know. That was frustrating
Speaker 1: because I wanted when I got to the park to
Speaker 1: the stadium. I wanted the conversation to be about the game,
Speaker 1: and that's it.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And so in your business life, one of the really
Speaker 2: interesting decisions you make, and I feel like this is
Speaker 2: actually of a piece, is to go with Jordan Brand.
Speaker 2: I mean, that's a big decision on your part. We're
Speaker 2: sort of early in the game. I think it's fair
Speaker 2: to say tell us about that decision, because that's seminal
Speaker 2: not just for you, but it's candidly seminal for that
Speaker 2: brand too.
Speaker 1: Yeah. You know, I first met Michael in nineteen ninety
Speaker 1: four while he's playing baseball in Arizona Fall League.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 1: And I'll pointed out he was not as bad as
Speaker 1: everyone rights him out to be. I mean, you take
Speaker 1: off what since little league, and then you're playing baseball
Speaker 1: at thirty years old in Double A you hit two hundred.
Speaker 3: That's that's not.
Speaker 1: A contract today. That's pretty damn Yeah. It's not easy
Speaker 1: to do. So it was not as bad as everyone says.
Speaker 1: So I first met him in Arizona and we just
Speaker 1: developed a relationship from there. He's like a big brother
Speaker 1: than me, you know, like magic is to you. I know,
Speaker 1: you speak highly about magic all the time. He's one
Speaker 1: of the first athletes alongside Magic that really took their
Speaker 1: abilities on the court and it translated into business. They
Speaker 1: had the business mindset because you know, up until that point,
Speaker 1: I'm not saying anything about previous athletes, but it was
Speaker 1: all you just perform on the court. You perform on
Speaker 1: the field. When your career is over, that's it. Go
Speaker 1: get them figure something else out. I think those two
Speaker 1: were business savvy and they thought about post professional athletic career.
Speaker 1: And you know, Michael's been as successful as anyone, and
Speaker 1: he's been a mentor to me since, like a big brother,
Speaker 1: like I said, and just thankful. He asked me to
Speaker 1: be a part of the Jordan brand, and you know
Speaker 1: when it first started, like, what do you mean part
Speaker 1: of the jitsu basketball brand? What is a baseball player
Speaker 1: going to do?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 1: But he wanted me to be the baseball player and
Speaker 1: help him build the business.
Speaker 2: So did it feel risky to do that, to be
Speaker 2: like the first baseball player to.
Speaker 1: Do that, Well, I think risky. I mean, if you're
Speaker 1: going to take a risk, I think you take it
Speaker 1: with someone like Michael, you know, So I don't necessarily
Speaker 1: think it was risky on my part, you know. Plus
Speaker 1: it was the cool factor, you know, I mean everyone
Speaker 1: wanted to be associated with Michael back then and now
Speaker 1: yeah now too. Yeah, you're right at the point, same thing.
Speaker 1: So I didn't look at it as being risky.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So let's shift to sort of post baseball, and you know,
Speaker 2: we talk about about this a lot, and Alex has
Speaker 2: shared some of this before. But that moment when you
Speaker 2: decide to retire, I mean, there's the decision, and then
Speaker 2: there's the execution and the moment when you are no
Speaker 2: longer a professional athlete, You're no longer a New York
Speaker 2: Yank at least as your job. You'll always be New
Speaker 2: York Yank here, et cetera. But what is that moment,
Speaker 2: Like when you wake up that morning you're like, huh, okay,
Speaker 2: the decision or afterwards tell us about the decision and
Speaker 2: then and then.
Speaker 1: Well, the decision was not a difficult. They would have
Speaker 1: got rid of me anyway. They're trying to run me,
Speaker 1: run me out, So I don't think the decision.
Speaker 3: Was joined the club. Yeah, the decision, Yeah.
Speaker 1: The decision wasn't a difficult decision. You know, it's I'd
Speaker 1: broken my ankle twice. I've basically missed the previous year,
Speaker 1: and I wanted to have one more. I want to
Speaker 1: play a season healthy. So I called hal Steinberner and
Speaker 1: told him, and he said, look, you know you deserve
Speaker 1: to announce it any way you want to announce it.
Speaker 1: I announced it before the season started because I knew
Speaker 1: if I did not that I'd be asked about it
Speaker 1: all the time, you know, every single day my teammates
Speaker 1: would be asked about it. So I announced it before
Speaker 1: the season, and then when the season was over with man,
Speaker 1: I was tired. You know, I really was tired. It's
Speaker 1: twenty years in New York. I've jokingly says, like dog here,
Speaker 1: it's one hundred and forty years playing in New York.
Speaker 1: I got everything I could get out of my career,
Speaker 1: and physically I was, you know.
Speaker 3: I was.
Speaker 1: I was done.
Speaker 2: What's your business mindset at that point, because obviously you've
Speaker 2: been thinking about it for a time. Your partnered with
Speaker 2: with Jordan Brandon, those sorts of things, and we've talked
Speaker 2: about this. You're in New York, so I mean you
Speaker 2: have access and you know, beyond name recognition, you have
Speaker 2: sort of access to a lot of corporate minds, investment minds,
Speaker 2: et cetera. What are the first few things that you
Speaker 2: think about doing well?
Speaker 3: First?
Speaker 1: I didn't start preparing for post playing career the day
Speaker 1: I woke up the next day. Right afterwards, I started
Speaker 1: preparing for post career years in advance. My biggest fears
Speaker 1: in life is being unprepared in anything. You know, a
Speaker 1: lot of times you hear athletes say game slows down
Speaker 1: or it speeds up. I think it speeds up when
Speaker 1: you're unprepared. So I didn't want to wake up and say,
Speaker 1: what am I going to do next? I started talking
Speaker 1: about team ownership maybe ten years left in my career.
Speaker 1: During my career, I made every decision when it came
Speaker 1: to contract negotiations, marketing, philanthropy, atum on foundation. These are
Speaker 1: all pillars of an organization. I lived in Tampa. I
Speaker 1: learned about player development and scouting and analytics, so I
Speaker 1: wanted to be as prepared as I could. I started
Speaker 1: a company called The Player's Tribune. We actually launched right
Speaker 1: after my career. But I didn't just wake up and
Speaker 1: say let's start a company today. You know, you start
Speaker 1: thinking about these things, and that's why I think that
Speaker 1: it made my transition into the business world speak a
Speaker 1: lot easier because I started preparing and I started learning
Speaker 1: for it.
Speaker 3: And Derek, when you talk about the Marlins, THEO, that
Speaker 3: team that went to the playoffs this year for the
Speaker 3: Marlins with very very limited resources, has your handprints all
Speaker 3: over it. The pitching, the development, the people you hired.
Speaker 3: And I was in the community and I just heard
Speaker 3: all the great things you were doing in that community.
Speaker 3: What would you say was the hardest part and the
Speaker 3: best part of being CEO and owner of the Marlins.
Speaker 1: The hardest part was having patience because you want things.
Speaker 1: You know as a player, you get a hit, you
Speaker 1: don't get a hit, you win a game, you lose
Speaker 1: a game. It's instant gratification or failure. When you're building
Speaker 1: something like especially in an organization, a sports organization, where
Speaker 1: basically you're turning something around, you're going in another direction,
Speaker 1: it takes time. That can be very very draining mentally
Speaker 1: because you want it to happen right away. And that
Speaker 1: was probably the heart this part is trying to have
Speaker 1: some patience.
Speaker 3: I don't have a lot of any more time with
Speaker 3: limited resources. Yeah, and not against your partners, but that
Speaker 3: market it could be very, very challenging. Yeah, if you
Speaker 3: were in New York or Boston or the resources are
Speaker 3: just tremendous and you can actually expedite it a little bit.
Speaker 3: But here you had to be very clever, ready had
Speaker 3: to roll up or sleeves.
Speaker 1: I figured, you know, we played in New York. You
Speaker 1: show up at Yankee Stadium. There's fifty thousand people there.
Speaker 1: That's just how it works.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: One of the first things I did when I was
Speaker 1: CEO in Miami was I brought every single member of
Speaker 1: the front office by department into the clubhouse and I
Speaker 1: introduced them to the players because I wanted the players
Speaker 1: to see how many people were working behind the scenes
Speaker 1: to make their jobs easier. Everyone said, you know, how
Speaker 1: long they've been with the organization, what exactly it is
Speaker 1: that they do. There were employees that had been there
Speaker 1: twenty plus years and never stepped foot in the major
Speaker 1: league clubhouse.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 1: The employees thanked me, but the players also thank me because,
Speaker 1: like I said, you don't understand that part of it.
Speaker 1: So building an organization and taking the time and spending
Speaker 1: the time I expected that. You know, when you care
Speaker 1: about something, you put in the work. It took a
Speaker 1: long time to try to develop trust. You know, I
Speaker 1: can't walk in the room and say trust me. You
Speaker 1: don't know me, right, So you got to get to
Speaker 1: know a lot of people. Spend a lot of time
Speaker 1: in the Miami community getting to know a lot of people.
Speaker 3: I'm in Miami.
Speaker 1: I'm not moving now, I'm there, So I'm happy that
Speaker 1: I had a chance to do that. But that's a
Speaker 1: part of building an organization that people don't see the
Speaker 1: stuff that goes on behind the scenes.
Speaker 2: And so you exit that situation. How do you look
Speaker 2: back on it and how does it influence what you
Speaker 2: do next?
Speaker 1: Oh? Man, how do I look back on it? I
Speaker 1: take the good with the bad. I think you learn
Speaker 1: a lot of lessons. I'm happy with some of the
Speaker 1: hires that I had. You know, I wanted to have
Speaker 1: a diverse front office. I was able to accomplish that.
Speaker 1: I didn't do it because I wanted to focus on it.
Speaker 1: I did because it was the right thing. You hire
Speaker 1: the right people. You give people opportunities. I was given
Speaker 1: opportunities throughout my life. You want to return that. So
Speaker 1: I look back with you know, I try to focus
Speaker 1: on the positive. I'm positive by nature, you know, so
Speaker 1: there's a lot of things that we accomplish that I'm
Speaker 1: happy with. And those are some lessons that I've learned.
Speaker 1: There's mistakes that have been made. I won't make those
Speaker 1: mistakes again.
Speaker 3: If there's ever another opportunity with what you learned, and
Speaker 3: I'm sure, I mean, there's nothing you can do because
Speaker 3: the reputation you've built and your track record speaks for itself.
Speaker 3: If an opportunity came calling, and let's just say it's
Speaker 3: not a smaller market, let's just say as a mid
Speaker 3: market or even a large market, and they wanted you
Speaker 3: to be the owner and operate, again, I.
Speaker 1: Don't have enough money.
Speaker 3: My question, and to be honest, would you want another
Speaker 3: crack at it? Would you be open to it? Ah?
Speaker 1: Man, you know that's a tough, tough question. You never
Speaker 1: say never, but you have to be there, you have
Speaker 1: to be present. And I have four young kids now, man,
Speaker 1: and I understand how difficult it is. And you know,
Speaker 1: you want to get into a situation where you can
Speaker 1: make decisions, make all decisions, and unless you have a
Speaker 1: controlling owner ownership stake, you can't make those decisions. So
Speaker 1: that's a tough one to answer. But you ask me now, now.
Speaker 3: And Derek, how do you think about investing? Does investing
Speaker 3: excite you? Are you someone that picks up the phone
Speaker 3: and calls a Michael or calls Pasada or one of
Speaker 3: your friends? Do you share ideas? How do you think
Speaker 3: about investing when opportunities coming away? Because there's going to
Speaker 3: be viewers that are going to say, I would love
Speaker 3: to have my hero Derek Jeter invest in my company.
Speaker 3: I'm a young founder. How do you think about that?
Speaker 3: How do people approach you? How do they find you? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I think one of the benefits and perks of playing
Speaker 1: in New York is you get a chance to meet
Speaker 1: a lot of people. I've met a lot of people
Speaker 1: throughout my careers. I still get a chance to meet
Speaker 1: a lot of people. The way I look at it,
Speaker 1: Alex is I invest in people. You know, you run
Speaker 1: into people all the time. They have great ideas. Everyone
Speaker 1: has a great idea. Everyone has a business is going
Speaker 1: to be a billion dollar business. But you have to
Speaker 1: invest in people, and you have to get to know them,
Speaker 1: and you have to know if they're passionate about what
Speaker 1: they're doing. Some people have businesses where they're in it
Speaker 1: to make money. Look we all want to make money,
Speaker 1: but if that's your number one priority, if you're not
Speaker 1: passionate about it, then I think that's a red flag.
Speaker 1: So I always like to invest in people. I think
Speaker 1: that works for you know, works in clubhouses, and it
Speaker 1: works in businesses, it works in investments. So I tend
Speaker 1: to just lean towards the you know, the character and
Speaker 1: the passion of the people.
Speaker 2: So one of the more recent decisions that you've made
Speaker 2: is to join the commentating world, which I believe you
Speaker 2: had initially said no interest there. Now part of it
Speaker 2: was you were an owner and CEO of a team.
Speaker 2: What drew you to the commentating booth.
Speaker 1: I'd been asked that question before and I was absolutely
Speaker 1: not I'm not doing this. I went to World Series
Speaker 1: last year and I was just on the set with
Speaker 1: these guys Philly, Yeah, for a few minutes, you know,
Speaker 1: and just saw how much fun they were having, you know.
Speaker 1: And one thing that I never wanted to do was
Speaker 1: to get into a situation where I had to be
Speaker 1: overly critical of players because I know how hard it
Speaker 1: is to play the game, and I saw how much
Speaker 1: fun they were having, and I was asked to be
Speaker 1: a part of it. And I said, hey, you know,
Speaker 1: as long as we can have fun with it, I
Speaker 1: don't want to be overly analytical, which I know he
Speaker 1: agrees with, and just really get a chance to shine
Speaker 1: a light on the sport.
Speaker 3: I love baseball.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I really do love baseball. I think it's the
Speaker 1: greatest game in the world, and if we have a
Speaker 1: chance to shine a light on it, then I'm all
Speaker 1: for it.
Speaker 2: And Alex, you and I have talked about this. I mean,
Speaker 2: it does feel like this has been we may look
Speaker 2: back on this as a really critical year in the
Speaker 2: history of baseball rule changes. I think the storylines that
Speaker 2: have been really good. Do you agree with that? I mean,
Speaker 2: is there something that has happened and what is it
Speaker 2: that is sort of causing a little bit of a
Speaker 2: Dare I say rebound for baseball?
Speaker 1: Yeah, Baseball's lag behind other sports. You know, you go
Speaker 1: through the history of other sports, NFL, NBA, There's always
Speaker 1: rule changes. There's always is a three point shot, there's all.
Speaker 1: You know. You change the rules for the betterment of
Speaker 1: the game. And no matter no matter how you look
Speaker 1: at it, it's entertainment. You get the fans watching. You
Speaker 1: have to listen to the fans, and I think the
Speaker 1: fans in baseball were saying, look, one, the game's too long.
Speaker 1: You got to find a way to speed it up.
Speaker 1: So I think Baseball deserves credit for making some rule
Speaker 1: changes and I'm sure there'll probably be more adjustments along
Speaker 1: the way.
Speaker 2: Well, and kind of stitching that back to something you
Speaker 2: were talking about a minute ago, Derek, is you know
Speaker 2: you show up on set last year, you see these guys.
Speaker 2: What's it been like sort of working with with the crew.
Speaker 1: I'm new man, I mean, this is this is I'm new.
Speaker 1: I mean seriously, the first game we're in London, they
Speaker 1: threw me on at the desk like five minutes before.
Speaker 1: I can't even figure out to get my ear piece
Speaker 1: in it. I have no idea. They're talking in my
Speaker 1: ear and I'm trying to answer them, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm not supposed to be answering them, you know. So
Speaker 1: it's it's a learning experience. I think you get more
Speaker 1: and more comfortable as you go through it. Alex is
Speaker 1: a pro. He's been doing it for a long time.
Speaker 1: He enjoys it. I remember when we were playing I
Speaker 1: used to tell them, you know you're gonna get into
Speaker 1: you know TVs, Oh no, for never. On every channel
Speaker 1: you turn, he's here, he's doing a game there, So
Speaker 1: he's yeah, he's doing everything.
Speaker 3: You can't shut me up. That's never changed.
Speaker 1: So it's you know, it's you learn, you know, you know,
Speaker 1: you hope to get better. I know I've made mistakes,
Speaker 1: but ultimately you just want to have fun. You want
Speaker 1: the viewers watching to have fun.
Speaker 3: I've been asked about a lot of players, obviously none
Speaker 3: none as big as Derek. So when they approached me about, hey,
Speaker 3: what do you think about Derek? Would you be okay
Speaker 3: with it? I'm like, of course I'll be okay with it.
Speaker 3: You know, that's something that he has to figure out
Speaker 3: if he wants to do. And they were asking me basically,
Speaker 3: what's the scout report, you know, pitching. We say, hey,
Speaker 3: we're facing Jason's like, what does he got right? And
Speaker 3: I said, look, you're never going to find someone that
Speaker 3: is more prepared. You're never going to find He'll never
Speaker 3: be unprepared. So he's gonna come ready to play every day.
Speaker 3: He understands entertainment, he understands being part of a team.
Speaker 3: He has a really good relationship with Big Poppy, my
Speaker 3: relationship is solid, and he's gonna love Kevin Burkhart, so
Speaker 3: I think he'll fit great. And you know, obviously they
Speaker 3: got to talking, and so far he's off to an
Speaker 3: amazing start. I'm actually in awe of how quickly he's adjusted,
Speaker 3: because it took me a while to get going. I mean,
Speaker 3: he's probably at the two week mark where it was
Speaker 3: at the two year mark. So I'm excited. We're going
Speaker 3: to have a great run. And by the way you
Speaker 3: said it best, we're talking and highlighting the greatest baseball
Speaker 3: players in the world. We've had a phenomenal year and
Speaker 3: our job is to be an extension of Rob Manford
Speaker 3: and Tony Clark and all the great things they're doing,
Speaker 3: and we get to do it in a national stage
Speaker 3: when everybody pays attention.
Speaker 1: And you know, the other thing, when you're talking baseball,
Speaker 1: this is this is what the way I try to
Speaker 1: look at it is. Whatever we say is not wrong.
Speaker 1: It may not sound right, it may not come out right,
Speaker 1: you may not articulate it well, but it's not wrong.
Speaker 1: It's your opinion. Yeah, And we played the game for
Speaker 1: a long time and people don't have to necessarily agree
Speaker 1: with our opinions, but it's not wrong.
Speaker 3: Yeah. One of the lessons I learned, and again Derek
Speaker 3: and our opposites, like I've made every mistake in the book.
Speaker 3: He doesn't make it. He doesn't make a lot of mistakes.
Speaker 3: But when we're out there, to Derek's point talking about players, managers,
Speaker 3: front offices, the lesson I learned is you can be
Speaker 3: critical as long as you're not personal right, and you
Speaker 3: can say something like, look, I think Jason's one of
Speaker 3: my favorite players, but he's had a rough week, and
Speaker 3: if you ask him, he'll be the first one to
Speaker 3: admit that. But here's what I think Jason's going to do.
Speaker 3: I think he's gonna do X y Z right versus
Speaker 3: taking a personal shot. And I think that's a that's
Speaker 3: a really fine line. You want to stay in the
Speaker 3: other in the right side of that, all right.
Speaker 2: So I got to say, you don't have to say,
Speaker 2: but I'm going to say. So when I saw that
Speaker 2: you were coming over and you guys were going to
Speaker 2: work together, even you know, when I came in here today, like,
Speaker 2: how's this going to go between these two? Because there
Speaker 2: is history there. You guys seem good.
Speaker 1: Why don't people need to put it to bed. I
Speaker 1: think at some point, Jesus, this was one something you
Speaker 1: have known him for thirty years, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: And I get asked more about our relationship than I
Speaker 1: do my wife.
Speaker 3: That's scary.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, it's just put it to bed. I mean,
Speaker 1: we said we're fine working together again. You know, you
Speaker 1: can't change history. History happened, right, It's over and done with.
Speaker 3: You move on. What's funny our partners and Hannah and Jack,
Speaker 3: I think they're happy that we're in this place. I've
Speaker 3: had so many New York Yankee fans come up and say,
Speaker 3: I'm so glad that you guys. I don't care if
Speaker 3: you're best friends. I'm just glad that you guys are
Speaker 3: working together.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: And when they have their hero and someone that they
Speaker 3: admire together, that one together. I think it's warming to
Speaker 3: their heart to know that we are getting along. Yeah,
Speaker 3: that's my thought.
Speaker 2: And so when you think about I mean, and this
Speaker 2: is a question for Derek, and I don't know if
Speaker 2: you and I have ever really talked about it. Alex,
Speaker 2: you know this idea of playing for the Yankees, I mean,
Speaker 2: it does it hits different? And so what do you
Speaker 2: think about as your life, see especially as a Yankee
Speaker 2: as you look back twenty year career there, like what
Speaker 2: jumps to your mind? What do you think is the
Speaker 2: most important thing. What's the thing that you want to
Speaker 2: be most remembered for as a Yankee?
Speaker 1: Oh, I mean you want to be remembered as being
Speaker 1: a good teammate, you know, you want to be remembered
Speaker 1: as winning obviously who you are on the field, I
Speaker 1: think off the field. But for me, I've always said
Speaker 1: the only thing I care about is being remembered as
Speaker 1: a Yankee because it's the only thing I wanted, the
Speaker 1: only team I wanted to play for, only thing I
Speaker 1: wanted to be remembered for. So I'm fine with that,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm fine with that. That's that's if my
Speaker 1: legacy is just being a member of the Yankees.
Speaker 3: I'm fine. Yeah, And I probably share this with so
Speaker 3: many Yankee fans around the world. Like, just playing twenty
Speaker 3: five feet from Derek, regardless of what's happening, with the
Speaker 3: noise that I created, it was such an incredible feeling. Again,
Speaker 3: with time and perspective, it makes you appreciate it even
Speaker 3: more that the guy that was playing next to me
Speaker 3: was always going to be prepared and ready to play,
Speaker 3: and that meant so much to me. And I think
Speaker 3: no matter what the relationship has happened, like that mutual
Speaker 3: respect on the field has always been I think one
Speaker 3: hundred one hundred. We had that commonality about we both
Speaker 3: want to win at the highest level. Like I never
Speaker 3: had to worry about Derek playing hard or running hard
Speaker 3: or did he watch film? Never And that's something that
Speaker 3: to me, I always underscore.
Speaker 2: One of the most fascinating things about athletes at this
Speaker 2: point in their career as former athletes, and Alex and
Speaker 2: I talk about this all the time, is you've got
Speaker 2: all this time when you leave the game ahead of you.
Speaker 2: I say this because we're roughly the same age. You're
Speaker 2: a young man. What's your legacy for this part of
Speaker 2: your career and your life?
Speaker 3: Hmm.
Speaker 1: That's a good question, because you say, you know, when
Speaker 1: you're an athlete, you turn thirty, everyone starts telling you old. Right,
Speaker 1: you retire or retired at forty, and then you're young again,
Speaker 1: right man. Now, the only thing that matters to me
Speaker 1: the most is being a good parent.
Speaker 3: That's it.
Speaker 1: I'm biased my parents. The best thing I can say
Speaker 1: about my parents, is they were present. You know, I
Speaker 1: want to be there for my kids. That's the number
Speaker 1: one priority for me. It really is. I'm not just
Speaker 1: saying it. It is the number one priority for me
Speaker 1: is to be there with my family, with my kids,
Speaker 1: help them find the thing that they're passionate about. I
Speaker 1: don't care what it is. I just want them to
Speaker 1: find something that they're passionate about. I want them to
Speaker 1: work extremely hard at it, and I want to be
Speaker 1: there to support them. So I think that is number
Speaker 1: one for me.
Speaker 2: This has been amazing. Thank you so much. Thank you both.
Speaker 2: I mean, we're doing this together, but I feel like
Speaker 2: I learned a ton about the Yankees that both of
Speaker 2: your business ambitions, and really appreciate you being as candid
Speaker 2: and thoughtful as you as for having me.
Speaker 1: I appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Thanks a lot.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
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