Sports Live! With Steve and Justin

Knicks Turn Blowouts Into Belief, Batting Average Still Matters And So Does an Elbow From A 7 Footer

• Steve and Justin

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The Knicks are doing something that still feels unreal to say out loud: they’re closing playoff series with 30-point statements, and doing it in a way that screams “complete team.” We walk through the stat that puts them next to past champions, why these aren’t empty blowouts, and how depth, defense, and a tougher edge can change the ceiling of a franchise. If you’ve been waiting your whole life to ask, “Are the Knicks actually for real?” we’re right there with you.

Then we pivot hard into the NBA’s other headline: Victor Wembanyama, the modern unicorn, getting battered until he snaps and fires an elbow that launches a flagrant debate. We talk about what “sending a message” used to mean, why suspensions hit differently when it’s your best player, and what the Spurs need from the rest of the roster if they want to play like a true championship organization in today’s NBA.

The back half turns into a baseball rabbit hole for Yankees fans who are tired of hearing that strikeouts don’t matter. We compare Aaron Judge and Joe DiMaggio by seasons, not just raw totals, get into why batting average still belongs in the conversation, and use the 90s Yankees as proof that contact, balance, and a real bullpen travel in October. Subscribe, share the show with a sports-obsessed friend, and leave a review. What’s your biggest disagreement with our takes this week?

Cold Open And Quick Catch-Up

SPEAKER_02

Hello everyone, it's Monday at five. The next sweep. Should I say that again? The next sweep. That and more on Sports Live with Steve and Justin.

SPEAKER_03

Justin, how are you? At least we're consistent. I'm good, Judge.

SPEAKER_02

At least we're consistent. Last week I was like asleep on my feet, and you know, Justin had uh had to go to the hospital and uh with his son, and everything turned out great, thank God. But I watched the video back and I don't think I've laughed that hard in such a long time. I mean, I would like start a sentence and stop, and then there'd be a pause, and then I would continue. And like I would I would categorize like a player, like I can't remember who it was, and I'd say, you know who I'm talking about. And she's like, Well, I'm not a sports fan. Who are you talking about? I said, I couldn't remember his name. I think it was Don Magley at Philadelphia or something. I really couldn't, I couldn't remember, I couldn't remember his name. So, whatever it was I was talking about, I couldn't remember the name, and I I used some colorful caricature to make up um but how you doing, Just.

SPEAKER_03

I'm good. Speaking of Don Magley, I have the gift catalog that you presented me last time I saw you.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Which I have to do for here with the more stuff.

SPEAKER_02

And I got that Yankee book I'm gonna give you. I think I had gotten some autographs in it. I paged through it, I couldn't find any, but I don't think there were big players, but I did think I had somebody sign it.

SPEAKER_03

You know, somewhere I I'm hoping in my garage, there's a Yankees, you know, one of those uh programs you get at the stadium with the scorecard and everything, and it's got Phil Rizzuto's autograph on it. I'm just hoping that it's not in a box that sustained any water damage.

SPEAKER_02

Right. I have a I have a whole slew of those uh like from the 50s, I have a World Series one game program. Um I have ticket stubs from the Yankee Stadium, the 1927 games and the World Series, and you know, it just sits somewhere. I mean, you don't know what to do with it.

Knicks Blowouts And What It Means

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, it's a lot of my stuff is in the garage, not on display. Right. And uh I'm at that point in my life where if I don't display it, it's time to go.

SPEAKER_02

So what are you gonna what are we gonna say about the Knicks? And I'm gonna push a button. Hopefully the Knicks score comes up, and it does. So I mean, amazing, amazing, and and Justin, and I'll read it to you. Justin sent me a all the things I sent him, the crazy stuff I said to him. So the Knicks are the fourth team and Justin sent me this NBA history with 30-point series clinching wins in a single season. Now, the Knicks are fourth team in history, multiple 30-point series clinching wins in a single postseason. They are joined by ready 2025 Thunder, 2008 Celtics, and 1987 Lakers. All three of those teams went on to win an NBA title. What are you gonna say about that?

SPEAKER_03

That's an incredible stat. I know a lot of people defer and say it doesn't mean anything, but it doesn't mean anything, but it's a good thing. This is not the same old Knicks, yeah. Uh this is not the same old Knicks. I mean, last week I texted you that the Knicks got a huge gift not having to play the Celtics. And I was like, well, this is just typical Knicks. You know, they'll get a gift like this and they'll look like two different teams from one series to the next. And they just kept rolling, which is just, I mean, to sweep Philly, I don't care that they're a seven seed. Um, you know, because presumably Embiid was healthy. I know he wasn't 100%, but this Knicks team has been playing well on all facets. Everybody's contributing. It's not it's not come down to just one player making a shot or having a big series. Everybody is contributing. They're shooting, it's almost like they can't miss. And they had an absolute laugh this this week in the series. Really, two series were laughers, which is completely unusual. You just don't see that, especially with the Knicks. Not used to being on that end of the of the scoreboard, I don't think. Not in a long time. And again, they've never had series clinching victories of 30 points or more for two series in a row. It's an incredible position for them to be in. And they can rest. I know I don't know if he's hurt or injured or whatever, and they they can afford to rest him, and the whole team will get some some or at least a day or two off here um to kind of you know ice down the bumps and bruises that come along with the playoffs. But so far, so good. Uh, you know, last year with Thibodeau, I think a lot of guys, a lot of talking heads felt that he was an unjust firing, that they didn't see it. I agree. I mean that doesn't mean they're not better or different. That Thibodeau, you know, what else could he possibly do with this team? He got the most out of them that he could. And I know the Knicks finished what is it, three-seed or four-seed this year with with Mike Brown, but he's played this incredibly well. And he's getting the absolute most out of these guys when you need to get the most out of them, which is in the playoffs. And they're not fighting to make the playoffs. They they were kind of on cruise control. I mean, they they they weren't fighting to win the conference in a one seed. Um, and I think it's fair to say maybe the Pistons kind of I don't want to say they came out of nowhere, but I don't think anybody had the Pistons atop the the conference to start to see. I agree.

SPEAKER_01

I agree with that.

SPEAKER_03

And anybody that had the Knicks at the top, I think, was just, you know, biased Knicks fans. Um, I don't know how you could expect, could have expected much different from them going into the season, but now we're starting to see all these little things, and you're starting to wonder, wow, can this team make the finals? Is this team good enough to win a championship? Because the knock on the Knicks has been they don't have the guy, right? They don't have somebody to take the final shot. Who's it gonna be outside of Brunson? And it's can you because you know there was a game, a couple games at the end of the season where it was just give the ball to Brunson and either he ran it out or barely got a shot off, and people were like, this is not good. It was kind of like, where's this team headed? Now all of a sudden, if you're gonna win by 30 points, it doesn't matter who takes the last shot. I don't think it'll continue that way. Certainly not into the finals, but for now, the Knicks are clicking on all cylinders.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I I listen, they they certainly had the Sixers number. I mean, you can't really argue with that. And the Sixers are hurt and this and that, but you know, they still have George Paul, they still have good players. And I I don't know what it is. I mean, they the Sixers, speaking about the Sixers, I don't know why they play so poorly, why this goes on, why that goes on. Um, I don't know. I don't know the answer to those questions. I know that the Knicks kind of stepped into themselves. Even when they were playing well last year, whatever year you want to say, you know, and you have to remember too, it's a big thing. When you go to play away at the Sixers, you're playing where the Villanova team plays in the playoffs. And let's not forget how many Villanova players are on the Knicks. So they felt at home to a certain extent. Matter of fact, the last banner to be raised in that in that place, in that arena, is the word I'm looking for. The last banner to be raised in that arena is the Villanova banner.

SPEAKER_03

So that's incredible.

SPEAKER_02

It is an incredible thing. And that's really not it either. The Knicks are a different team. It's like they came into themselves, they gained confidence. And they had confidence, but not like they have team confidence now. They had confidence in themselves as players last year. This year they have confidence in themselves as a team, I think. And also, I think about them, which is which is interesting, is that they have become more physical. And that physicality is part of today's game. You know, that's a lead into what we're gonna talk about.

SPEAKER_03

I think that they they've just got tough, right? Like I think they still, like you said before, they stepped into their own, they found their groove, and it's they're not afraid to play anybody. I don't think they were afraid before, but I think they were still kind of feeling themselves out. The Villanova connection is huge. Obviously, when they traded away Dante DiFincenzo, you know, that I think among the fan base guy, most people thought that that was like a bad move or it really hurt. It was a big loss because you didn't have that guy that made the big shot. But the guys that have replaced him collectively, they're shooting well. And they haven't really had to have that big shot, but they've gotten it from different guys. So, you know, like I said before, everybody's playing well. You know, take a guy like Mitchell Robinson, who's been hurt forever, it seems, every year he couldn't stay healthy, is making big contributions off the bench. He's playing well inside, he's rebounding. You know, he's playing like a starter. He's playing like a guy that you draft in the top top of the draft. So, you know, you could say that he's you know finally come into his own and he's healthy and everything, but it's it's it's it's one through through 12. It's not just top six guys, it's everybody. So they put together a pretty good roster of guys, and you know you need depth, right? I mean, we've watched how many teams have we watched in the last 10 or 15 years? They win with their depth. You know, when they're got when their starters are are in a rut, they could come off the floor, and you get guys that that show up big late in these games that don't get a lot of minutes and make big shots. And right now the Knicks are getting they're getting contributions from everybody so much so that they're just blowing these guys out of the water, which is incredible because that that is atypical of the Knicks, and it's certainly not something that you see every year, year in and year out, even from championship teams.

SPEAKER_00

I agree.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, I I think they're really into their own um you know, they I think that a lot of fans question how good they really are, only because they've won so overwhelmingly that people are saying that maybe those teams weren't good enough to be in the playoffs. Doesn't matter how good off they were, they were good enough to be in there. I um think I think it's it's uh they're better than people think.

SPEAKER_03

So they're also playing above average defense. To to score, you know, if they're winning games 110, 90 something, you kind of say, all right, that's they're they're decent. But you know, 120, 130, 140, you know, those are Mike Dantoni offensive numbers. At least that's what you hoped for back when he was here. But defensively, it was never even close.

SPEAKER_01

Right.

SPEAKER_03

You know, to hold teams under 100 points in the even in the playoffs, uh, and and win by 20 plus 30 points, you you're doing an incredible job on both ends of the floor. So it's not just guys scoring, it's they're they're playing incredible defense as well.

SPEAKER_02

Having said that, talking about the playoffs yesterday, last night, whenever that game was, we saw a wild penalty, uh wild foul, if you will. Objection. That came with a penalty of ejection and a suspension or whatever for the next day. Um there are a lot of people thought that that was a flagrant one, and I have a picture, and hopefully I'll push the right button, like I always say, and here it is right here. Now, this is prior to the assault, if you will, prior to when he hit he hit him. Um and you could see he's absolutely contemplating it, and there is a wind up to it, which is a big deal when you're talking about a flagrant two. And we're talking about, you know, Victor. I'm not even gonna begin to try to pronounce his last name, but Wabanyama. Wabanyama.

SPEAKER_03

You just call him Wemby. That's what everybody else calls him.

SPEAKER_02

Is a 7'7 skinny player. And yes, in this game and others, he's been getting pushed around. And what do you do when that happens? You know, it's the old Fonzie principle. You smack them once and everybody remembers, and then they stay away from you, if anybody ever watched Happy Days. Happy Days back in the day. So I I think it was possible only to give them give him a uh a one, but the more I watch it, the more I believe it's a fr flagrant two. I don't think it's anything, and I do think he had to be thrown thrown out of the game or whatever you want to call it, disqualified. I don't think they needed to give him a second day. I think they could have given him a fine. Not that money means anything to an NBA player, especially one like him, that's good. And I think it reminds me of an era where there was always big players that we called, like in hockey, the enforcer, the Nick Fatios of the New York Ranger world, who would come out and and foul somebody like that. And when they got suspended, you didn't care. But when your best player on a team gets suspended, it's a little bit a little bit of a different thing.

SPEAKER_03

This is a different league than it was when you know Dennis Robin played or Bill Lambier, right? And Wemby is not that type of player. He's a young guy, right? What is this, his second year in the league?

SPEAKER_02

He's young. He's gigantic.

SPEAKER_03

He's he's still maturing, and that's not to say that he's immature because I don't believe he is.

SPEAKER_02

But no, but he's maturing as a player, not as a person.

SPEAKER_03

Yes.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, he may be maturing as a person, but we have no idea of that.

SPEAKER_03

I think the frustr the frustration of the series, and maybe the series before, got to him and he finally had enough. And I think that was, you know, Minnesota's plan all along was to frustrate him and beat him up. And part of the problem, I think, is that the rest of the Spurs team has not retaliated. They haven't been that physical. They are getting pushed around the floor, and they're the better team. And, you know, I don't expect them to be like, you know, the Pistons of the 90s or, you know, even the Bulls with Dennis Rodman or or the Spurs with Dennis Rodman. But it's in your DNA as a championship team that your best player is out there taking a beating. Guys need to pay for that. Now, today's league is different. It's a different league they play. Everybody's friends, it's a love-in most nights. Everybody's worried about protecting everybody else's future and their money, et cetera, et cetera. I get that. But at some point, you have to send a message. And it cannot be your star player sending that message if it's going to cost him time on the floor. So that nobody else was able to send that message prior to that foul, I think, is a message to his teammates. Hey, enough is enough. All right. I can't, I can't take this beating every night. He is the tallest guy on the floor, but he's not necessarily the biggest guy, if that makes any sense. No, I don't expect him to be there. Yeah, I don't expect him to be their enforcer. And, you know, if that I don't think that's Minnesota's, right? It's Minnesota they're playing, Minnesota's game, but clearly that's their their plan uh against Wendy in this series is to just keep, you know, hacking them and pushing them around and getting them uncomfortable. And it's one thing to, you know, stand up to somebody who's pushing your team around, or just have your team play tougher and accept the fouls and get another team out of their rhythm, but clearly they're going after Wemby and he's had enough. And I can't say that I blame him for you know throwing that elbow. It was ugly. You know, it's it's it's something that you can't have. You know, obviously, you don't want to see something like that because you don't want to see the other. I mean, it could have been worse. I mean, he hit him right in the throat. You know, he could have really done some damage.

SPEAKER_02

It was a show.

SPEAKER_03

So then you enter in a whole different territory. Does he have to sit if the other guy has to miss time and all that stuff? Because I think they they did that in hockey at some point where, you know, guys injured, you're gonna miss time from a flagrant or something like that. But, you know, the rest of the team has to look at themselves and realize you've got arguably the best player in basketball on your team. And it's in the Spurs DNA, they are a championship franchise. And if you want to take that next step and you want to be that next elite team, you have to protect your player. He's your guy, he's your franchise. So you have to take the floor every night knowing that if he's gonna get trampled or they're coming after him, that has to stop immediately. Somebody has to send a message, and it can't, he can't just be left out there by himself to do that.

SPEAKER_02

Agreed.

SPEAKER_03

And it's a one, you know, you do it once and that's it. And then, you know, you go from there. You know, short of a bench clearing brawl, which I, you know, nobody wants to see that either. And I don't think there's really any bad blood between these teams. At least that's my impression. There they probably will be now. So you just hope that it doesn't escalate past this because the Spurs are good enough to win this series. They're probably good enough to challenge for the conference and then go to the finals. So they have to understand that as a team, this is their window. They can't just think, well, we're happy to be here, you know, we're a couple years away. No, this is it. You're you're in the window right now. You've got the best player. You need to go win these games and not let something like that detract from your mission through the playoffs.

SPEAKER_02

So one of the other things that happened over the weekend, uh I think it happened yesterday, matter of fact, on Sunday, is the the 2026 NBA draft lottery, which is interesting that for for a change, the the worst team or the team that had the worst year last year won the lottery, and that's the Washington Weather Wizard.

SPEAKER_03

The team with the most ping pong balls.

SPEAKER_02

Well, they had a 14% chance at the top pick.

SPEAKER_00

I'm reading this right here. Let me see what it says. Where does it say?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, uh uh Washington, Indiana, and Brooklyn um all had 14%, Utah at eleven and a half percent. Yada yada yada, Memphis had nine, New Orleans um six point eight. It's really really interesting because nobody, and I mean nobody, doesn't think that this draft is fixed. I I don't think I don't know how right I don't know how that happened. I think they did it. It may and now that it came out the way it should have, people think it's more fixed.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. So the throwing off throw you off the scent kind of thing. Well, last time I was on with you, we talked about the commissioner of the NFL having the first ten picks in his pocket on a piece of paper.

SPEAKER_02

Right.

SPEAKER_03

Given the history of the NBA lottery, draft, whatever, we know that there's been some questionable action surrounding the draft. I don't know how you fix it. I I know uh previously I said about the NFL, just reverse the draft order and the problem is solved. But I don't think you can do that in the NBA because if the best team gets the best player coming out of college, it's gonna they're gonna be hard to beat. So maybe. You know, I mean look at the Pelicans. Yeah. It's a it it's a crapshoot for sure.

SPEAKER_00

It's a crapshoot.

SPEAKER_02

The Knicks Knicks had their first pick is 20.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I don't know what you do with that. You know, maybe you get an international player and 31st. You know, maybe you package those and move on to something for next year. I'm sure they have scouts all over the planet. Looking at guys on whether or not they want to draft them or bring guys in. And again, you're playing with a much uh much shorter roster, right? There's only 15 guys on the on the roster. Right? And then there's your practice players or whatever. So someone's gonna lose their job, you know, if you're drafting all these players, can you know, theoretically, if unless they're playing in the G League or whatever, but um sure, certainly it's a little different in the NBA than it is in in the NFL.

SPEAKER_02

Um so I mean I have some comments about you know who they're talking to everybody's gonna pick, but I think given we'll we should save that conversation for when the rabbi's here.

SPEAKER_03

Because he knows what the rabbi will be in town. The rabbi will be in town next month.

SPEAKER_02

All right. So we'll we'll uh either we'll we'll either do it on location or wherever the wherever he wanders around in the world whenever the CS Express, the rabbi uh train of the future lands in your local town. Keep an eye out if you see a a train come into your town and a rabbi walk off that could be our man. So so we will have a uh NBA pick conversation with the rabbi when he's available. And the other thing we were talking about was baseball. Certainly the Yankees are playing well, certainly the Mets are playing lousy, they have won a few games, which is an amazing feat, but whatever.

SPEAKER_03

And so earlier today Well, the Mets are five and four in their last nine games. So if they win today, are they playing today? If they win their next game and they're six and four in their last ten, if they if they do that for the rest of the season, they're a playoff team.

SPEAKER_02

Not really.

SPEAKER_03

I don't know about that.

SPEAKER_02

I don't think so.

SPEAKER_03

I think six and four the rest of the way gets them to the playoffs.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, but you no one goes six and four the rest of the way.

SPEAKER_00

It's a lot to ask. I understand that. You know, I don't know what to say.

LeBron Rumors Plus A Fan Poll

SPEAKER_02

So we were having a comparison, you know, last week and the week before, um, I had some conversations about basketball players and the king of all, the NBA, King James. Um let's not forget that his contract is up at the end of this year. Um, whether he's coming back or not. Um who knows? Is he going to Cleveland? Is he going to the Knicks? Who knows where he goes?

SPEAKER_03

I hope not. I truly hope not. I don't care if they were a LeBron away from winning a championship. I hope he doesn't come here.

SPEAKER_02

So I I have some I'm gonna put out, I think for the first time, I'm gonna put together a question for people to answer and see what kind of response we get. I don't know when I'm gonna do that, but it's gonna be soon and it's I can put it on Twitter because we now have our own Twitter.

SPEAKER_00

You mean X? Or X.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, sorry, X. It's uh Sports Live Pod at Sports Live Pod. So you can you can actually be our first follower because we have none right now.

SPEAKER_02

So yeah, I actually have poll software built into this mess that runs here, but I haven't played with it yet, so I don't know how it works. So let's do it there. I sent you a picture and I would show you all it, but I I didn't load it in because I didn't think about it tonight. And maybe if you guys could see this, I don't think you can.

SPEAKER_00

No, it's not focused. There we go. That's it. Yeah, you can't really. Is that the Lakers one?

SPEAKER_02

Yes, so it is the poll will be remove the worst Laker of all time. And in other words, it is, and what I said the other day, I want you to look at this group of Lakers, famous Hall of Fame Laker players, and you tell me if you were in game seven, which guy would you pull? And I'll and I'll leave it at that. Of course, there's only there's five layer players showing, so I don't know. Maybe we'll wait and do a better one. Um I like it. Okay. I'll send it. You have it. You could just load it up and put it out there and tell everyone where it is again.

SPEAKER_03

At Sports Live Pod on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Judge Vs DiMaggio By Seven Seasons

SPEAKER_02

And also uh we'd appreciate it if everyone likes and subscribes. Certainly subscribe. We've we've really had a been having a run on subscribers lately, but we need so many more to really get ourselves off the ground. We're in this beginning stages of what we think is a great sports podcast where we're bringing on great interviews and great things, and any suggestions ever anyone has, please forward it to them. We're also we're also on stephenjustin uh.com. You can get all our videos. Pretty soon we'll be running questions for conversations there as well. All right. So we started our day, Justin and I, talking about a baseball comparison, and I'll let Justin go through it and I'll put it up.

SPEAKER_03

Oh yeah. Let me uh let me find it here because I can't read that right now. So I saw the tweet earlier today, and someone did it through 1100 plus games played, and I went to look back at it because it just didn't it didn't sit right with me that it was so one-sided. So I redid the parameters for their first full seven seasons each because DiMaggio, after his seventh season, didn't play for three years because of military service 43, 44, and 45. So I did the first seven seasons for each of them, which includes DiMaggio's rookie season. It doesn't include 2016 for Judge because it was only a handful of games at the end of the season. So it was his first full seven seasons. And the the initial tweet I saw was it favored Judge by a lot. I think the only two categories that DiMaggio led were batting and RBIs. But this one through the first seven seasons, which you can tell, um, I have to look at this. My glasses off, I can see it. Uh they're about a hundred or so plus games apart through seven seasons. And obviously, it's interesting because DiMaggio played in 154 games per season. A judge playing in 162 has over 100 less games, almost a full season, less games than DiMaggio. So we're comparing seasons, not total games played here. So you could skew this, but I thought it was most fair to the seasons rather than like, you know, at bats or games played, or I mean, you could do it any way you want, obviously. But two different eras, two different players. DiMaggio played in a much bigger ballpark. And so you could argue that it was easier or harder to get a base hit, certainly harder to hit home runs. Judge has a clear advantage there.

SPEAKER_02

Um so it's an interesting person between the two. And I think this came from baseballstats.com or something like that. Baseball stats, so courtesy of them, where they put it. Sportsreference.com. Sportsreference.com. So I'd I'd like to, you know. Listen, you I don't need to look at the stats to know that Joe DiMaggio was a contact hitter, probably better than anyone. And what's not on here is what I mentioned before to him today is strikeouts.

SPEAKER_03

Strikeouts are not on there, correct.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I mean Joe DiMaggio um uh struck out very rarely. He was one of those uh the only one who probably less is Ted Williams. Um being that kind of an amazing hitter. Uh Ted Williams was probably a better hitter than uh than Joe D. Um I mean uh but Joe D was more of a household name. Joe D was a New York Yankee, Joe D was Italian in a in New York City.

SPEAKER_03

He dated Marilyn Monroe.

SPEAKER_02

He date married Marilyn Monroe Monroe after Henry Miller and was embarrassed by her behavior from time to time. And matter of fact, lots of stories when Marilyn was invited and Joe D invited over to Frank Sinatra's house, where they would sit around the table with uh Sam Giancano and others, and and they would just like rip into Joe because he had nothing to say. And Marilyn was always ossified, so it it made uh made an interesting, uh interesting thing. I don't know how that match ever made up, ever got together. Certainly Joe probably didn't ask his mother, mom, should I marry her? But but it is a it is an interesting interesting story. Uh, you know, as a side thing, when I had met Joe Matt DiMaggio a a a few times and like autographed things and other times too, but I was in an autograph show and I had these two Life magazines. He was the only professional baseball player that had been on Life magazine twice on the cover when life was the biggest thing there was in the world. Yeah. And I have both of them, and they're both autographed by him, autographs I got myself. And the kid in front of me pulled out a picture of him putting flowers on Marilyn Monroe's grave, which he did very often.

SPEAKER_03

I forget how often I think they did it for he did it either for her birthday or their anniversary every year. I think it was her birthday.

SPEAKER_02

I don't know, and asked him to sign it, and I thought he was gonna clock the kid. He refused, and and and and the promoter, I think, tried to get him to do it, and he was like, I'm Joe DiMaggio. I'm not signing it. You know, basically, like, yeah, he is Joe DiMaggio, and he really is. I mean, he really was an amazing player. Like, besides having a 56-game hitting streak, I think right prior to that he had a 48-game hitting streak or something in the 40s, if it's not the exact number. So, I mean, he was amazing. He treated um there's no other player gonna be like him. I I don't care. Judge is more compatible to a Mickey Mantle to me than he is to a Joe DiMaggio.

SPEAKER_03

Um DiMaggio did that in 1941. That's incredible. Uh that uh 56. And he followed that. I think he followed that with another uh yeah, the 56th game hit streak. And trying to remember the story. I know he had something going on, uh, but then he had like another, I think, uh 16 games in a row he hit after that. Um I would I would defer to Dom. I can't remember the exact number of games. But this is a guy who was, you know, at one point in his career, he was hitting 400 and he got an eye infection, and I think it was the manager who told him Yankees don't sit, and he finished the season hitting 380 something. Um incredibly tough individual, for sure. I know there's a lot of stories out there about who liked him, who he liked, who didn't like him. He was a hard ass. He was this, he was this real SOB, but he was a hell of a ball player. And Ted Williams said he was the best hitter he ever saw. So, you know, the comparison that we're looking at, again, two probably polar opposites in terms of personality as far as Yankees go. But the thing I found most interesting is the batting average and the RBIs. And again, this is not I'm not knocking Aaron Judge, and I don't want it to seem that way. Because I think if the Yankees' approach was different, Judge would still hit for average. But this era of baseball player is all about launch angle and hitting home runs. And the two things the Yankees tell you, well, the one thing they told you is strikeouts don't matter. And I think that's bullshit.

SPEAKER_02

And so do I.

SPEAKER_03

That's just their style of play. And when you look at, you know, and again, I'm not knocking Aaron Judge because I think he's a world-class athlete. And if the Yankees changed their mantra and they wanted him to get on base more, he'd still hit a shit ton of home runs, but I think his batting average would soar. And don't forget, last year, on I think it was May 5th, he was batting like 190, and then by the middle of June, he was hitting well over 400 at one point. 409, I think it was. So he's an incredibly talented baseball player, incredibly talented hitter, but the errors are completely different. And as far as today's athlete is concerned, and the way they approach stuff, and I know Yankee fans love to beat their chest when certain guys hit home runs in the playoffs, yada, yada, yada. And if a guy doesn't hit, they cry and moan and he stinks and whatever. But that's, in my opinion, a product of the environment the Yankees have built where they say strikeouts don't matter and they they don't really take batting average into account for things. I heard somebody last week say that can we please remove batting average from uh the the conversation when we're talking about Hall of Famers? Absolutely not. Okay. You want winners hitting the balls, it's the most important part of the game. Getting on base and driving in runs. And if you look at DiMaggio's numbers, he's about 50 points higher than Judge. And I think that I think that's relatively close to where they are for their careers right now. Obviously, Judge's career is not over yet. I might be within 40 points. I picked that up.

SPEAKER_02

You have to remember, and DiMaggio played pretty much with a dead ball, much deader than the ball that we use today. And if you want to go back and look at a great And the man was higher.

SPEAKER_03

The pitchers had an incredible advantage back then.

SPEAKER_02

You want to look at a great year of baseball. There's a book called Uh Date by Dave. There's a few books actually that are really worth reading. Dave Halberstam, he wrote a book called Summer of 49, where he goes into the golden age of baseball, the year that DiMaggio and the Yankees, you know, they are about to enter this five-year period of winning five World Series, which at that time was unheard of. I mean, uh, if I remember correctly, uh Cli where did I think Cleveland won in 48 and 54. I'm trying to remember where where um they had picked up the relief pitcher, Allie Super Chief Reynolds. Allie Manns, wow. Yeah, and then they train I met Allie Reynolds, had a lot of conversations with him about him. He told me a lot about what it was like to play with Mickey Mannell, um, how he came up as a rookie, met him as a rookie, and what the amazing athletic ability had. But this book is a fantastic book, um, Subur of 49. The other book that he wrote that is also exceptional, also considers the Yankees, even though they didn't win the World Series that year, was October 1964, it's called, and it's about the Cardinals who represent the National League, have that National League mindset, and at that time had a lot of African-American players, like most National League teams did, more than in the American leagues. So you had this team that was dominated by great black players as well as great white players, but and you had the New York Yankees who had Mannel who led, and so that led to the, you know, the standard pitcher, Bob Gibson, at that time was such a dominant pitcher against this switch hitter, uh, Mickey Mannle. Still in a good part of his good career, about to go downhill. And um, so that those are both great books, great books about about baseball. If you really, you really want to read some great books. 49 I have, I I think it's autograph. I I don't I don't think I have the author autographed, but I have the he wrote some conversations. I think he wrote a chapter on Tommy Henrick, and I had met Tommy Henrik and he signed it, and I think he had written some other chapters that about certain players, and I was lucky enough to have it autographed by them.

SPEAKER_03

That's incredible.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I don't know where the books are, but I know I have them somewhere in those boxes of crap I have in the back. So I know I got off I got off the subject a little bit, but to me, you can't compare the two different kinds of hitters, Joe DiMaggio and uh Aaron uh Judge.

SPEAKER_03

I mean I will I do want to make a point that because I'm looking at the playoff numbers for those same years, those first seven years. DiMaggio played now, they only played in the World Series, right? They didn't have playoffs then. You won the you won the league and you went to the World Series.

SPEAKER_02

So I I don't remember what year the playoffs start.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, it it's a little skewed, but in in his first seven seasons in the playoffs, DiMaggio played only 29 games, and that's from age twenty-one to age twenty-seven. In that time, he had a hundred and nineteen at-bats. He struck out eleven times and hit three oh three. So it's a little skewed, but from twenty-five to thirty, he played in forty-four games, so fifteen more games. And let's see, he had a hundred and seventy-one at bats versus DiMaggio's one nineteen. He struck out sixty-six times, his batting average was two eleven. So my argument is it does matter. Strikeouts and batting average matter. I agree. 100% because that has been the Yankees' mantra. Strikeouts don't matter, a batting average is not that important. It's all about OPS and all these other ridiculous stats, war, right? Whatever they come up with to justify their their metrics to pay guys. Right. But the eyeball test doesn't fail. If you got a guy swinging for defenses every time he gets up, and he's not trying to get on base or move the runners or play baseball the way it's supposed to be played, what do you expect? You're not gonna win. I agree. And it and again, I'm not knocking Aaron George because I love him. I think he's great. And I think he'll play whatever kind of style you want him to play. And if the Yankees played it that way versus playing the way they do now, I think they'd be much more successful. And to further drive home the point, everybody's doing the same thing now. There are only three teams right now in the American League with a winning record. Three. Three teams above 500.

SPEAKER_02

So just as uh a footnote, 1903 was the first World Series. 1969, the playoffs officially introduced best of five National League against the American League, best of five.

SPEAKER_03

That was a league championship?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

So 69 when the Mets won, strangely enough. And also when uh so they had played, if I remember clock correctly, in 69, they played the Cubs, who were very good. You know, um Ernie Banks, let's play two. Um in eighty-five they expanded it to best of seven. In ninety-five they introduced the division series with wildcard when they realigned the three the three divisions and then 2022 became 12 teams, best of three wildcard series.

SPEAKER_00

I don't really get it, but okay. So, I mean that's really where it's at. I don't really got some Dom comments here.

SPEAKER_02

You ready? Other apitudes that the Majo is the greatest base runner of all time. Yes, he was very good. I don't know if I can say the best. Parm rated equivalent to Bill Bob Musilius when he first came up. Arm LOL, Mets defeated the Braves in 69. Thank you for correcting me on that. He is correct. Tom is conflicted. I remember. I was a Met fan in 69.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

So I remember and if you really want to see a good book, I don't even know if it's a print.

SPEAKER_03

Nor was he ever a Met fan.

90s Yankees Roster And Winning Formula

SPEAKER_02

I don't know if you you um really wanted to see a good book in print. I don't know if it's a print anymore. It's called The Year the Mets Lost Last Place. And it's a really good uh you know, go over of that year and that team, the Tommy Agey, Ron Sloboda, you know, Tom Seavert, Jerry Kuzman. They had some great, you know, even that year, you had Madillac, you had Nolan Ryan, because he came up with the Mets. Um but he hadn't he hadn't really came into his own at that point. A lot of, a lot of um, a lot of other things took place. The Braves were a good team, you know, they had Henry Aaron. The Braves were a good team like they were. Speaking of that, you know, Bobby Cox passed away, which is interesting because he was hired by Ted Turner, who just passed away, too. You know, Bobby Cox had some run with the Braves. Incredible manager, incredible baseball guy. Could had a hard time winning the big one. I mean, he ran into the Yankees at another time in place where they just had uh really good.

SPEAKER_03

But the Braves were the Braves when they played the Yankees, right? They were coming off their only world championship. You know, they were in the middle of their run, and it seemed like they had turned the corner and they were ready to rock, and they were I mean, they were the class of the league. And then the Yankees completely derailed them twice. But I mean, what did we learn from that series? That you need a closer. You know, you have to be able to finish games. Something the Yankees, I think, maybe learned this weekend in Milwaukee.

SPEAKER_00

Right putrid, putrid, absolutely putrid.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, I mean, they had some pitching when they were playing.

SPEAKER_03

They're starting pitching with second to none, for sure.

SPEAKER_02

When in 95, 96, or 96, you want to say, when the when the Yanks beat him and they really shouldn't, that was a crazy year, right? I'm just pulling it up. I mean, that was a crazy year because wasn't there a stoppage because of contract and they played two halves? I'm sure Dom, you can correct me on that, too. So 95, you're talking about? Yeah, 96. So here's 96 Braves, here's their pitcher. Okay. John Smoltz. Tom Glavin Hall of Famer, right? Wanna say Young. I I don't know, uh Greg Maddox, 15 and 4. So Smultz went 24-8 with a 294 ERA. Greg Maddox was 15-4, 272 ERA. Tom Glavin, 15 and 10, 298 ERA. Oh, and the fourth pitcher, Steve Avery. He didn't have a great year that year. He was 7-10, but still. And then they had two other right-hand pitchers. I don't know who they were. But didn't they have uh Klaunce? I want to say and Browski. Brad Klouz and Joe Brownski.

SPEAKER_03

No, I don't remember. So for some reason I thought they had Martinez.

SPEAKER_02

And that, you know. You know, there was some whatever you want to say about George Steinbrenner, whatever he broke out of his mold that year, where he started grabbing at the, you know, I don't know, did what was Wade Boggs there that year?

SPEAKER_03

But he had only five or ninety? Yeah, he was, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Because Boggs came in like 93, I think. 92, 93? Well, here they are.

SPEAKER_02

They had Girardi and Laritz as catchers, 96 key players. They had uh outfielders, Bernie Williams, Paul O'Neill, Tim Rains, Daryl Strawberry, Gerald Williams, and Lewis Soho. Pitchers. Andy Pettit, David Cohn, Harrietta Rivera, but he was a setup guy because they had John Wetland. Remember? Yep. Jimmy Key, Dwight Gooden, David Weathers, Graham Lloyd, Jeff Nelson, Kenny Rogers, and Bob Whitman. Joe Torrey was the manager who was first. Rookie of the year that year, Derek Jeter. World Series MVP, John Wetland. So, and you know, and Tito Martinez replaced Don Mattingley.

SPEAKER_03

Stab me in the heart at year, if you remember. You just had to stick that one in there, didn't you?

SPEAKER_02

So I get I'm I'm guessing Boggs maybe came up the next year.

SPEAKER_03

No, Boggs was there. Boggs had that used walk in that in that series. Boggs was there in either '92 or '93. I'm trying to remember when they were. Because they got him and they got O'Neill, right? I want to say '92.

SPEAKER_02

I don't see him on here. Deion James. I don't see him on here. Oh, yeah, he was. Here's the batting batting order. Ready? Joe Girardi leading off. And I remember, you know, you think about John Sterling. I remember John Sterling used to do on his on his night show. He used to say, Yep, Joe Girardi, he's gonna be the savior. We brought in and we made a play for a big player, Joe Gerardi. Meanwhile, he turned out being great for them. So it was Girardi, Tino Martinez, Mariano Duncan, Jeter, Boggs, Gerald Williams, Bernie Williams, Paul O'Neill, Ruben Sierra.

SPEAKER_00

Ruben Sierra.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Commercial.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. So I mean, here's the uh where are the batting averages? Be average average. Girardi, Girardi was batting 294. Okay. It's about probably the best.

SPEAKER_03

Tell me again, batting average doesn't matter. The Yankees catcher today is getting under under 200.

SPEAKER_02

Tino Martinez, 292. Um, Mariano Duncan, 340. 340. That's incredible. Yeah, he didn't have many games. How many games? Oh, he had 109. Derek Gito, 314.

SPEAKER_03

And he was great defensively.

SPEAKER_02

Wade Boggs, 311. No, no joke, Boggs.

SPEAKER_03

Pedestrian year for Boggs.

SPEAKER_02

Gerald Williams, 270. Bernie Williams. 309.

SPEAKER_03

309.

SPEAKER_02

I'm sorry, 304. 305. Paul O'Neill 302. And Ruben Sierra 258.

SPEAKER_03

Hitting cleanup or fifth. Switch hitting.

SPEAKER_02

I mean TH. How do you?

SPEAKER_03

Can't beat that.

SPEAKER_02

And the only all-star on a team? Wade Bucks. I don't know, maybe a pitcher, but the only player, so John Wetland was an all-star too.

SPEAKER_03

I don't think did they have anybody on that roster have over 25 or 30 home runs? I don't think so.

SPEAKER_02

Home runs. Girardi had two. Tino Martinez had 25. Mariano Duncan had eight. Jeter had 10. Boggs had two. He had lost his power at that point.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, but he was never playing. Gerald Williams had five.

SPEAKER_02

Bertie Williams had 29.

SPEAKER_00

29.

SPEAKER_02

Paul O'Neill had 19, and Ruben Sierra had 11.

SPEAKER_00

Absolutely incredible. They were a fun team to watch, man. So I'm looking at I'm looking at the other players.

SPEAKER_02

So wait, here's the list of the other players. The non-starters. Jimmy Lauritz, who had an attitude problem always. Thought himself he was the greatest player on the on the planet. He's a funny dude. So wait, so wait to hear who's here's the guys sitting on a bench. Jim Lairitz, Tim Raines, Daryl Strawberry, Cecil Fielder, Andy Fox, Ruben Rivera, Andy Fox. Married Adredit Al Aldret? Mike Aldretti. Mike Aldretti, Charlie Hayes, Matt Howard, Louis Jarr, Pat Kelly. Remember him? Pat Kelly. Second baseman.

SPEAKER_03

Robert left off the colour roster that year.

SPEAKER_02

Jose Posada. Oh, right.

SPEAKER_03

They had three catchers.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

They had three. Lawritz was the third catcher.

SPEAKER_02

So where were the batting averages? So Lawritz was batting 264. Obviously, they played less games.

SPEAKER_03

Layritz was really, I mean, he played three or four different positions. He could play everywhere.

SPEAKER_02

Tim Raines. Tim Raines was batting 284, 60 games he played. Imagine have a guy come off the bench. He's batting 264. 284? 262 Gerald Strawberry played 63 games. Cecil Fielder, 260. I'm going to skip around here. Ruben Rivera batted 284 that year, 46 games. Michael Dreddy, 250. Charlie Hayes batted 284. Played 20 games. But not for anything. Amazing. They had all these guys coming off. And I thought that was a great, just a great, a great move by Steinerberg. Wins and losses. Let's look here.

SPEAKER_03

That's another thing a lot of people don't realize about that team. Andy Pettit A's teams.

SPEAKER_02

Andy Pettett came in second in the Cy Young, was an all-star, and 14 in the MVP, 21 and 8. Kenny Rogers, remember Kenny Rogers was a great pitcher until he came to the Yankees. And then I think he left and he became a good pitcher again. He was 12-8. Dwight Gooden was 11-7. Jimmy Key, remember him? 12-11. Cone 7-2. And Romero Mendoza, 4-5. And then you had, here's the relievers. Wetland, Rivera, Wickman, Jeff Nelson, who wasn't that bad. No, he was really good.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. And Dale Poley. Jeff Nelson, other guy with a violent wind up, you know, long, tall dude.

SPEAKER_00

And they had a, you know.

SPEAKER_03

Other Mendoza was really long middle relief. He was instrumental. I mean, they had it, they had a guy for everything, that team.

SPEAKER_02

They had a bunch of other guys.

SPEAKER_03

They had a guy for everything. I mean, that team was really steep. You know, I mean, I know you think about the money they spent on players to have them on the bench. Teams don't do that today. You just don't see that. You know, I think that's where a lot of these, you know, it's hard to compare even those two errors because all the money's on the field today. We don't have guys sitting on the bench that are future Hall of Famers.

SPEAKER_02

Right. So wait. Maybe that's the structure. Maybe they're right. That's the structure of how things go. Maybe it's wrong. Ready for the coaching staff? You want to know why these guys won? You just heard the players. You want to hear the coaching staff?

SPEAKER_03

Uh I hope Dom's not listening.

SPEAKER_02

Joe Torrey.

unknown

I know.

SPEAKER_03

Clueless Joe, they called him in the paper when they hired him.

SPEAKER_00

Um. Who is that? Your mother that wants to have Bernie Williams on? Oh, she wants Bernie to be the manager, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

So Joe Torrey, bench coaches. Don Zimmer, batting coach, Chris Chandler, Chris Chandless, pitching coach, coach, Mel Stodemeyer, Willie Randolph, Jose Cardinale, and Tony Kloinger. I mean Jose Cardinale, yeah. What do you want to say?

SPEAKER_03

Chambers was the hitting coach, right? And first base coach? Or was he the hitting coach and Cardinal was first base coach?

SPEAKER_02

Remember Chamberless hit that big home run when they really needed it.

SPEAKER_03

Another game I watched at my grandparents' house when I was little. Another traumatic event. Positive trauma.

SPEAKER_02

So, you know, uh Dom wanted to remind us that Boggs won rode the horse in Yankee Stadium after the first film. That's right. So that's an and that's only 96. Let's go to let's look at I don't know why we're on a sidetrack now. We're gonna might as well keep going. Yankee roster 97.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, 97, uh, you know, they just got beat by the by the by the Indians. I mean, the Indians just, you know, I mean the Yankees got it, you know, they were there right at the end, too. Paul O'Neill hit that double off the wall that I think he and everybody else thought was a home run, and he wasn't running hard from the start, and he still made it a double, and the Yanks couldn't get back in the game. Um, you know, in the 95, you know, Buck Show Alter, and I, you know, they didn't know that what they had in Mariano Rivera closing out games. I can't say that what he went to the World Series that year, but that was a tough loss in the wild card.

SPEAKER_02

You're ready for the batting averages in '97. Girardi, leadoff, 264. What was he, 290 before? Um Martinez, 296. Lewis Soho.

SPEAKER_03

No, that can't be the lineup. Lewis, it is the it is the lineup. By position, not by batting order.

SPEAKER_02

No, by position. You're right. Lewis So Soho is it? Say O J O O. Louis Soho. So Louis Soho. He batted 307, Jeter was batting 297, Charlie Heavens, Charlie Hayes is batten 258, uh, Tim Rains is batting 321. Bernie Williams is batting 328, Paul O'Neill's 324, and Cecil Fielders as D.H. He's 260. What do you want to say about that? Home runs? Let's look at that just to aggravate myself. Was Strawberry out that year? Martinez had 45. Strawberry only played 11 games.

SPEAKER_03

He played 96, and then he came again in 98. Was he was he? Yeah, probably trying to remember where he was in 97, if he was on the roster or not.

SPEAKER_02

He was in rehab. Yeah. Um, so let's look at pitching that year. Pitching that year was I was the first year that Mariano came in because they Stanton, what's his name? Wetfield went somewhere else. So Andy Pettett, he was 18 and 7. David Wells, 16 and 10, David Cohn, 12 and 6, and Dwight Gooden, 9-5. That was the five rotation. And you had others.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, Strawberry only played 11 in uh 1997.

SPEAKER_02

You had Hideki Arabu.

SPEAKER_00

Remember, he came over, he was five and four. So, you know, you had you know, the relief pitchers.

SPEAKER_02

You had Rivera, you had R Romero Rendoza, Jeff Nelson, Mike Stanton, and uh Graham Lloyd.

SPEAKER_00

So that's a different full season roster. Same coaches, let's go one more.

SPEAKER_02

Ninety-eight. Was that the year they really they won't?

SPEAKER_03

98, they were just a machine. That's the year. A total machine. 114 wins, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. So now you have Posada catching, because he came into his own. He batted 268. Martinez, 281, Chuck Knobloch. Nobody in the world yelled more Chuck Knoblock in the stadium than I did. Um, I I just felt his head was never in the game. 265. He's very loose, yes. Derek Jeter.

SPEAKER_03

Uh incredible leadoff hitter, though. I mean, the guy took a ton of pitches, fouled off a lot of pitches. He got every dollar in each at bat for sure.

A Yankee Stadium Story Gone Off-Rails

SPEAKER_02

I swear to God, I swear to God, I thought I was gonna get thrown out of the stadium one day. I I was sitting down right behind my home plate, and I was yelling at him and yelling at him because he was so, he would like miss a horrible swing, miss the ball. I'd be like, what are you watching? What are you doing? And then and then he the the catcher drops the third strike, and then he doesn't even run the first. He's like lollygagging looking around, and I'm like screaming, I'm screaming, don't you pay attention, whatever. By the way, you know, the dugouts over there, you know. Like I was crazy. I was crazy.

SPEAKER_03

So yeah, and there's we should probably not go to a baseball game together.

SPEAKER_02

I don't do that anymore. I'm a man of it's not the way I roll.

SPEAKER_03

No, I get abusive for sure.

SPEAKER_02

I'm cool under not anymore.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Now that I'm older, sure.

SPEAKER_02

The I wanna I want to say that was pretty much so once we went to a Yankee game, and my friend was just totally crazy with Bill, Bill, my friend Bill and John. John had just had they they had a I left and they had an accident in a car at a DWI where the guy fractured his jaw and had his jaw wired shut.

SPEAKER_03

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02

Because he had broken his jaw, fractured his his skull. And Billy was in the back, and he had a neck brace on. So they decided we're gonna go to the Yankee game. Me and them two. And it was the Kansas City Royals, and Billy wore a Kansas City. City Royal hat.

SPEAKER_03

With his neck.

SPEAKER_02

So I'm sitting there like winking, blinking, and nod in a game. First thing somebody yells something about the royals. He starts screaming at him. The guy takes his beer and throws it at Billy. Of course, he hits John with the broken thing. And John's got his hands, and John's drinking beer through a straw. He drinks so much beer he can't drive home. And he's sitting with a wire cutter in his hand the whole time because if he had to throw up, he had to cut the wires on his jaw. Oh my God. And I got these guys in the car on the way home.

SPEAKER_01

That's a disaster.

SPEAKER_02

And he's like, oh my God, I'm gonna throw up, I'm gonna throw up. He's got the wire cutters in his head. We're driving over from the Yankee James. He's like, pull over, pull over. And he's got the wire cutters in his head. And he it never happened because if he cut it, he had to go another two months with the start over again.

SPEAKER_00

Oh my god. Your mother's still talking about Joe D.

SPEAKER_02

We moved on from that. He was a he had no personality.

SPEAKER_03

I think my mother has more Yankee childhood trauma than I do. And they were they used to win back then. She could tell you stories about my grandfather bouncing the TV off the floor.

SPEAKER_02

That's great.

SPEAKER_03

He had some colorful commentary when I was a youth.

SPEAKER_02

My grandfather we used to watch the Met games in in like 60s, early 60s. Now, yeah, we had this little 19-inch, you know, television that was in my parents' bedroom that nobody ever watched. And he would go in there and watch the game and curse and like whatever. And then afterwards he would say, Don't tell grandma that I cursed. And you know, I whatever. So he would flip out. He was a Dodger fan and my my originally, and my dad was a New York Giant hand fan because he grew up in Harlem. So we watched a lot. We only went to the I told you this already, but we only went to the uh Mets because that was all I could get free tickets for because we couldn't afford the bike. First time I went there was I had I told the story, I'm not telling them again. So, but anyway. Um So yeah, they had a bad accident. John was DOA when he got when the cops got there. His father had brought him a brand new Honda play prelude, and and for graduation, they were wealthy. And you know, I I I was like sweeping floors. I was penniless. And you know, we so we go out drinking and we're going to this place called the bar, and it's still there. It's this barn that's a bar in the middle of a residential neighborhood, and they're not allowed to put any signs or anything. There's a light bulb on a tree. And when you see that light bulb, you have to turn down that little roadway, and the and the bar is back there. So only the locals knew you never had any other people. And we'd been there and whatever, and I left. They were drinking, John was driving, and he almost killed himself. And I don't mean to make like of it. And the girl he met at the bar.

SPEAKER_03

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_02

They both whatever. So when I went to see him in the hospital, in the room next to him was the girl who had a broken jaw and a fractured skull. Oh my God. And and and I walk in to see how she's doing, because I had met her once or twice. Um, or I was met her that night and I went in there to see how she was. First of all, her father was in there, and I was like, Oh, I'm a friend of John's. And he's like, wanted to kill me. I mean, this is his daughter. You know, you you can only imagine. Yeah. So the moral of the story is he felt so bad that he realized he needed to straighten that out. So what he did is he married her. And they were married and had four kids, and I they almost killed each other about 17 times. Oh my god. And and and the moral of the story is don't drink and drive.

SPEAKER_03

Don't drink and drive.

Mets Misery Yankees Window And Bullpen Panic

SPEAKER_02

Don't drink and drive. Yeah. So it you you should have seen. He like, she wouldn't go out with him. She was so mad at him. She wouldn't go out any father, whatever. Then then I wouldn't then they didn't want to tell the father. Oh, it was it was a great time. I was like a uh a fly on the wall through everything. That's that's the moral story. And um, so back to baseball. Who knows what's gonna happen this year? I I hope that the Mets get their act together something fierce.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I'm not I'm not ready to write them off. I know they have the worst record in baseball.

SPEAKER_02

Um They shouldn't, though.

SPEAKER_03

I'm a believer in them winning and then the Yankees beating them because it hurts more, kind of thing. Dom, you know, can't breathe at night when the when the Mets win, even in April. So he's he's had the best April he's ever had. We've seen teams, I still don't know how their managers survive, but we've seen teams come from worst to first before. I I don't know if the Mets are built for that, but yeah, that's it's shaping up to be a long season for them for sure. But I'm really more worried about the Yankees winning because they're in a window right now. We may not have baseball next year. Most likely we're not gonna have baseball next year. And everybody was pounding their chest the last month and a half. The Yankees are this, the Yankees are that, the Yankees look like the 98 Yankees, and the whole time I'm saying to myself, it's freaking April, pump the brakes. This is not the 98 Yankees. And in the last three seasons, we've seen this team win, you know, 60, 70 games by July, and then July and August happened, and they're barely, they're like limping to the to the end of the to even win a division. So um they got a long way to go. They have the they have a terrible bullpen. It was on full display in Milwaukee this weekend. Um they're a long way away from being uh anywhere near the 90s Yankees. But again, they're in the window. I'm hoping that somewhere, somehow, some way, Brian Castro can make a move or two to get some bullpen helping, some real bullpen help in here. And uh we kind of throw the saber metrics out the window and get guys that can actually play baseball to fill out the rest of this roster. I mean, they got four guys in the starting lineup, and if you count uh Spencer Jones, I think it's five, which is just incredible. Four guys hitting under 200. I I don't think, I mean, that's just it's unacceptable. And to think that your team is good with four guys hitting under 200, I'm sorry. I'm just not a, you know, I'm not a believer. You know, you're talking about guys that are under 200, talking about guys like IKF and Joey Gallo and Aaron Hicks and the likes of that. I I don't want no part of that. I want baseball players that can hit. I want guys you can count on every at-bat. Do they have to hit 400? No. They don't even have to hit 300. But I want them to be in every at-bat. I'm just tired of seeing terrible baseball and people thinking that, oh, this team is great. They're not. They're just not.

SPEAKER_02

Okay. I'll take your word for it. I was just looking at Jorge Posada. So his his batting lifetime batting average, 270. Good?

SPEAKER_03

Posada, really? 273? Good for him. I didn't think it was that high. Uh uh 270, yeah, I guess so. I guess I must have thought it was like 260s.

SPEAKER_02

He played 17.

SPEAKER_03

No, he was a gamer. You know, he really came a long way. I I think he got tougher every year behind the plate. And he was a heart and soul guy. He really honed his craft as he went along. You know, late in his career he had the resurgence. He had over 300, I think, towards the end there, one year.

SPEAKER_02

So 2011 was his last year. So uh uh 2007. So about 10 years when he's starting, about 10 years in, he batted 338. And that's the only time he batted over 300 for the season. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So he came though he came up with the exceptional terms. Oh, I'm sorry, 2010. He played 120 games and he batted oh no, 248. I'm looking at the wrong column.

SPEAKER_03

I think it was 09. He hit 285, but he was above 300 for a little while there. Yeah, he was always, you know, he never gave out bats away. Not not the type of player that gave out bats away. And and that's what you want, in my opinion. And he was a good catcher. And he was a good catcher.

SPEAKER_02

So Andy Pettit. Let's look at him too. Andy Pettit wins and losses 256-153. I mean, that's really good. I mean, he had did have.

SPEAKER_03

He's over a hundred over a hundred wins more than losses, which is an incredible feat, I think, in my opinion. Um left the Yankees and won won 20 games for Houston, right?

SPEAKER_02

He left and came back to the Yankees. Left the Yankees.

SPEAKER_03

That was a really if if Pennett and Clemens don't don't leave in 2004, the Yankees don't lose to the Red Sox in 04. Don mentioned that last week. I'm a believer in that. They got rid of two good teammates, two guys that were good friends, two guys that were good clubhouse guys, obviously front end of the rotation guys, and they brought in Kevin Brown and Kenny Lofton, and that absolutely destroyed their clubhouse. And if you watch the documentary on Derek Jeter, the captain, Cashman says, Well, in 2009, you know, we knew that we had to get somebody in here that was a team guy and a clubhouse guy and a blah, blah, blah. And I'm thinking to myself, why did you get rid of Pettit? Why did you let Clemens go? And he was talking about CeCe Sabathia, who was every bit of that, for sure. His teammates loved him. Good clubhouse guy, solid guy all around, respected throughout the league. But those three years that Pettit spent in Houston was an absolute detriment to the Yankees, the whole organization, as far as I'm concerned. And it cost us an 04, without questioning.

SPEAKER_02

So him alone.

SPEAKER_03

But him and Clemens leaving, going to Houston was just the Yankees. Shame on them for letting it happen. Shame on them for bringing in those two bums who everybody, I mean, they were just terrible. They were not good clubhouse guys, and everybody knew it coming in. They didn't have to go there. And this is like a tricky. I guess you could blame George for that. Maybe, I don't know. Maybe it's I don't, but that was a huge mistake in the in the Okay.

SPEAKER_02

So let's let's talk about somebody else. Bernie Williams. Bernie Williams, all right, he played how many years? 16.

SPEAKER_03

He played 306, right? 17, 18 seasons.

SPEAKER_02

So you know what his lifetime batting average is? 297. Yeah. Five poor points, three more points. Tell me again. Tell me again, batting average doesn't matter. Is not a Hall of Fame. And he's got 287 home runs. So he's got both. I mean, 300 home runs is respectable for a regular hitter. For a hitter. I mean, lifetime.

SPEAKER_00

Switch hitter. Switch hitter.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it doesn't say how many he picked it from the right and left, but let's look at his average, so is in the playoffs.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, it's gotta be well above 300, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_02

So in 95, that's when they lost, he batted um five games, 429. In 86, he batted 345. He didn't play well in 97.

SPEAKER_03

Nobody did.

SPEAKER_02

Or 98 or 98. 99 he was 279. 2000 he was two s uh 273, then 279. Then he was uh 220 in 2001, which was a weird year, obviously. 2002, and they almost won that, came down to the last out in the last game. Um 2002 he batted 333, in 2003 he batted 318. In 2004, he batted 296, and then it fell off from there.

SPEAKER_00

But you know, the whole team fell apart after that, so but that's that's cashman for you.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, I I can't really believe that he's still the GM. I don't really want to go over it a hundred times, but I can't believe he's still the GM.

SPEAKER_03

Well, you know, I I'm not defending him, but there's certain things he does very well that I think with the right ownership he would serve well. But you know, the way the organization is now, they're on cruise control. And it's all about sabermetrics and analytics. And Michael Fishman runs that department, he's got 20 guys under him, and they tell Cashman who to get, and he gets them. And Hal Steinbrenner is okay with that process.

SPEAKER_02

And well, it's money to them. I mean, they they're not they don't have I mean, Hal, I'm not saying he's not a baseball person, I don't know. But he's not a dad. I don't think he is, and nobody is, and it's all about money and it's an asset. So they're not listen. His father liked him, don't like him, whatever you want to say about him, he wanted to win. His way, but he still wanted to win. And we'll leave it at that.

SPEAKER_03

He wanted to win his way, though, for sure. He wanted the credit. That's why everybody got fired post-that's how Cashman got his job, essentially.

SPEAKER_02

Right. All right, so I think we can leave it there. We've we've run through the Yankee annoying analytics a thousand times. Every week we end up back there. All all roads lead back to analytics. Having said that, please uh like and subscribe. It's an hour and a half in. Uh, I'm sure you've all turned it off by now, but from for uh, you know, my mother would be the only one that's listening, but she's not with us.

SPEAKER_03

Don't forget to check us out on Twitter or X at Sports Live Pod.

SPEAKER_02

Yep. And and also uh at uh step andjustin.com. Please like and subscribe. We need we need to get some more people. Okay. Anything else? Very good. Good.

SPEAKER_03

Thanks, Steve. We'll see you next week.

SPEAKER_02

We'll see you next week. And I think this is a much better show than last week where I couldn't remember the names of the players. Thank you.