Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins with guest CC Sabathia
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Here we are, Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard, welcoming you all to our new podcast, The 611, where we like to go inside of player stories. We want to give these guys, former players, current players,

People that have nothing to do with baseball, the opportunity to express themselves and share their stories, maybe in a different way that they have before. So we're looking forward to bringing to you this new podcast with my man, Ryan Howard, who is the voice.

and when you hear him speak, you'll see why. Illustrious intro. As you can see, this is what I've had to deal with over 13 plus years. And I've had the honor of being next to this man on the field. And now I have the honor of being next to this man on the microphone. So what you're going to have with this 611 podcast is we're going to have a lot of fun because that's all we know how to do. We're just going to be ourselves. We're going to be Jimmy from the Bay and Ryan from the STL, baby, because that's what we do. I'm just a laid back cat.

from the Midwest, baby. That's all it is. We're going to get on here. We're going to have a lot of fun. We're going to have some great, interesting guests for you guys to allow them to come out, share their stories, as Jimmy mentioned, and we're going to have fun doing it. So it's going to be 6-1-1. Jimmy, why 6-1-1?

is because my man here, we're number six, now we're number 11. And together, when we get together, it's always, actually, I don't know what it always is, but people always find it interesting. So we like to bring that out in our guests. You never know what we're going to get because we don't even know what we're going to bring to the table that day. We just show up and it comes out naturally. When you got a partner like Ryan with you,

Magic happens. I'm going to give my spiel on the number six. I grew up wearing number six. It was one of the numbers I wore when I was a little kid. Yes, I was little Jimmy. And then when I got to the big leagues, my first number was 12. As soon as six was available, I went to six. And that's where I just wore the number six. It fit. It worked.

Number six, 2006, big year. So we ran with it. I did not know that. I'm learning about my partner. That's the beauty of the show. You put a mic in front of somebody and they just open up and tell you things that you've never known about them. So that's what you're going to get from the 611 podcast. A play on the 411, getting information, extracting things. But when you just let people talk, you

You really get to find out who they are when you provide that environment where they can be comfortable in their shoes and you can build that trust. They'll tell you things about them that maybe they haven't told before. So we're looking for those stories. Looking forward to bringing you to 611. Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins.

Let's get it. So as we kick off our first 611 podcast, we're going to kick it off with the big lil homie because we got the big homie. There you go. A.K.A. O.G. Triple O.G. Young James. Say it again. Say it again, Ryan. A.K.A. O.G. Triple O.G. Young James. Over here. We're going to kick it off with C.C. Sabathia. We're going to tackle things on the past, the present and the future.

and what he's doing and how he's going about it. So we're looking forward to get out here, go talk to my man, CeCe. Looking forward to getting out there. Jimmy Rollins is now the franchise leader in base hits. Ryan Hart has completed a three. We here. We are in here with the big little homie.

You know what I'm saying? For real, I'm the little homie, but I'm the big homie. I'm the eldest. I'm the senior. You are. I'm the same, but it's great to be here with you today. Big peace, Ry. CeCe, go way back, like...

Fish sticks and Cadillacs. Oh, man. See, I've met you through my brother, Antoine, and I didn't think you were going to play baseball. I really didn't. I'm like this big, talented kid. There's no way in the world you're going to play baseball. Why would you?

But you made that decision. What was that? Why baseball over? I mean, you could have played basketball. You could play football. But you chose baseball. I always loved baseball. Like it was I mean, I love to play, you know, the other sports. I play soccer, too. But baseball was just always the easiest. You know what I'm saying? Like it was.

not in the easiest in the way to play, but just the easiest the way my mind worked. Like I always knew what bases to throw to. I knew how to hit behind runners, like little things like nobody ever taught you, but you just kind of know as a baseball player kind of came to me. So it was just those little fundamentally things that like, I always had to work harder at football. You know what I'm saying? I always had to work harder at basketball, but like baseball, I just, the shit just fell into place all the time. So it was seamless. And growing up in Vallejo, I tell this, tell people this all the time, like,

I played with nothing but like kids from my neighborhood. - Right, right. - You know what I'm saying? Like it was all of us playing baseball together. So, I mean, I remember like one of my best friends now, he moved from Richmond and moved to Vallejo and we were in the second grade. And I remember me and my boy Dave Bernstein, we ran up to him and was like, "What's your name?" He was like, "My name is Jason." He was like, "You play baseball?" And he was like, "Nah."

And was like, we can't fuck with you. You know what I'm saying? Like that early, like nine years old, like this is what we do. If you're not doing this, what you doing? Yeah. And he ended up signing up for baseball and then he was the homie. You know what I'm saying? So it was just in our blood. And yeah, I mean, I love the other sports, but baseball was just in my heart.

I find it crazy to see, like, were you always big? I was. Like, bigger? Yeah, yeah. So to sit here and hear you say that baseball was the easiest. You always a big or you small? Yeah, I was, like, the bigger kid. So y'all got that in common. Yeah. But I didn't play football growing up. But were you, like, were you one of the biggest kids or were you the biggest kid? I was one of the –

a bigger kid. I was one of the bigger kids. Like, my twin brother played with me growing up, so he was always taller than me, but like, I was like, you know, a little more pot belly. I was always like that. My mom had to travel with my birth certificate. Really? Yeah. Wow. They thought you was cheating. Yeah. Right. I was a year up, and we were

playing 10U, they were like, "Oh, he's fucking 12." - See, that's because he had the same beard that he had now, but now he's only 12 years old. - That's why I asked you that. I wasn't the biggest kid. I was like the fourth biggest kid in my little league, which is nuts. But yeah, so my mom always had to travel with my birth certificate. - That's crazy. - That's crazy. - That is crazy.

I will say this, like growing up, kind of being one of the big, the bigger kids, like, and being able to go and play and doing all that kind of stuff, bro. Yeah. You do get questioned a lot. Like, Hey, cause I, I did it. I know coaching my daughter's softball team. I'd be looking at some of these girls like, yo, bro, we got to check some birth. This, this stuff is different. It's crazy. It's crazy, bro. Did the both of y'all play other sports growing up too? So yeah, I, I played,

I played football, but that stopped and Pop Warner. Story around that. When we grew up, you played all sports. Whatever season it was, that's what you were doing. You weren't trying to specialize. It wasn't a penalty where you got to play for my fall team, if you're going to play for my summer team, play for my winter team. No, whatever sport was in, you played. So I was quarterback in football. Wait a minute, you were a quarterback? First of all, I was the same height then as I am now.

So I was good. - Right, right. - I was the same. Nobody could throw. And I'm like, you know, I'm a Niner fan. I was watching Joe Montana, Jerry Rice. I'm like, give me the ball, just run. Just run. And we had the fastest dude on the team, Jonathan Tatum, who was Jack Tatum's nephew, who played for the Raiders. And couldn't nobody see him. First play of the game was like a 45 post. It's like, just, I know where you going. I'm just gonna throw it out there. 'Cause I know you can run under it. Nobody could keep up with him. So we did that until I got to high school.

My fault, I don't know if they'd have let me play anyway, but my fault, I said, "Mom, look, I'm tired. "I'm playing basketball, football, baseball." There was no off season. And I'm just tired. And we're in football season. If we were in basketball season, I had this mindset, I probably wouldn't have played basketball. Well, I would have played, but I would have said the same thing. I said, "If we win this championship game, "I'll quit football. "We won a championship game." So now we go to high school. - And that was in eighth grade? - Eighth grade. So now we going in high school, right?

And so I'm out there at the field taking ground balls on football season with my dad because we know the baseball coach is the assistant football coach. So he just wanted to have him see me. He comes over. My dad's like, yeah, this is going to be your next shortstop. And he started laughing. Right. And they're having a conversation. But I'm not even worried about their conversation. I'm looking at the field like, why in the hell are you playing baseball? Like, you the only fool out here playing baseball. It's football season. Straight up, though. You know what? I'm smelling the grass. I'm hearing the helmets. Clack, clack.

I go get a permission slip. I was like, dad, I need you to sign this permission slip so I can play football. It's like, oh, go ask your mom. I'm like, all right, cool. Didn't really think nothing of it. Go ask my mom. Mom, I need you to sign this permission slip to play football. Go ask your dad. I was like, he just told me to come ask you. And I looked at her. I already knew what was happening. She's like, baby, you remember that promise you made me that you would quit playing football if y'all won the championship?

Before she said that, I really did not remember. But as soon as she said that promise, it was like, nope.

She's like, "What I do?" And that was it. I just wanted one Friday night. That was it. I just wanted to run out the smoke, break the banner, the cheerleaders, the whole nine. - I still get that feeling like in August when it's like football season, like just hearing like the crack of the helmet and shit. I'm like, "Damn, I miss football." But I was the reverse of you. So I didn't play Pop Warner. Like I was too fat. So they had the weight limit. So it was a weight limit. - They did. - You know what I mean? So I was always over the weight limit. So that's why I played soccer.

So I just started playing football until I was a freshman in high school. That was my first year. I went out as a freshman and- - You had varsity as a freshman? - I was a varsity quarterback as a freshman. And I realized like, if I just did conditioning for football, that's the only condition I gotta do. 'Cause football runs into basketball, basketball runs into baseball. - Right, exactly. - I ain't gotta do no extra running. All I gotta do is condition two days in August and I'm good. So I played all three all the way through 'cause I was lazy.

and didn't want to do me this. - 'Cause he was lazy. - 'Cause he was lazy, yeah. 'Cause see, I was like, you see, 'cause I never played football at the Pop Warner levels. I played freshman and sophomore year. - You were too big also? - No, my mom wouldn't let me play. - Oh wow. - So, 'cause my older brother had played Pop Warner and all that kind of stuff when he was growing, but then he didn't play in high school or anything like that. I wanted to play Pop Warner, but she wouldn't let me play. So we played baseball, basketball, soccer.

Played that all the way up to and through high school, stopped playing soccer in eighth grade. Man, I did marching band, bro. - You played soccer too? - I did, I did, I did. - It makes sense because Brian, you can dance. - Well, I mean, see, you got some footwork too. - And you know what's crazy is like when you big like us, if you put your kid in soccer, they don't go through that awkward phase of like growing and like they feet, you know what I mean? - The footwork. - There was no awkward stage with me because I was always using my feet. Yeah, so basketball, like I had good footwork because I can play, you know what I'm saying? I've been playing soccer my whole life.

It works with kids that are bigger and are going to be a little uncoordinated.

There you go. Lesson learned. It is. If you a big kid, play soccer. Yeah. That's the first sport you should play. If you showed it like me, you could do whatever. There you go. Hey, Akeem Elijah won, bro. Yeah. A lot of cats, bro. Yeah, a lot of body control. A lot of body control that way. As Callis say, major key. Major key, know that. Indeed. But that brings us here, C. It's been an honor all the years playing against you. We got you. We got you.

And you got us. Yes. You know, you got us on the big stage. And this one thing I can't say just, you know, between, you know, some Bay Area kids and, you know, right. We love you too, dog. That all of us that made it up. We got a ring. Yeah. We got a ring. Yeah. Trail was first and he was the baby. Yeah. Trail was first with the Marlins.

and we got ours in '08 and you got yours in '09. - And then even Pat, I mean, even Pat Burrow, you know what I'm saying? - Pat the Bat, Simeon got one last year. - Actually he was on '09 too. - Did y'all's paths ever cross playing against each other or did you play against like D-Train or? - No, because so we were all two years apart. So Jimmy's two years older than me

and I'm two years older than Trail. So Trail's four years older than Jim. We all played on the same team. Right. But just at different levels at different times. Me and Antoine, Jimmy's little brother, played together. Hit doctor. Yeah, hit doctor. Yeah, me and Antoine grew up together playing together all over the place, whether it was NorCal, Junior Olympic World Series, all of that. Like we played all over. Do they even still exist in the Olympics? They don't have that anymore. They don't, no. I remember like,

the coaches used to come pick me and Twon and my cousin Joey up. It was just us three. Like it was us three and the rest of the team was all white boys. We played in Sacramento. - At least y'all had three, I was me. - No, yeah, you were. - I was just me. - It was just you. But I remember the very first day the coach came and picked us up, Twon got picked up first, then me and Joey get in the car. Kind of a quiet ride. We riding all the way from my house in Sacramento. It's like 60 miles, like an hour.

It's quiet, we get out there. It's just us three, you know what I'm saying? And this team has been playing together for years. Like, you know, they adding us three to the team. So we get there and nobody said a word to us. Like, we get there, we stretch, we warm up. No, not like that. Nobody on the team said a word. We play catch, do whatever. This guy hits his first, second, and third. Like, in the lineup, on a team that's already like a great team, you know what I'm saying? Hits his first, second, and third. Joey leads off with a bunt single.

Tuan hits a double and then I get up and hit a ball 500 feet and then everybody, now everybody's like, oh, these guys are going to help us win. But I remember that very first day, like, and it was just, you know, but me and Tuan went through that all the time where they was coming to pick us up and we going to play on these random teams and just like flying in to go win games. For real, for real. And that was one. And that's in the Bay Area where we were rich in baseball.

But I'm glad you brought that experience up. What was your experience like, you know, if you had that experience playing that travel ball and you showing up and it's like, bro, I'm one of one, I'm one of two in this situation, one of three. If that, it was one of two, maybe because it was...

myself and then my brother a lot of the times. And then we ran into a couple other black kids that were like twins, because I'm a twin. So wherever I was playing, my brother was playing. And then we ran into some other kids, two black twins. So we were on the team. And we basically, it was like us four until...

the two brothers had dropped off. So my brother and then my boy's brother dropped off. So then it was just us two. And it was all the way up through college, bro. It was like once I got to college and play, it was funny. I signed on late, went to Missouri State University. At the time it was Southwest Missouri State. So we had a baseball meeting. I was basically a recruited walk on. And get in there, get in the meeting. And I look over and I see another black dude, right?

We look at each other. He's my boy to this day, bro. It was like that one movie and we were like,

I'm supposed to be the token black dude on this team, bro. Like, what are you doing here, bro? Like, we were just looking at each other like, bro. But in our league, which was the Missouri Valley Conference, there was, we recruited another kid, my boy D Brink, Dante Brinkley. And we recruited him and we had three black dudes. And at that time, we were the only three black dudes in the entire league. Oh, wow. At that time. So it was the norm, like growing up in,

being like one of one or one of two or one of three on those competitive teams like that. - For us, like growing up in the Bay, we all played. That's what I'm saying. I don't think I would've played baseball had not the kids in my hood played. You know what I'm saying? Like it wouldn't have been as attractive to me if I had to go somewhere outside of my hood to play baseball. That was the sport we played. - That's what we played. - Rich. - But see, but I played, so where I grew up was more predominantly white area. So the baseball in that,

And that area was obviously, it was better. Now I played basketball, like on all black basketball team that we would also switch over to baseball.

Clearly, like that team baseball wise was not on the level of where I was playing, like with my white teammates. But we all got out to play baseball because, again, everything was seasonal. Right. So it was like, yo, you got to be doing something if it's not basketball and then it's baseball and then it's whatever you would do in the fall. But like clearly it was one of those things to where where I grew up, like.

That area where I grew up was where baseball basically reigned supreme. I mean, that area, I mean, y'all, I'm sure had a bunch of guys that came out, came from the league and to the league and winning and stuff. My rival high school, Max Scherzer, went to one of the rival high schools out there. I went to school with David Freeze. Like he was two years behind me. So you had talent coming out of college.

St. Louis where normally you didn't have talent like that before. You know, it was always Texas, California, Florida. Like we always got overlooked. And people used to tell me all the time, man, well, actually we had maybe four or five scouts consistently. We had a Ranger scout, a brave scout, Philly scout, giant scout that would come down. So you plan for one in four teams? No Cardinal scouts, bro. And my school was...

three hours from St. Louis. None. Because they always looked at California and stuff. And I got the opportunity to hit one time with Albert and Mike Matheny and some guys and whatnot. And Marty Meyer, who was like, I think at the time he was like the head of minor leagues for the Cardinals or something like that. And he came and he's like, man, how did we miss you? Like, it's like, bro, y'all never had any scouts, bro. Never. I remember the first time I saw you, I was like,

And then like, even like I faced you in spring training, we were in Winter Haven. I tell the story all the time, man. I mean, cause you know, I never had problems with lefties. So I'm like, oh, it's a lefty. - Hold on. - We gotta preface this though first. - I'm listening now. - As we go into it. - Please tell us the story Mr. Howard. - We gotta preface this first. Cause I remember we were in Winter Haven and I came up to see, cause they were like, I was like, who's starting today? It's like CC started. And I was like, all right, cool. I go up to see, I was like, see.

Bro, you pitching today? He's like, yeah, man. I was like, hey, bro, don't be afraid, man. Give me at least one fastball. Bro, first pitch, ambush, took him out. First pitch fastball, bro. Took him out. He looked at me. I just kind of was like. Straight set up. He threw everything that day. And I remember it was the same thing like when I faced Robbie Cano for the first time. I was just like.

it's a complete hitter because as a lefty, like I can see where I can get you out. There was nowhere to get him out. You know what I'm saying? Like he hit that first pitch out and I was like, all right, let me try it.

fastball away, hit the ball off the wall, the left center. I'm like, Jesus, what the fuck is going on? Next at bat, throw him a slider off the wall. I'm like, there's nowhere to get him out. You know what I'm saying? As a lefty, it was like, it was pretty crazy. Yeah. The coverage that you had. No, man. It was one of those things. I always loved hitting against lefties. The one thing for me was I always stood off the plate. You liked hitting against lefties? I did, bro. Oh, wow. Because I was like, I wish I would have known that.

- I would've known that shit. - But if you ever noticed bro, if you ever noticed like where I stood in the box, I stood way off the plate. So it was like, if you hit me, like you messed up. - Yeah. - You had a 40 inch bat bro. - Yeah, I did. - It never felt like you could reach that ball away, but you could. - But that's where it was. - It was arrow. - I had to hit him with the okey-doke because for me, like,

my go-to was trying to go gap to gap opposite field. So anything you try to throw me in, like was basically middle, everything over the middle of the plate was middle to away. So it allowed me to get my hands extended and go through. So it was like,

- But did you like the ball in? You never liked the ball really enough. - I didn't really like the ball in. - He didn't pull, he never pulled. - I feel like most hitters don't really like the ball in. - I never liked pulling. - I liked it in. - Yeah, I mean you and like, the guys with the quick hands like Chef or whoever else, you know what I'm saying? But like, for the most part, guys want the ball like out over the plate. - Get that barrel extension. But okay, here we go. See, we got a clip up here, man. I want you to look at this. We gonna run it. This is World Series.

Y'all up two games and one. Somebody's on first base. - What just happened? - See what happened? - What just happened? What just happened? Speed kills, speed kills. - Oh, is that right? No way, rewind that shit. No way. - Hey, I forgot to slide, bro. - Let me see. - Look at this jump. - See, you see the blatant disrespect? - I thought that was Gooby, I thought that was Jim. - You see the blatant disrespect? He ain't even looking my direction, bro. - Look at that. - What the fuck was that?

- He can't believe it either. - Even G got a late break. - That's hilarious. - G got a late break. - That's crazy. - He got a late break, bro. - The funny part is, none of us remembered that. - I didn't even remember it. - No, I wouldn't remember that. - I never remember that. - He was like, "It's still off the sea." I'm like, "When?" I'm like, "When he's with-" - That's what I said. - "With Milwaukee?" - Right. I was like, "Huh?" - "With the World Series?" - Bro, 'cause at this point, 'cause this was what? Game- - Game four. - Game four? Okay. 'Cause obviously, like- - Was that the end that he didn't say that A-Rod hit the home run?

- That ball went out. - That ball hit the camera. - A foot in front of the fence, this the game? Okay, okay, I just wanted to put that on record. - Charlie was like, "Hey, he better be glad he's safe, son. "He better be glad he made it." - He had the slide right there, that's crazy. - That was it, bro. - Looking back at that, right, we hear about athletes that have, they can pull up any moment in the game, plays, et cetera. - Most of the time they can.

How do we forget that Ryan Howard? Yeah. I forgot, bro. I forgot. I should have slid right there and made it look even better right there, bro. But no throw. That's what happened. I was in there like for those games, man. It was insane. I mean, it was even louder than 08. Like I remember going in 08 and pitching 08.

But in the World Series in 09, it was crazy how loud it was. I remember that being the loudest place that I pitched in. I mean, I pitched in the Metrodome that year. I pitched in Anaheim that year. But when we got to Philly, it was crazy. It was. It was one of those places to where –

Just the complete atmosphere and just the rumblings of it all. And I hadn't been here long. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. First year. Right. I didn't know how close in proximity Philly was to us. Right. Half the people in Jersey. Yeah. For real. I didn't know any of that. It was new to me. You know what I'm saying? So half my, my neighborhood has got Philly flags. I'm like, what the fuck is going on?

- You know what I'm saying? But that was cool. It was cool to play against both of y'all, but it was even cool to have the World Series beat Philly Yankees. - Yeah, I love taking that train ride up and down, getting off at MSG. You buses right there and they looking at us like, okay. - Man. - You know what I'm saying? They knew it was something to play with, but if they could have had something in their hands and hit us over the head, they would have. - Let me tell you, that was the scariest,

the traveling I ever did. When we, we took the train to Philly after game two, but we flew, we, we took the train the next morning and we all had our families. I think little C was like five. I don't even think Carter wasn't even born yet. Sia was one. She was a baby and I'm walking. I got little C's hand and I got Sia and we, everybody's got like bags and all that stuff. We come up the escalator and the train station in Philly and, and the whole city was there. Like,

It was all Philly fans in there screaming and going nuts. Scared me to death. I wasn't prepared for that shit. You know what I'm saying? I didn't know that they was going to get our bus, our train schedule and me to set the train. It was serious. They was doing some scalping. Yankee fans do research too. They do. I like that. Yankee fans do research too. They be on you. That was crazy. They be on you.

Let's go back the year prior, right? 2008. Great year. We got a couple things. Great year. Great year. First off, I mean, tell me a little bit, you know, obviously we saw each other in 2008 in the postseason.

I think you had pitched like the last seven games in a row. 8,000 games straight. You know, coming into Philly, because you had just come over, right, and come to Milwaukee and obviously helped propel them to the spot that they were to be able to make the playoffs, I think, for the first time in... Like 20-some years. Yeah, some 20-some odd years. Let me pause you for a second. And in that short run, what he did was so incredible. So incredible. He was considered for MVP. Oh, no, no, absolutely. Absolutely. That's what I'm saying. And less than half a season.

That's how incredible it was. I just want to make that doesn't go under the board. It was that dominant. Not to take anything away from what the rest of the team did, but clearly, you coming over there, man, bro. You coming over there and basically, you helped get them over the hump and were...

a very, very, the main reason in my opinion as to why they were able to do what they did. 'Cause we were like, oh, CC's pitching on three days rest, like for the third time in a week. - For real. - Like what are we doing? - For real, like he got at some point, he got a break down. - We gotta get him. - But he did, it was really one pitch. - Yeah, so going back to 2008 and we're gonna touch on, first off, let's touch on this. - I know where you're going. - Take us into the visiting dugout.

the cheesesteak situation. - Mm-hmm, y'all. - Can you tell us a little bit about that? - So again, I hadn't never been in the National League, right? So for one, I didn't know you guys were that good. I'ma be completely honest. I didn't like, 'cause we hadn't played y'all. - Right. - You know what I'm saying? So I didn't see y'all roster. I wasn't looking at y'all roster. So I didn't think that you guys were as good as you were.

But yeah, one, going into, first of all, the visiting clubhouse has the best cheesesteaks in Philly. - Period. - I don't know if y'all know that. - No, we do. - But 1,000, hands down, that's the best cheesesteak in the city. - By the way, we couldn't get them on the home side because we knew what they did. - You didn't want them on the home side. - We'd have to sneak guys over like, "Hey, tell 'em we want a cheesesteak for Jimmy, Ryan, and Shane."

We couldn't order. We couldn't get them. For good reason. Because they were fucking logs in your stomach. And we get to me, Prince, I mean, Corey Hart. We get to Philly. We're feeling good. Like, we just, you know what I mean? Like, we just made the playoffs. We ordered so many cheesesteaks, bro. We can't even move. How many did y'all take down? I think we took down 28 in those three days. We were there for three days. Didn't even think nothing of it.

Nothing. Couldn't move, bro. You can't move when you eat those things. When we came back the next year in 09, I heard, I heard, I heard. Joe took them out the clubhouse. I heard. Joe took them out the clubhouse. I heard. Yeah. So I learned from my experience the year before. That trap. Yeah. And then y'all cheated on a damn home run.

but we don't, you know, it's whatever. It's in the books. It's in a book. They call it a home run. They say it's a home run. Right. Right. Nah, yeah, that was crazy. Getting to Philly that year in 08 and man, because like I said, I hadn't, I had never really been there and no, and yeah, I mean, we were, we were just in a good mood and got a little too excited.

- No, but y'all were good though. - Yeah, we were young though. - Yeah. - That was a team, yeah. - We had got there the year prior, so our first year is now, it's like we know what it's like. And that was you guys as a group getting together your first year where it's like, yeah, you feeling good and you turn around and it's like, we're home already. And it's a bad feeling.

We're talking about the game that you pitched. We knew you were coming in on short rest, but that was no discount to us. We knew what we had to deal with. It's like he's doing this, one, on adrenaline, two, because he's saying I'm putting this team on my back, and everybody knows that. And not that stature has something to do with it, but with you being such a big person as in a personality, it's like if anybody can do it, he can. So we came in knowing we had our hands full.

And then it comes really down to one inning and one inning.

And a big at-bat by Brett Myers. It really was. Yes, that's what it was. Yeah. It was the Brett Myers at-bat. The Brett Myers at-bat. Walk us through that. And I was just, I was exhausted, man. Like, I was just like, do whatever you're going to do. You know what I'm saying? Like, I'm tired of you following balls off. Like, just put people on play. Hit a triple, hit a home run, give a fuck. Like, I don't care. Like, I was over it. You know what I'm saying? And when I get into that spot, it's usually, it was just like my train of thought. Like, I was just gone. You know what I'm saying? Like, but that at-bat, like, I was exhausted.

Like I really was, like I was done after that. And however many pitch at bat and then I walked them. - 10, 11 pitches or whatnot. - And then you came up, I don't even know what happened after that. - No, I was Shane. So which set the stage for Shane. - No, no, no. - No, you came up first. - Yeah, you came up. - Then I came up either.

I don't know if I walked or something. I think I may have walked too. Yeah, the bases were loaded and Shane came up whichever I went. And then Shane was in second behind me. Yeah, so I maybe even walked you. Yeah, I think so. And went back to back. But that Brett Myers at bat, it just killed me. I was out of gas. Whatever gas I had left that was whatever was gone. So no matter what happened, after that inning, it was over. It was like, I'm done. I was done. I was toast. We knew at that point, because it set the stage for Shane to come up,

And then obviously, as you said, like Shane goes up, hits the grand slam, crowd's going crazy. - And I think that was an O2 pitch. - Yeah, slider. - It was a two strike pitch, it just didn't get there. - And that was the loudest I've ever heard that place. - Oh, it was so loud. It was so loud, my heart just sunk. I knew it was over, like.

I'm not even trying to be funny, but like, we were at that point where like, I had to win. I had to win my game. You know what I'm saying? So like, if I didn't win that game, we not going to win a game. You know what I mean? It was pivotal both ways. Yeah, because we knew we were like, hey, if we can get CeCe, it's over. It's a wrap. We got everybody else. We'll get these cats. We will get these cats. And I felt that. You know what I'm saying? I don't know if everybody else felt like that, but that's what I was carrying. No, we felt, look, it was everybody on your team. I know we felt another side. It's like,

If he wins, we know what it does for them. For us, yeah. For them. And when I say battle, it was like, bro, he coming in, whatever you have left in his tank, he's giving. Oh, yeah. I mean, you know me. I'm going to compete, bro. Yeah, for sure. I mean, if I don't have nothing, I'm going to try to fake it. You know what I'm saying? That's just what I do. Yeah.

I think that's what made me good is not so much my stuff. It's just me wanting to win and I'll compete. I'll compete to the end, no matter what. We're fucking playing, doing whatever right now. Right. Like I'm not going to quit. You know what I'm saying? And I think like, I think that's what, that's what made me who I am. But it also was a double-edged sword because,

then shit like that happens. You know what I'm saying? Where like they come out and you're like, "You good?" "Yeah, I'm good." "You ain't fucking good, bro." - But you know what though? But it goes kind of to the errors of the game, right? 'Cause we're cut from that cloth. Like we were always, we grew up like, "Bro, you don't quit." Like whatever you got, bro. - You don't have to come get this. Don't ask me, bro. Come take the ball. You know what I'm saying? Like if you ask me, I'm always good. That was like a game I had against the Astros earlier in that year in '08. I threw 140 something pitches.

- 'Cause Ned Yelchak asked me, am I good? I'm like, yeah, I'm good. - Right. - I'm good. We were up like 12 to nothing. He let me get in the whole thing. Because I kept telling him I'm good. You can't ask me because I'm gonna keep telling you. - Right, right. - I'm gonna be honest. - You're not gonna come out. - I'm not, I'm never gonna come out. - It's just a whole different breed of guys. - Never gonna come out. - Let me ask you this. When was the last time you actually saw that video? And I can tell you what it's like on our side because

- The video of the homerun? - Yeah, the homerun. - I see that shit every year when Shane post that motherfucker. Playoff season he post this thing. - He do post it, he do post it. I'm not gonna lie. But I remember, it's kind of like, obviously you're a little homie and it's one of those situations like in any situation I'm pulling for you. - Oh no. - No, no, no, no, no. And it's like, and I gotta get you. And it's like, I'm celebrating, but it's like, but damn.

that's the homie. You know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? My homeboys, I want to beat you even more. No, I want to beat you. You know what I'm saying? But it was that moment that like, okay,

You gave up, you gave up. And it was going to everything that all the work that you put into that moment. Yeah. And it was like, as you said, at that moment, we knew on our side that that was the end of his run here. And you know what's crazy? I remember walking out and seeing your mom and dad after the game. And she gave me a big hug. She was like, you did what you could do.

You know what I'm saying? Like my mom wasn't there. Like it was your mom, the one that told me like, it's all right. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Yeah. That was a real moment. Me and your mom and your parents, like she gave, she gave me a hug and she was like, you did whatever you could do. You know what I'm saying? Like, but yeah, I mean, it was, it was, that was tough. Yeah.

- That was terrible. - You made up for it the next year. - Made up for it the next year, though. - Made up for it the next year. - Hey, I ain't gonna lie, bro. - Hey, listen to grown man scream on a, that is the worst feeling. We've all been there, listen to grown men scream like little babies. This, bro, it is such a horrible feeling. - I was always the guy that watched the other team celebrate too. - Yeah, you can't help it. - Yeah, I always stood out there and like, why? I hated that shit. But I couldn't like, I just couldn't believe it. - Take your eyes off of it, like, and it's over, it's over.

what could I have done differently? Like what could, and it's, and there's nothing that could have happened differently because that's the way it was supposed to happen. But you do sit there and you're hearing it and it's hurting and you're, you're letting it, you know, letting yourself feel it.

But it's like you're numb at the same time. Your brain is just a million miles per hour and you're feeling this pain. And what's next? You know, everything's over. What's next? And this is how it goes. It's crazy. But you got your ring, like I said. You do. Hey, I ain't gonna lie to the world. You got your ring. Like in 2009, like Chase obviously came out and had a coming out party on fire. But Matsui. But then...

I just remember getting some of the nastiest pitches I ever seen from this man over here, bro. I was pissed off. I was like, damn, bro. He was catching the good slides. I was getting nasty seekers, bro. I was getting nasty because Chase was hitting homers. Chase hit that homer. I was like, damn.

I'm about to get nasty. You know what was crazy? In game one, I was feeling like real good. I pitched good. I mean, Cliff just fucking pitched better. Yeah. Former teammates, by the way. Yeah, we were. And it was crazy because the year before we were teammates. Yeah. But I remember like,

In that game, I was like, oh, like I felt pretty good. Like, you know, it's the World Series and all this shit. I always tell the story, like, I didn't really understand I was in the World Series until I was throwing up through the last pitch down before the inning starts. I'm throwing, they're throwing the ball around. A-Rod throws me the ball back. I grab it with my hand and I look down and say, World Series 09. Say, Fall Classic 09. I was like, fuck.

Immediately sweating, you know what I'm saying? But it was fine. I got through that first at bat with you and I'm like, oh, okay, like it's good. - Yeah, you good. - It settled in, throw Chase a slider and hit that shit off the fuck and then I'm right back to fucking like, you know what I'm saying? I was right back into it, it was crazy. - He made the adjustment against me. He made it against me, bro. It was nasty, bro. - I think what happened, he recovered by the time you got up 'cause I tried to bunt. - No, it was just like-- - No, I never bunt. I'm like, see, the last thing he's gonna expect from me to do is bunt.

And I got it past you. I'm like, I'm in and I see Texas coming over. I'm like, where you come from? Man, I was like, where you come from? And I'm like, so I'm like, if we get them in a stretch, because we know if we get them in a stretch early because like the greats,

When they settle in, it's a wrap. So I'm like, if I'm on base, he has to look at me and deal with Shane, Chase, and Ryan. That's not easy to do. It didn't work out. Chase did his thing. But that was my... I'm like, I just need to get C mind on what is he going to do. And if he starts spending some stuff up there, then maybe we have a chance. But...

- It didn't work, I mean it worked out that day, it didn't work out over Ross. Ryan, I'm sorry, I didn't mean for him to-- - Nah, that's all right, bro. - That's all right, bro. - That's what I was getting to. - Crazy was Demaso Marte. - Man. - He was the World Series MVP.

If y'all remember, he came in and got you and Chase out every time. Every time he came in, he saved the game for us, basically every time. So, I mean, I know Matsui went off and he had that great game six and all of that stuff, but if you really go back and look at who held it down, it was Demaso Marchak. He made some big pitches against you and Chase that series.

That was a good series. Unfortunately for the guys in the

- Y'all just won the year before. - It don't matter, bro. - And y'all went the year before. - And we were trying to get it. You know what I'm saying? We were trying to be legendary. I mean, y'all, we gave y'all, we didn't give y'all nothing. - Y'all went three years in a row, huh? - No, we lost in '07. Just two, just two. '07, we got moped out by the dang-- - The Rockies. - The Rockies. - Oh yeah. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - And then '07 was the year, I remember sending you that text in '07 before the playoffs started, I sent Jimmy a text. I was like,

great, great regular season. Let's meet up in the World Series. And that was the year he won MVP. I won the Cy Young. And I was like, let's meet up in the World Series. And we ended up getting up 3-1 in Boston. I think we had the better team. We had a better team. If we win that series, we won the World Series, we ended up falling short. That was us in the 11th. Even Tim, it's like if we get the Cardinals who

They are playoff royalty also. They get to the playoffs and they know how to win. We beat they butts all season long. Yeah.

It's like, if we get past this team, nobody can see. Nobody. We were 101, 102 wins that season. It's like we were, that year, the best team in baseball. The staff we had that year. Man. And we just couldn't do it. I mean, we're up game two, up four runs, and couldn't hold on. It was just, they were just a team that don't go away. So I understand that, like,

You're the best team. It's just one series that you know makes a break. And I wish that Cleveland team would have had a chance to stay together like y'all did. Because we were on that same path. You know what I mean? But it's just a small market and them not being able to pay any of us. I was traded the next year. But if that crew stays together, then I think we may even make a run where it's like y'all and us. You know what I'm saying? Where it was me, Victor, Grady Sizemore. Yeah. Yeah.

We had a real core of guys that came together, but we knew 07 was our only shot. I never cried so hard that I did in my life after we lost that game seven because I knew it was over. You know what I'm saying? I know I'm not signing an extension. I'm not coming back. They're going to trade me first. You know what I'm saying? It was me, Casey, Cliff, Vic get traded. That was the end of it. I just wish that we had a chance to –

kind of build on our run too. And who knows what happens? Yeah, no, that, that, that would have been it. That would have been it. That's a good one. Hey, tell me your, uh,

your favorite Derek Jeter type story? - My favorite. - Any good stories? - That you can share. - That you can share, yeah. - That you can share. Let's throw that disclaimer out there. - I gotta go. I mean, Jeter is super, super superstitious. Like he does the same thing every day. - Really? - Every day. Every day he does the same thing. So one year, one day we were in Kansas City and y'all been to Peachtree?

A soul food restaurant in Kansas City? I haven't. Oh my God. I mean, it's heaven on earth. It's the best soul food I've ever had in my life. Fried chicken, catfish, greens, everything. Mac and cheese. Everything. Buffet style. But it's, I mean, family owned. It's legit. So...

For lunch, I'm like, gee, you want to go with me to lunch? I'm like, I'm going to this place, Peachtree. It's a soul food restaurant. He was like, cool, sure. So we always had to stop at Starbucks first. Like I had a rental car. We stopped at Starbucks. We go to Peachtree. I mean, this food is so heavy. I know soul food. Like we eat this food and then we both sleeping on the couch like before the game.

Jeet wakes up, goes five for five. Five hits. But his stomach is hurting. He can barely run the bases. He's hurting, bro. So I'm like, it ain't no way. Because I know before every game he eats a peanut butter and honey sandwich. So he does the same thing. So...

Goes five and five after the game. You know, it's all good. We get back to the hotel. The next morning, he calls me at 11. He was like, you ready to go? I'm like, go where? You know me, I'm 330 pounds. He was like, the peach, I can't eat that shit again. I'm like,

Lo and behold, we back at fucking Starbucks, back at P Street so he can fucking play. Luckily, he didn't get five hits again, so we had to go the next day. But yeah, I mean, if he does well, he's going to do the same exact thing, bro. He does the same exact thing every single day. He would make the peanut butter and honey sandwich, take one bite of it and throw it in the garbage.

Every day. Like it was crazy to watch him do his thing. And like nobody ever said nothing to him. But we all watched him, you know what I'm saying? But like nobody ever really like made fun of him or anything to him about it. Did y'all make fun of him behind his back though? Nah. I mean, it's Derek Jeter. Like whatever you got to do to get ready, you got to get ready. You know what I'm saying? Hey, whatever works. Whatever works. See, we can edit this. It's okay, bro. You in a safe space. No.

You know me, I'm going to say something to his face. No, it was, I mean, that's just him, man. The same, same, same routine, same routine. All right. Before we let you go, see, I want to talk about something that I've, I've admired you, especially in your post career. And it's something that players are taking advantage of now. I see that. I've seen it probably first in NBA, but it's building a brand.

and who, and your brand, who you are, your identity. And, you know, we know your story, going to rehab, picking yourself back up, coming back. And you have just been on a rocket ship from there.

Talk to us about, you know, what goes behind. And Ryan, you know, you did this young when you were playing, you know, Mr. Powerade, Mr. Subway. And both of you guys can jump in on this. What goes behind building a brand of yourself? You want me to be completely honest? Yeah. Being good.

being a good player. I think a lot of people forget that that's what gets you to be in a brand. You can't be a brand if you ain't on the field. You can't be a brand if you ain't making the all-star team. You can't be a brand if you ain't won the World Series. Like, I think people look at us and see what we're doing and see, you know, all the places that we get to go and spend our time and do these different things and brands we partner with, but I think they forget about the work we put in. You know what I'm saying? Like,

I wasn't a brand until I went to Milwaukee. Right. You know what I'm saying? Came to New York. Like, I think, I think, I think you got to make the main thing, the main thing. Cause, and, and don't forget that. And I think people, once you do that, then people start to see you in another light. You know what I'm saying? Like it, it,

That's weird to say that you got to be good at your craft. I think people forget about that and try to build a brand and forget about the actual stuff on the court, on the field, on the pitch, whatever. But building a brand is about being a good athlete and treating people right. You know what I'm saying? And things will come to you.

How do you go about continuing to stay true to yourself in your brand building? Like things that are more organic to you? So I just, I just, I do stuff that's like, I would be doing anyway. Like, you know, everybody's like, Oh, you working on this stuff. And I'm like, it's not work though. Right. You know what I mean? Like I would be doing this stuff anyway. Like I would be,

around baseball, I would be, you know, doing these different things in the game, trying to make the game better. I love baseball. You know what I'm saying? When I was still playing, when I was retiring, I was like, oh, I'm never going to be around the game. I ain't never going to know baseball. I think we all said that. I really love baseball. Like, I love the game and I want the game to be in a better place than when we played it. You know what I'm saying? So, yeah, I mean, all of this stuff is just stuff that I love to do. My passion, you know, I love being around kids. I love

you know, kids that look like me. I love going to the Boys and Girls Club and seeing kids in a situation that I grew up in. So all of these things I think I would be doing if I didn't get paid or if I didn't have a brand. If I wasn't an athlete, I would still be in the community doing these things. So, yeah, it's easy to stay on brand when you're passionate about the stuff that comes in your life. Let's stay on that for a second, like talking about the youth game, right? In terms of looking at

what you know what we went through kind of growing up and playing as opposed to what you're seeing now yeah right and so as you're as you're giving back what are the some of those things that you're seeing obviously doing things with the players alliance and whatnot that you're seeing just in the growth and the and the development of players in the game in comparison to what it was when we grew up yeah no that's a great that's a great question and um

I think the kids are overexposed. We played 16 games, guys, when we were kids. That was a lot. You know what I'm saying? We played 16 games. And then you on to the next. If you didn't make the All-Star team, you on to the next thing. Right. Like these kids are playing 16 games in a weekend. Right. You know? And I got a 13-year-old right now, and he watches all the perfect game stuff and all these different things, and I'm like,

Once you put yourself out there, you can't pull it back. So I'll keep telling him development over exposure. Like develop, make sure your game is good because when these people see you, that's the impression. That's it. You can't change it. So make sure that you're ready and right before you start going to all these different showcases and all this...

all this stuff, make sure that you got the development thing right. And I think a lot of these parents need to understand that it's development over exposure. The kid needs to be ready. There's a million places we can put him on the internet to be seen, but he better be ready.

Because these are the numbers that they gonna run with. Once he runs the 60 and throws a ball across the diamond, that shit is on that fucking site forever. - But how do we get those parents to understand? We played, so we understand what it takes and what it was. - I don't think the parents are ever gonna understand that. - I mean, yeah, how do you try to figure that out? - Because everybody thinks their kid is the next Anthony Volpe. And who's to say that he's not? You know what I'm saying? And these organizations are gonna take advantage of paying to play. Kinda is what it is.

What sucks is that the scouts have bought into it, right? So now the scouts ain't coming to Incineroar to see you play. They not coming to Vallejo to see you play. They just going to the showcases. They going to the showcases. If you don't make it to Atlanta in the middle of the summer, they not going to see you. And they don't want to see you in your hometown talent. They don't want to see you in your...

high school field or against your high school talent. They want to see you against the top arms. So that's kind of where we are too. I mean, it's not lazy scouting. It's smarter scouting. Where if I know the top 300 kids are going to be in Atlanta, why am I chasing them around? And I get to see them against the best competition. I've seen that because obviously my son's now 23. So I was there. I was in it, the whole perfect game thing. And just watching how these kids go about

Doing what they do. And I felt like when I was helping coach his team at the time, I was like, man, this stuff is different. Like, it doesn't seem like these kids are about truly going out here and winning the game and playing the game the right way to win the game. It was more about.

all right, let me see how much I can light up the radar gun. And let me get my two hits. And that's it. I don't care if we win or not, as long as the scouts see that I got hits. They all showcase kids. That's it. You know what I'm saying? It's a lot of those kids in the big leagues. And that's what I was talking about.

It's only going to increase. It's only going to increase. It's only going to increase, yeah. Especially when the showcase is throw the ball as hard as you can from the outfield. Throw the ball across the diamond as hard as you can. Like, a lot of these kids don't know what, they can't hit the cutoff man. Right. Because they do showcase, they throw the ball from way over here in right field to fucking third base on the fly. That's cool.

Right. But that shit ain't gonna fly in a game, cuz. Like, a lot of these kids don't have game experience. Right. And that's where a lot of the baseball IQ is out the window. And then in the big leagues, you don't have nobody over 35. Right. There's no vets. Right, right. Like, when we got to the big leagues, bro, we had grown men. Straight grown men. There was grown men in our clubhouse that teach us how to fucking be big leaguers. Yep. You don't have that no more, cuz. So,

So the game is super athletic. It's a different game that we played, but I don't think fundamentally is up to par to the game that we played. I appreciate you, C. We'd be remiss if we didn't thank you for what you've done. We're sitting here on this podcast today because of you. And I say that because, you know, we had a sit down conversation when your son went to Georgia Tech. I'm like, C, you got time for lunch?

My first question is like, after we get by the pleasantries, like, bro, what are you doing? Like we sit on the opposite side of MLB. What are you doing?

and you sat there and you put it eloquently, basically, you know, like Rob cool as shit. You know what I'm saying? It's like, nah, Rob cool as shit. Like he real cool. And I'm like, that's cool, but what are you doing? And you explained it to me and I'm like, I got a better sense of what it's like to, from our side being a player, it's like we're crossing the line, but that's not it. Then I got to be able to speak to Raul

and ask him, you know, what was he doing? What was it like? You know, help me understand it because we're just trained as players. We don't associate with that other side, but here we are in MLB offices on this podcast. So that's one thing to say thank you for, but two, I know I bugged you like hell.

but the Commissioner's Ambassador program. Cap, once I knew what you were doing, once I knew what Rob was doing, I mean, not Rob, but Ro was doing, I'm like, hey, you got to tell Rob I mentioned him doing something out here on the West Coast. And I thought it was just going to be regional based. And I stayed on you and you was like, bro, I'm on a plane with Rob right now. I'm going to tell him. I'm like, are you really going to tell him? Like, I'm going to tell him.

It got down to a Dan came down to an owner's meeting. I wouldn't, I would not have done any of those things if it wasn't for the little big homie. Come down to San Diego. Can you make it? I'm like, I'll be there. We sat in that room with Dan, Rob, yourself, Raul.

And here we are with the Commissioner's Ambassador Program, this podcast, doing great things, bringing former players, retired players back into the game, trying to expand the game, what you're doing with boardroom. Like when I say when we have brought up the brand, like C's really a brand. He is really a brand. He is a brand. He has weight in this office. I have to give my wife the credit for that, though. You know, I think Amber is the driving force behind. I mean, not think, I know.

They're driving force behind a lot of the stuff I do. So I would be remiss if I didn't say, give her her props. - Thank you, Amber. - Yes, thank you. - Thank you, Mr. Sabathia. So, C, we appreciate you coming out today, man. - Of course. - You know. - Yes, sir. - Always big homie. - Yes, sir. - Yes, sir. - Ry, wrapping up at one.

Great way to do it with a guy that we beat, then he beat us. Right. You know what I'm saying? But more than anything, just, you know, a pioneer and how things can be after your career is done. So appreciate you coming. Yes, I appreciate it, sir.