And...

reason uh but to be a part of the yankee tradition and just to add to it with a great bunch of guys.

I mean, these guys, they want to play.

They not only, you know, enjoy the playing, but they always put their egos on the back burner because they know that it takes a lot of unselfish people to win a ball game, and especially a pennant.

They've been a very

the tremendous emotion of the

crowd in the ninth inning? I'll tell you, it got everybody going.

You know, it was just going to be the first game of a doubleheader and, you know, we'll come out and play the second game.

And, you know, if you have a good ball club, you're going to have more players than the nine who can play.

Well, I think we respect each other.

You know, I respect the players.

They respect the fact that I'm the manager and I have to make decisions.

Not easy decisions all the time, obviously.

And, you know, that's what we're in this thing for.

We made a commitment in the spring, and we're going to see how far it takes us, and you know what our goal is.

the

And...

reason uh but to be a part of the yankee tradition and just to add to it with a great bunch of guys.

I mean, these guys, they want to play.

They not only, you know, enjoy the playing, but they always put their egos on the back burner because they know that it takes a lot of unselfish people to win a ball game, and especially a pennant.

They've been a very

the tremendous emotion of the

crowd in the ninth inning? I'll tell you, it got everybody going.

You know, it was just going to be the first game of a doubleheader and, you know, we'll come out and play the second game.

Housing problems aside, Florida's instructional league was a busy place as the Mets looked for more mileage from Bruce Beauclair.

So I just sent Bruce down to be able to work at another position.

And Phil Cavaretta, who's working with him over there, seems to think he took to it very, very nicely.

So the time I was down there, I felt it would be no problem for him because Bruce got good hands.

And being left-handed, it just seems to me that first base was made for a left-handed fielder.

Dan Norman is probably one of the future outfielders in this organization.

He's a young boy, about 22, 23 years old.

But I reached it by learning that good health is the most important thing

That was a fabulous baseball game.

John, I can't disagree with that.

It, it was a manager's dream.

It was a ba-- To me, uh, baseball, uh, you know, baseball is for second guessers.

And, and the more strategy involved, the more there is to second guess, which is great.

I me- I mean, this is where the, uh, I hate to say the m- I, I guess it's the Monday morning, uh, managers, uh, get to talk around the, the cup of coffee that, uh, you know, "Ah, he should've taken the pitcher out.

He ...

It must have been a great feeling.

Uh, five and a third innings, no runs, two hits.

Oh, they, he, they all did a great job.

I mean, Mike Stanton ...

And the big thing about Mike Stanton, I know I've said this about El Duque before, is the, is the fact that, uh, you know, Mike Stanton, uh, after we couldn't score with the bases loaded, uh, went out there and just shut them down.

You know, he had ev- uh, not every reason to, to let the air out of the balloon, but, uh, it was obviously a, a very tough thing to go out there and control it at that point in time, 'cause the, the Mets were very high emotionally.

You have to throw inside"?

Well, I get a little tired of that whole thing.

I mean, I watched ESPN this morning and they, they showed him being hit in the head six times in a period of 30 seconds.

You know, the, the ability to not be too high, not be too low, something you stress a lot, and you have to feel very, very proud of the things that you did, if it was even just a subtle thing like that.

Well, Al, you know what the big thing is? They trusted me, and, and you don't find that too much, especially since the strike and the players and management and whatever.

But they trusted me, and I really appreciated that.

And, uh, you know, and we won it for them.

You know, we were on their side all the way, and, uh, it was such a team effort.

I, I, I can't say enough for every single member of our club.

I mean, uh, Andy Fox, uh, you know, he...

Which was the toughest one?

[cheering]

First off, I wanna thank George Steinbrenner for trusting me with his ball club, a very proud tradition over the years, the New York Yankees.

And I, I really thank the day that Arthur Richmond stuck my name under his nose and said, "George, this is the guy you wanna have manage this ball club." It's wonderful.

I wanna thank my coaches.

Let me tell you, I, I was having breakfast yesterday morning in San Diego before getting on the charter, and John Schuerholz, the general manager of the Atlanta Braves, came up to me and complimented my coaches on how well they have worked with the players, and I wanna do that right now.

Tony Cloninger, Jose Cardenal, Willie Randolph, Mel Stottlemyre, Don Zimmer, Chris Chambliss.

Get up there

[cheering] [clapping]

It was crazy.

Well, he, you know, we had started the World Series in Arizona.

And we lost the first two games.

So, he came down the runway.

Well, and then it was, you know, you sort of knew.

you know, that he was going to come, but nobody told you for sure because everything was so secretive at that time.

And then, of course, when he was warming up, Derek Jeter put the fear of God on him because he told him, you know, you're going to throw it from the top of the mound, right? He says, because they'll boo you if you don't throw it from the top of the mound.

He used to tell me he did.

Yeah

... you know, that, uh, she's comfortable with and loves.

So, uh, she, uh, uh, th- this one seminar she said to me, "You wanna go here with me?" And it was like in November, you know, and my wife was eight months pregnant at the time.

She says, uh, "You wanna go to this, uh, it's called Life Success with me?" And you know, the fact that she's eight months pregnant I wasn't gonna say no to anything she asked me to do.

And we go in there and I, I said, "Oh, what did I do now?" 'Cause it was one of these self-help, uh, s- seminars.

And they separate you from your wife and they put you in a group of s- six or seven people.

And you know, if you were in there you wanted to quit smoking or, you know, something that you wanted to deal with in your life and you felt you wanted to change it, that's what it was about.

You, you were one of those guys, and no one really brings that up anymore.

That's terrifying.

Yeah, that's crazy.

So the way the three-legged stool works, you say, how much do you need to retire? Let's say you decide that you and your spouse need $10,000 a month to retire comfortably.

And you expect 4,000 from social security and 2000 from your stocks, you know, selling some stocks.

Well, that's 6,000.

So you have 4,000 left and that's the shortfall that needs to be made up by the third leg of the stool, which is real estate.

So 4,000 a month, that could be eight houses in Birmingham, Alabama with mortgages.

Yeah.

Right.

And it, it's, um, i- i- it's a, it's a question that, you know, really can have a, a number of different answers.

Uh, or are you afraid to lose, you know? And, and, uh, you know, the, the winning is so satisfying and, and the interesting part, like, go back to when...

In '04 when we lost to the Red Sox and, you know, it sure disappointed all of us and, you know, George for sure, but looking back, uh, you know, with all the good breaks we had leaving, l- leading up to that '04, uh, post-season, um, y- you know, I, I watch some of our World Series now, uh, and I say, "Oh my goodness." Especially '96.

I look at that game six and I'm saying, "Oh, wow." You know? The double play by Pendleton.

I mean, there were so many breaks that we got in that game that when that '04 thing was over, I looked back, I said, "Well, we had a one run lead in the, you know, in the ninth inning of, of game four and then we had a two-run lead in the eighth inning of game five." You know, you sort of shrug your shoulders and say, "I, I guess that, uh, you know, we didn't get the bounce.

What can I tell you?" But there was really no move.

Right.

Go ahead, Joe.

I mean, I came late to the party.

You know, I managed for a number of years, played for the Braves, played for the Mets, played for the Cardinals, managed all three of those teams, got fired by all three of those teams.

And, you know, and I got this opportunity.

with the Yankees, I was on a short list.

And I come to find out that the other three on the list was Sparky Anderson.

And then there was Davey Johnson, who already committed to manage the Orioles.