 Hello again, everyone, and welcome to another edition of Yes, We're Here. I'm Jack Curry, and today I'm joined by Raul Abanyez, a man who had more than 2,000 hits, more than 300 home runs in his career. He had one memorable season with the Yankees, including a very memorable game that we'll get to later. And Raul, as I welcome you into the program, the first thing I have to ask you is, how are you and your family doing during these challenging times? We're doing all right, you know, considering the circumstances, trying to stay busy. I mean, I guess the silver lining is, you know, we get to spend a lot of time together and around each other and learning to kind of get re-acclimated, so to speak. That being said, there's a lot of people suffering out in the world, and we're very aware of that. And, you know, our hearts go out to the people that are suffering and trying to make an impact any way we can, really. Raul, when I take a look at your career, and I see this 19-year career, two words that jump out to me are persistent and consistent. You didn't get more than 500 plate appearances until you were 30 with the Kansas City Royals, but then from there, you made sure once you got those apache, you were very productive. How would you describe your own career? I mean, persistent, consistent, thank you very much, because that was the two things that I was really striving for, and I was fortunate to do that. But I think, yeah, the perseverance is the one word that usually comes up in my mind. You know, there was a lot of adversity early on. I was a 36-round pick. Had to work my way up to prospect status and get to the big leagues up and down. And, you know, wind up going to Kansas City five years later and getting non-tendered, or I'm sorry, getting designated for assignment twice in a month and everybody passed. And, you know, fast forward three years later, I think there was, when my free agency year came up, it was, there was like 20-plus teams that had called. And it was just a big shift and something that I'm really, you know, feel thankful and blessed for. But the perseverance is what makes me feel good about it. It makes me proud of the career. I think I have a statistic that'll make you feel good about your career, too. Maybe you know this or you don't. We have a great research team at Yes. Jeff Quagliata sent me this statistic. After your 30th birthday, you had 1,819 hits. That's the 17th most of any player in Major League history after he turned 30. Were you aware of that stat? I was not aware of that stat, but I'd love to have a team like that at home because that made me feel great. But no, I was not aware of that stat and that's a great stat. And I'm, you know, I appreciate you guys bringing that up. You had so many solid years with Kansas City, Seattle. I want to fast forward to 2009 with the Phillies. You get a chance to oppose the Yankees in the World Series. They end up winning that series in six games. What do you remember about going up against the Yankees that year? I remember obviously the Phillies the year before. I came in as a free agent in 2009, Phillies year before, won the World Series. And I remember thinking it's actually gonna happen again. And we went in, I think we won game one and I couldn't help but letting my mind race forward and thinking we're gonna get to be world champions. Obviously that didn't happen. But I remember the excitement. I remember the energy. I remember, you know, Cliff Lee's performances and then of course I remember Andy Pett and CeCe Sabathia they did a great job. Chase Sutley hit, you know, two homers. I think it was on game one. Chase Sutley hit a couple homers off of CeCe and, you know, away we went. And then of course the Yankees bounced back and wound up beating us. But just the excitement, the energy and it was a dream come true to be a part of that at that moment in time. But then we fell short and I remember the pain and the agony of going home and not being able to get past it for several months. It was more painful than leaving. I had been ousted in the post season or been part of teams that have been ousted in the post season after the second series, that was painful. But this was way more difficult, way harder to take. A few years later you end up signing with the Yankees 2012. You're about to turn 40. What was it about New York that was attractive to you at that point? Well, as a kid, I grew up a Yankee fan. I was born in New York. My family lived in the Bronx. We wound up moving back here as a baby. I was like a year old. But just getting the opportunity to wear the pinstripes and, you know, guys that were my heroes growing up, guys like Reggie Jackson and, you know, Goose Gostich and Ron Gidry. I grew up watching those guys play. Dave Winfield. So to get an opportunity to wear the pinstripes was such an extraordinary feeling. And going into campus surreal, you know, Yogi Berra's walking around. May he rest in peace. Whitey 4, you had these great Yankee legends that were walking around. Just have been a part of it was just an incredible feeling. Raul, you know where I'm going next. If I had a conversation with any Yankee fan and I mentioned your name, the first thing that they would bring up, game three, ALDS against the Baltimore Orioles. Ninth inning, Joe Girardi elects to have you pinch it for Alex Rodriguez. Three-time MVP, one of the best players in baseball. What was your mindset down Iran in the ninth inning when Joe Girardi says, grab a bat, it's going to be you against Johnson, not A-Rod. Well, my immediate mindset was, wait, I'm pinching for A-Rod. That was my immediate mindset. I was doing the math and I thought it was for somebody else. But then as I walked towards the plate, I realized what I was thinking about and what I was thinking about wasn't helping my team win. So I faked tied untied my shoe halfway there and retied it to get focused and said, okay, hey, get a good pitch to hit and drive it into the seats. And the real mindset behind that was, I just kept waking up saying, we're not dying today. We're not dying today. That was my mindset. Let's keep going. Let's run this thing. Let's get a World Series championship out of it. Let's get a ring for the people in New York and for this great team. And obviously it didn't happen, but that was the mindset. And was it enough that you just tied the game in the ninth inning? A few innings later against the lefty, Mattis, you end up hitting another home run. So you have the walk-off. You bundled a lot of emotion and a lot of accomplishment into a few innings. How often do you reflect on that moment, that series of moments in that game? You know, so when somebody brings it up, I reflect on it. And what happens is I wind up saying, that actually happened. You know, as a retired player, I can tell you that every day you're living each moment as if it's your last and you're preparing and you're playing and you're competing. But then when you step away from it, you get a chance to reflect back and go, gosh, that actually happened. I got to play there and I got to be a part of these great moments. And so when I reflect back on it, my immediate thought was that actually happened. Then I started going through the emotions of then the process prior to it, then the emotions when you get in the dugout, that feeling where your teammates are hugging you and high-fiving and it was just a huge blessing and I couldn't be more grateful for it. You work for the Los Angeles Dodgers now, special assistant Andrew Friedman, the president of baseball operations for the Dodgers. What's been the biggest adjustment about making that transition from the field to the front office? I think I've been excited. It's been excitement, right? Excited to learn. So I've been fortunate to be around guys like Andrew and Josh Burns and Brandon Gomes and Alex Anthopoulos, Farhan Zaidi. So I've had this great opportunity to be around these really great minds and really special people, great human beings that really care about players. But the learning process has just been such a tremendous gift to be able to see the world from their perspective and then getting an opportunity to have been so kind to let me touch, from the scouting perspective and the player development side and the big league staff getting to be around doc, Dave Robertson and our coaching staff. So I think the variety and being a part of such a collaborative effort has been just not only eye-opening, but really a huge, it's incredibly exciting, but a huge blessing to be a part of something so fantastic. And the way that the Dodger organization runs, you know, the baseball operations side, it's really just great people, great human beings. And you know, every day that you're around them, you wind up getting better and hopefully you're making some sort of impact along the way. Your name has been mentioned many times for potential managerial openings and your line has been when the time is right. I'm not ready right now. When do you think the time could be right for you to throw your hat in the ring and be the guy who's actually there in the dugout, making out the line of card and managing the game? So my constant internal struggle is it's something that you want to do. It's something that you want to be a part of to get the opportunity to be a part of something greater than yourself, not just for your team, not just for the players, not just for the staff, not just for the upfront office, not just for the organization, but for an entire city, making an impact. That's incredibly enticing and the competitive side of me is always leaning in that direction. That being said, to make an impact on your family on a daily basis. I'm a father of five kids. I love being around my kids and being a part of everything that they're doing and their development and all of their games and everything that they do. That part is the tug. That's my tug of war. That's my internal struggle. I don't mean to turn this into a Dr. Phil moment here, but that is my internal struggle is the competitive side of me wants to be a part of something greater than yourself, something in that vein where it's, you know, can this happen? Can you do this? Can you go and get a ring for an organization and be a part of something greater than yourself? Then the human side of me and the domestic side of me is like, let's make an impact on your family and move forward, you know, that's really your true legacy. So that's the constant struggle, the constant battle. And one, each side of it makes me better at the other, you know, working for the Dodgers makes me a better dad and, you know, being a better dad makes me a better employee for the Dodgers. So that's my ongoing struggle. That answer is better than any answer that ever appears on the Dr. Phil show. I'm just gonna say that right here right now. Thank you. You mentioned your family, one of your children is RJ and he's been teammates with Dante Girardi, Joe Girardi's son, Summer League Baseball. What a staff, it's you and Joe Girardi as the coach slash manager, but Joe has said previously that he let Raul handle things because he wanted you to be in the pressure spot of being the manager. What was that experience like for you guys? Yeah, well, it's more pressure when you're dealing with kids and parents than it is when you're dealing with major leaguers for sure. But the cool thing, the really cool story is, you know, Joe, when I was playing for the Yankees, Dante and RJ were buddies, not just in the kid's room, but they'd go and do stuff together. They even played one tournament together in New York. And so they had this friendship, this bond, they would, they spent all this time together and Joe would occasionally show up at my house like ring the doorbell and I'd open the door and there's Joe Girardi standing in my door and I'm like, did I get released? And he's like, I'm here to pick up RJ, we're gonna go get some Chipotle and we're gonna go take batting practice on the field. So what a cool experience from just such a great manager. And now you fast forward, we got to do the summer ball together and now played against each other in high school. Calvary Christian actually won the state title, which is where Dante was, RJ was at Westminster. So they actually knocked us out of the postseason three years in a row and they wound up moving forward. And now they're gonna, they're committed to play baseball at FIU together for coach Merville Melendez. So it's really a cool story, but being a part of the way that Joe's mind works and also seeing him relaxed in that manner, I mean, he was relaxed in the dugout, but it was a much more relaxed feeling where he would be like, all right, you do this, what do you think? Should we put this guy here? Should we put this guy there? And he did a really good job of delegating and both of us were like an assistant coach roles, which is great, but when anything hard would come, Joe would be like, yeah, Raul, you go through that one. So the guy with the World Series title as a manager said to you, Raul, you take over. I'm gonna sit back and let you take the pressure spot here. That's right. And what we both did though, cause we both had kids on the team is we both handed the lineup card to coach Barry Hill. We handed the lineup card. We're like, we don't want to touch this lineup card. We got kids, we got parents, you do the lineups. So anyone who's a Joe Girardi or Dante Girardi fan or a Raul Ibanez or an RJ Ibanez fan, watch Florida International Baseball. I know I will be going to their website to check things out once we get back, Raul. And Raul, as we close this out, you have a deserved reputation as a nice guy, in quotes, nice guy. And you're showing that right here and right now. In these times, I think that that's so much more important than anything. It's not hard to be nice. You were actually voted the second nicest guy in baseball in a poll that Sports Illustrated in 2011. I guess Jim Tomei barely nipped you. How did you manage in a very difficult sport in a very difficult world is competitive? People are trying to beat each other out for spots for jobs. How did you manage to succeed yet remain such a nice guy? Well, thank you for that. I think that, you know, I never looked at competing like I was competing with my teammate. I always looked at competing like I was competing against myself. And so I always thought about competing against myself, making myself the best player I can be and the best person I could be. And that included making the person next to me better, even if they played the same position or they were young, up and coming player. Because I knew if I did my job, I would always have a job. So making an impact on the guy next to me was equally important because it made an impact on the team and winning. And fast forward, I think that's really what it's about. If we flip that and we talk about in life, I understood that the person that opens the door for you, not only is he a human being, but he's a special human being and he's unique and he's just like you. And so it meant something to just say hello, how are you? How's your family doing? Getting to know something about their kids and their lives. It made a huge impact just saying hello and taking three seconds of your day, five seconds of your day to make someone else feel as if they're special, which they are. And everyone is uniquely special in their own way. So I think making an impact, if you have the pedestal, you have the opportunity, you've been given this perceived pedestal by society to make an impact and make a difference. And I think you use your power for good. And a lot of times it's something as simple as, somebody's in need, you do something behind the scenes for them, they don't even have to know you did it. You slip something to them, you leave it where they can see it and you walk away. Nobody knows who did it. And I think that's what we're really called to do in this life is to make an impact, make the world a better place. And I think you're doing that. And so many people like you with the position that you're in are doing that. And now more than ever before, it's a great time. Let's be good to each other, wherever you're from, whoever you are, whatever the color of your skin, whatever your nationality, be good to each other, man. It's not that hard to just be good to each other, to say and think good thoughts and to make the world a better place and try to uplift people around you, whoever they are. Those are wise words. Those are powerful words, Raul. I could not have said it any better. Be nice to people. I think that's the headline of what you just said. And I want to thank you for being nice to us and giving us some of your time today. And I look forward to baseball being back and hopefully seeing you at a ballpark sometime soon. Great to see you, Jack. Thank you likewise. Thank you.