 Hi guys, it is always so great to visit with one of the members of the dynasty 90s year. Today Jeff Nelson is also a member of our Yes! Network family. Jeff, happy to see you. How's the family? Oh they're great. We're staying healthy and you know luckily we're living in Florida and the weather is really nice. We're able to get outside. The golf courses that we're playing on aren't closed yet. We're not going on. Well we just got off the course actually my wife and I just a few minutes ago. We got even by the way. I needed one more hole to get even. I needed ten holes. Usually we do the nine hole match and I was actually losing, which wasn't going to be a fun interview if that would happen. Something to shoot for tomorrow. Always great to see you. The news of the day and it was pretty big news and now several outlets are reporting that Major League Baseball is considering starting the season is May. As we've heard they're going to sequester everyone involved in a biosphere so to speak in Arizona and play all the games there. What were your initial thoughts? Well I want Baseball back. I think everybody does. I mean you know I'm sitting and luckily like I said we're in Florida but you want Baseball back and anything they can do to make a legitimate season I think at least a hundred games or more to make a legitimate champion at the end and hopefully that is the Yankees in 2020. However or how far they go into the wintertime is fine with me. I mean I don't care if the Yankees are in it go till Thanksgiving or even Christmas whatever but I've had spring training in Arizona for a number of years when I was in Seattle. Most of my career even in the minor leagues has been in Seattle and with all the new ballparks and I think the main thing they want to eliminate the travel and the travel around there. In Florida you have to take buses a long way. I mean there's some big bus trips here in the state of Florida. In Arizona everything is within 30 minutes to 40 minutes away and they have a lot of nice ballparks out there. You have the Dodgers, you have what talking stick out there that the Rockies and I forget who else they share that with them the Dodgers and Goodyear so there's a lot even with the Mariners in Peoria they share with the Padres so I think it's great to have that central location if Baseball comes back. I know fans of the different cities probably don't like it so well but unable to get this back and maybe in July and August they'll go to their regular cities and they'll see fans back. Well obviously there are still some hurdles to get over with regard to this plan but it sounds like you think it's a good one. Yeah I think so you know the toughest part of it is okay if they do they'll have the two weeks I think before they start to season and I imagine they won't start to see I mean they won't have fans in the stands when they do start the games and that's going to be the toughest part. You know playing you know in spring training going to the minor league fields it's so much it's so players feed off of the fans you know when you have your home fans cheering for you even when you're a Yankee and you go to opposing stadiums and you have the fans booing you you kind of feed off of that in a way as well to go to a stadium and all of a sudden you hear nothing that's going to be the toughest thing I think for the players to overcome. I've heard a couple guys say the biggest thing they can maybe compare it to is spring training games. Is that valid? Yeah in a way I mean on the minor league fields because you don't have any fans and you know on the big league fields you have at least what four to five to six thousand fans and it's a little bit easier because you can still feed off of them even when you're on the road everybody from all different parts of the United States come to Arizona come to Florida and they watch their home teams and they even travel well on the road Arizona like I mentioned it's so easy for say a Cubs fan that they're in Mesa they'll go down to Scottsdale they'll go down to Goodyear and watch the Cubs play Florida's a little bit different it's a little tougher for their their city the home city fans to travel on the road but with no fans in the stands it's like going to a backfield or a minor league field and try to get through a game so it's going to be a long nine innings but at least they're getting baseball back what do you think about liking players during these games you know anything to pique the interest and I think having having the games on TV obviously the broadcast will be great anything to try to get some of the fans interested because not being able to go out to your home park whether it's Wrigley Field or even Yankee Stadium not being able to go there to try to hear some of the interaction there's gonna be a lot of bleeps and maybe some delays because this is the season and not too many fans want to hear especially little kids what goes on in the dugout or even the field when you make an air strike out or do whatever it gets when you're a pitcher you don't want to hear too much of that truth is true the difference for pitchers getting ready for this kind of scenario that's the toughest part because you remember on the WBC they were always wondering when is the perfect time to play it and it really isn't a perfect time they tried before spring training or they do it before spring training and there's always some significant injury to one key player to a team and a lot of guys I remember miss one mr. Starmer was still around he never liked his players especially on the big league roster going and playing whether it's a Japan tour or winter ball he didn't like that because he felt hey I want you on the regular season I don't need you doing extra curricular things with other teams and get hurt and I lose you so going early hitters maybe their timing might be off but for pitchers they had their five weeks spring training and next thing you know they're starting up again and that's going to be the toughest part I think by expanding the roster which I think they probably will for a significant part of the year you look at the way things are now you mean three four five innings and the starters out of there and you're going to your bullpen so I think teams will know how to eliminate some of the possible injuries but I can see maybe some major injuries happening because of starting having a significant amount of time off and then starting again there is no perfect plan but we'll continue to monitor for sure we all want baseball back but we all want everyone to be safe and well of course too before we move on we're going to play how well do you know your teammates here we go yeah all right our crack research team they helped out a lot too okay number one okay your first day as a Yankee came in relief of this starter oh my first relief I actually know it's funny because they just had it I'd say any pettit oh yeah there we go teammate number two he was a teammate of yours on both the Yankees and the Rangers and the Rangers five four three two one he was once one home run shy of a 4040 season with Soriano was a Soriano yeah good job underrated right Rangers what's that he underrated in some ways right his importance terrific and I tell you what he as small as he was I mean wasn't a very big player I think he used the heaviest bat out of anybody on the team I mean he it was amazing that you know you had you had some big strong guys Tino and Bernie and you know he used the biggest bat and the I think the heaviest battle of anybody okay quickly I think you're gonna get this one ready the former teammates baseball reference page list him as batting left throwing left kicking left throwing is this a player that I was a teammate with yes throwing left bat he was one for five against you with four strikeouts he had a 2020 season in his final year you're gonna kick yourself when you hear who it is well I know it isn't Jeter because he's never gotten a hit off of me I know that was known as the warrior oh Paul O'Neill remember when he kicked the ball in oh that's right when he was with Cincinnati yes yes yes yeah little backdoor story we love those you know he is it's funny he's the most intense player that ever played with and I think the only guy if he would go over for the only guy would ever make him laugh with Tim Rains Tim Rains would come into the locker room after he probably threw every kind of water cooler every bat possible you know Tim Rains you still make him laugh but I remember that he was so intense and he was so fired up on the field that the umpires would never throw him out he could say whatever he wanted to the umpires because they wanted to keep him in the game because the longer they kept him in the game and the more fired up and frustrated he got the umpires enjoyed it if they they would give him they would almost do him a favor by throwing him out so they would never throw him out they would keep him a game just to watch his antics did you guys try to hide your chuckles a little bit through all this a little bit you know he was he was such a great player and such a consistent player and he was such a great teammate I mean you love the intensity I mean you don't see that anymore nowadays you don't see intense players doing what he used to do I mean we had a lot of those but he he thought it's funny you know for me I thought everything was a strike and for him when he hit he thought everything was a ball if he took it it was a ball so it wasn't a strike but he was he was a great teammate and like I said nobody else he was like if he had an 0 for four day he had to play because nobody would come near him except Tim Rains Tim Rains is the only guy to make him laugh on a tough day love that stuff Jeff thank you we could visit for hours but we appreciate these minutes wonderful to see you and again all the best to you and your family until the next time say well yeah thanks guys thanks Nancy