 I just returned from Cooperstown. I'm back in the Yes! Network studio, getting ready for the pre-game show with Bob Lorenz tonight. But I have to tell a couple of stories, leftover stories from Cooperstown. And who do we start with? The Closer. We're going to start with the Closer, Mariano Rivera. We had the opportunity to do a sit-down interview with Mariano. And I have interviewed Mariano, no joke, hundreds of times. I thought that he was in such a great mood that this was one of the best interviews we ever did. I'm not taking great credit for it. I'm saying that Mariano was in such a peaceful mood, in such a blissful mood, that he took us inside his mind. He took us back to being a kid from Panama, who used to make his glove out of a cardboard box. And suddenly, this kid grows into somebody who was the greatest closer ever. But beyond Mariano, I had the opportunity to talk to his 22-year-old son, Jaffet. And he left a real impact on me, a real impression, because he said, I'm so happy to be here, to celebrate what my father has been able to do. And I have to remind myself that this is baseball history, because not only is my dad the first unanimous Hall of Fame selection, he may be the only one that ever gains that distinction. We may never see that again. So Jaffet, also, this was very interesting to me. If you've had conversations with Mariano, sometimes to sort of solidify or emphasize a point, he'll put his hand on your shoulder. In that five-minute conversation with Jaffet, he put his hand on my shoulder twice. So I found Mariano, and I said, I found your mini-meat. It's your middle son, Jaffet, and he laughed. And I think everyone was just happy that Mariano, as much of a gentleman as you will ever see wear a baseball uniform, was able to get his honor in Cooperstown. In addition to Mariano Rivera, another player slash pitcher with a lot of Yankee history, Mike Mussina was also honored on Sunday. 10 years with the Orioles, 147 wins. Eight years with the Yankees, 123 wins. Which logo went on his plaque? Quick, take a guess, neither. Mike Mussina went in with a blank baseball cap on his plaque. He did not wanna have to pick between one and the other. And when I asked him about this, I thought he gave a very valid answer. He said, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for both of those teams. So how could I pick one over the other? They will both be mentioned on the plaque, as they are, in the printing talking about his career highlights, but I thought that Moose, who was one of the smarter pitchers I've ever covered, went deep in thinking about, well, how do I honor both teams? Another interesting part of the interview we did with Mussina is, though he won 20 games in his final season, he fairly or unfairly was tagged as Mr. Almost, sometimes in his career. He had two 19-win seasons. He finished second for the Cy Young one year. He fell a strike short of a perfect game. He got to the World Series and never won it. Well, Mike Mussina got the last laugh because in our interview he talked about if I had to endure all of those almosts to be able to say I'm a Hall of Famer, fine, I'm cool with that because there are no Mr. Almosts in the Hall of Fame. One of the cool moments that occurred this weekend was the fact that the members of the Core 4, Derek Jeter, Jorge Pesada and Andy Pettit showed up in Cooperstown to honor the other member of the Core 4, Mariano Rivera. Now I know a lot of people don't like the Core 4 phrase. I don't actually like it either. I think it leaves Bernie Williams out, but for the purposes of what I'm saying right here, let's just go with that designation because Mariano knew that Bernie was going to be there. He played Take Me Out to the Ball game and the National Anthem during the ceremony, but he didn't know those other guys were going to be there. In fact, he called Jorge Pesada and said, I need you here. I want you here. You're my brother. So I talked to Pesada after the ceremony and he said, as soon as he told me that, I spoke to Derek and said, we have to figure out a way to get there. And Pesada kind of chuckled and said, well, that's where it comes in handy to be Derek. Derek chartered a plane. They got themselves to Cooperstown. They arrived on Saturday night. They hung out with Mariano Rivera on Sunday morning and then they were sitting in the second row for the ceremony. I think it was only fitting that those guys were all there together. And we also shouldn't forget Tino Martinez was also there. And then the Yankees had members of their front office and ownership group, Hal Steinbrenner, Brian Cashman, Gene Afterman, Jason Zillow, who handles media relations for them. But just the fact that you saw all of those guys together, it was a pretty cool thing to see. And by the way, Bernie on the guitar. I mean, how cool is this guy? You play center field for the Yankees and then you're nominated for a Latin Grammy Award because you're so skilled on the guitar. Goes out there and plays the national anthem and then does his only very cool version of take me out to the ball game which in the middle of that, he gives a couple of riffs of Enter Sandman as a little ode to his buddy, Mariano Rivera. I thought that was one of the cooler parts of the ceremony. Now, when the ceremony ended, I was there with the great crew that we had, Tony, our cameraman, Jimmy, our audio guy. And I said, we are getting those other members of the core four for an interview. I don't care if anyone said they're not talking. We are getting them. We put ourselves in position. I was closest to Jorge Pesada. I grabbed Jorge Pesada and he was able to answer a few questions. Pettit and Jeter fled. Could not get them, but I'll take one out of three. Meatloaf said two out of three ain't bad. In this situation, one out of three ain't bad. But a little message to Derek Jeter. You were in the second row this year. I hope you took a good look at the stage because next year you're gonna have to do a lot of interviews. I have a sneaking suspicion that in 2020, the Yankees are gonna be represented in the Hall of Fame induction again. Derek Jeter will be a Hall of Famer.