 Hey everyone Jack Curry here and yes, we are here and I'm happy to be joined by my yes colleague and friend John Flaherty and flash. How's everything going with you today? You know what Jack? Everything is pretty good I think we're taking the social distancing thing to the ultimate level here because you and I I think you live that way About not even a half a mile. So instead of being tempted to do this together We're staying apart and doing it by our zoom. I'm glad you emphasize that We absolutely are neighbors in New Jersey and we are well beyond the six feet boundary in doing this because we are staying home And you're absolutely right. We need to emphasize that to everybody stay home We can we can all get through this together and what I wanted to talk to you about because I love getting inside the mind Of pitchers and catchers. I've had the great opportunity to do that with you on the air with yes And also off the air. So in your mind when you were catching What was your role? What was your job to get a pitcher through however many outs? He was going to give you on that given day or night What was most instrumental for you? You know what Jack you're bringing back a lot of good memories for me because that thought would start right when I woke up in The morning who's pitching tonight? Who are we facing? What matchups did I like and not like that would we would be encountering during that game? And the whole day was a build-up for whatever starting pitcher was that night Whether it's Mike you've seen it or whoever and trying to figure out a way to get them through a lineup It was the most enjoyable part of my job When it went well obviously, but also when it didn't go so well Being able to go to somebody's locker after a game where the both of you felt like you were in it together When lose or draw and kind of breaking it down. Those are the things I really miss about my playing days So you had 14 years in the big league, so I'm sure you could cite several examples of this And I'm going to ask you to pat yourself on the back here a little bit Do you remember a specific example or examples where a pitcher was struggling? Inning to he doesn't have his breaking pitch You're trying to guide him along is there one game as a catcher that you're most proud of that you helped Guide a guy who looked like maybe he was done after two or three innings and you got seven innings out of them or something like that Yeah, I can't remember a specific game But I remember a lot of times going out to a mound early in a game and being like hey We're gonna find a way, you know And it wasn't like I can picture this game and I came out of it saying I really made a difference that night But there are a lot of nights where you feel like you made a difference And and you might not get any attention for that and never wanted any attention for that But you always felt like it. I remember Mike Musina and we've talked about this game I think maybe on the air even Having nothing at Fenway Park against the Red Sox and him calling me out to the mound and saying I'm going to start throwing a split finger fastball And I said you don't have that pitch and he said I do now and you're going to use this sign right here That's going to be a split and moose went out there and gave us like six in the third that night And kept us in the ball game. So memories like that where you felt like you kind of improvised when a pitcher didn't have his great stuff Those are the few games that you remember I love that anecdote by the way because it says so much about Musina as a pitcher and his trust in you And adjusting on the fly that that would definitely come from the David Cohen school of improvisation But I wanted to bounce something off you that that coney told me when we were working on this book over here Just a little nice little sponsorship nice plug He said he needed a catcher to be a co-pilot Some days he needed the catcher to be a cheerleader Some days he needed the catcher to be a psychologist, but it had to be the catcher's ability to understand Which David cone he was getting on that given day How did you navigate that minefield because you may start out a day thinking you're you're getting pitcher a And pitcher a maybe pitcher x that day Yeah, I think it started a spring training jacket and it wasn't catching pitchers out on the field or in the bullpen It was getting to know their personalities in the clubhouse That was the first step and then once you got into a spring game You kind of get a feel for what gets them to another level at either you have to Be really honest with them and maybe have to yell and scream a little bit Or you got to be the guy who says hey, it's all right. You're being a little hard on yourself We'll be able to get through this but the The telltale is when you get into the season and the bright lights are out there and those 56 000 people How is your guy going to react? That's what I felt like my greatest job was when things were getting really stressful Does this guy need a pat on the back? Does he need a Some words of encouragement or does he need to be yelled at a little bit to get him to the next level? Randy Johnson was a guy that joked Tory asked me to yell at for nine innings every time I caught him And it was a great pleasure in yelling at randy for nine innings every time but Getting to know and again, I go back to that thought when I woke up in the morning and I was catching randy johnson that night I almost had to transform myself into a different personality to get him to get to another level How did you navigate that and just saying hey, listen, this is the way it's going to be This is how it's going to go. I mean we're talking about a hall of fame picture there Yeah, I took it as a challenge. I mean joked Tory challenged me and said how bad you want a world series ring And I said this is the only reason i'm still playing And he said in order to get us to a world series you have to get him to another level And you're gonna have to be on them every time you deal with him So like I said, it was it became personal Like I want to win and I got to find a way to get this guy to the next level But you covered him as a reporter. I mean, I'm sure it was the same way I dealt with him personally as a teammate and dealing with him from a reporter standpoint I'm sure wasn't the easiest thing to do either. Yeah, there are guys in the clubhouse who are approachable There are guys in the clubhouse who are not as approachable and can be a little abrasive I always wanted as a reporter I need information and and if you want to cooperate with me if you believe that my questions are worth asking This can be a really fruitful relationship for both of us But I also understood that there were certain players that that didn't want to cooperate And and maybe didn't want to tell you why that slider wasn't working on that given night And that's why somebody like david cone. I keep mentioning him But he was a reporter's dream flash because he would literally finish a game And then take you through what happened in that game He made all of us smarter in whatever stories we were compiling for the next day because Did I really know that that slider that he threw wasn't supposed to be a backdoor slider? But that's how he got the swing in this. No, my eyes would not have been smart enough My brain is not smart enough to have known that but cony was the type who would tell you that which is Well, I very much appreciated that about him But in addition to the picture catcher relationship, you and I have had conversations about the pitch The player reporter relationship And I love the fact that when you came to new york You thought wow, I've heard about the big bad new york media, but These guys are actually pretty nice And you've found that a lot of people were flocking to your locker and I might have told you a little bit about why that was happening Why was that happening? Because you guys wanted a source. You wanted information. I thought everybody was being so kind to me I'm like wow these guys, you know, I played in boston. Those guys were tough up there But the new york media seemed like a bunch of great guys And then I find out you were just trying to milk me for information and have a Source that you could quote inside the clubhouse, but that was all fine I I made a decision early on in my career and uh, baboon the great catcher Had me in a discussion group at a rookie program and I'll never forget it jacky said, um Dealing with the media you have to make your own mind up as a player You can either have a positive relationship with the media or you can have a negative relationship But the one thing that's not going to change is they're going to be there every day So make up your mind how you want to play this one out and it made a lot of sense to me And I said i'm going to be one of the guys who's going to try to have a good relationship with the media And I actually enjoyed talking to you and all the other guys Even though you were uh, secretly trying to get some information behind my back So I learned that after the fact. Well, first of all a great advice from, uh Bob boon so it shows that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree because Aaron boon Is obviously very good in dealing with the media. It was a compliment to you when I was a young reporter It took me a while to figure out Within the clubhouse again, not everyone wants to share not everyone is interested in answering your questions And you look for someone who's intelligent who's friendly and quite honestly as a backup catcher You were in on all of the meetings. I I'll say this right now And I think I've said this on the air. I am going to miss austin romain in 2020 My visits to the clubhouse I would go up to austin romain who wasn't as busy as gary sanchez The guy was probably catching five days a week and I would say what are you seeing from And I would go through the whole rotation flashing I'm good for the next week with our pre game because romain would fill in all the blanks for me Yeah, and and obviously when I listen to you talk about austin, there's a trust there, right? I mean he knew that he could give you some information and you weren't going to What's the right word embarrass him or get something out there that that wouldn't reflect well on him And that's what I think back to my playing days I knew the reporters who were coming over to me that I could trust right and I knew the guys who were trying to get Something maybe a little bit different and go down a different road Um, so the relationship with the guys that you had with austin romain There's a trust there that you know, you can say some things and maybe give jack curry a little more information Knowing it's not going to come out the wrong way I'm glad you mentioned trust because we're going to end this with a test of trust for you I'm going out to my backyard I'm taking my biggest wiffle ball bat and i'm hitting a wiffle ball towards your house I don't know if it's going to make it all the way there, but if you see if you see a wiffle ball Either rolling up to your driveway or on the street could you just collect it for me? Well with gloves on and then maybe down the line you and I can uh when everything is settled because I think we'll get there We'll actually we'll throw a real baseball or wiffle ball around that sounds good to me I'm looking at my window. It looks like the wind is blowing this way a little bit So you might have a shot to get it here. Stay safe launch angle launch angle ready to go flash. This was fun I'll see you soon. Okay. Talk to you soon