Crime in Sports - #308 - Beanie Babies & Booze - The Smugness of Jim Leyritz

Episode Date: June 21, 2022

This week, we explore the life of an unlikely World Series hero, who took all that good will, and flushed it directly down the toilet. A love of booze & amphetamines led to a tough transition to a life, after baseball. He never quite adjusted. A very public divorce & stalking arrest tarnished his image, but that pales in comparison to the time that he killed that lady, with his car, after hanging out with Playboy models! It's a real roller coaster of a story, from underdog, that you root for, to arrogant jerk, at whom you shake your head!Break your foot, right before the MLB draft, come from obscurity to become a World Series hero, and ruin all the admiration for you,. with several acts of stupidity with Jim Leyritz!! Check us out, every Tuesday! We will continue to bring you the biggest idiots in sports history!!  Hosted by James Pietragallo & Jimmie Whisman  Donate at... patreon.com/crimeinsports or with paypal.com using our email: [e-mail]  Get all the CIS & STM merch at crimeinsports.threadless.com  Go to shutupandgivememurder.com for all things CIS & STM!!  Contact us on... twitter.com/crimeinsports [e-mail] facebook.com/Crimeinsports instagram.com/smalltownmurderSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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A first listen is waiting for you when you start your free trial at audible.ca. The Queen of the Courtroom is back. How did I know that? i have crystal ball in my head new cases leave her a long so uh this is not a so this is a period classic judy it's streaming you can say anything it's an all-new season judy justice only on freebie Hello and welcome to Crime and Sports! Yay! Oh, yay indeed and Sports. Yay! Oh, yay indeed, Jimmy. Yay indeed.

My name is James Petrigallo. I'm here with my co-host. I am Jimmy Wissman. Thank you folks so much for joining us on another wild, crazy edition of Crime and Sports. And boy, do we have a weird one for you today. Just some crazy action, 90s baseball player, which is always fun. And then, then wow did life fall apart like almost immediately after playing it's really pretty crazy we'll get into all that uh quickly just want to thank you for everything your reviews help a lot thanks for those five stars whatever app you're listening on head to shut up and give me murder.com right now for

everything crime and sports and small town murder you should check out small town murder on thursdays and fridays as well we have the the short express episode on friday maybe give that a shot if you want to dip your toe in the water there wet your beak with a little small town murder but um yeah we have all the stuff on there get your tickets for live shows a bunch of uh small town murder live shows we're going to be in new orleans and what is that? July 15th? 17th? 15th. 15th. And then Atlanta, but that's sold out. But get your tickets for New Orleans. Crime and Sports in August in Sacramento. There is tickets for Crime and Sports live.

And it's Darryl Strawberry. You've got to come for that. Come see our crazy Darryl Strawberry episode. So check that out. It's going to be a lot of fun. Please. Patreon.com slash crime and sports. My goodness. Do we have such good stuff on there? We have a whole huge back catalog. You'll get access to if you're a patron and that's anybody five dollars or above. You get access to everything. Crime and sports of small town murders bonus. The whole back is like one hundred fifty episodes. All this stuff on there. And this week, what you're going to get is we are going to get into last year about a year and a half ago we did a we just did like a list of sports movies and talk briefly about them this time we are going to do this we are going to talk

about top five sports movies for each of us a list and in depth about these movies oh a couple of runner-ups and what? We're going to exclude a couple that we know will be on both of our lists, like Major League. We'll talk about that separately, but we're not going to be like, well, that's number two

and it's number one and then argue about it. So it's going to be fun. We're going to have a sports movie time fun talk debate. Stravaganza. Oh, it's going to be fun.

And then for Small Town Murder, oh, by popular demand, we're going to do old-timey murders again. All right. so fun we dig into the newspaper archives and find some really strange strange things from times past and go over that and i'm going to mix into some weird articles that i found while perusing newspaper stuff over the years just some weird stuff that doesn't fit in anywhere but it's absolutely nuts like this clown that was murdered in madison square garden in his dressing room shit like that crazy stuff we'll talk about all of that patreon.com slash crime and sports is where you get

all of that and a shout out as jimmy will he'll mispronounce your name even though he really wants to get it right so you can hear that as well and that is also fun so hard oh my goodness it's a lot of fun so that said i think it's time to get into this let's do it we have a lot to do here it's it's crazy um let's get into it with our our star of the week jimmy yeah it is james joseph leiritz you know jimmy leiritz oh yeah old jimmy leirz okay i didn't i don't think i realized he was a jerk oh boy he's got some fun stuff in his uh in his thing here and up front jim lehretz played for the yankees and for a long time i have to say jim lehretz hit a home run that was real real important in the world series in 1996 so i mean jim lehretz is one of those guys that he has to do a lot for Yankee fans to be like oh he's an asshole yeah because it's like but he hit that home run though he's like there's a few guy

at Bucky Dent in the 70s at the home run against the Red Sox you got Jim Layritz and there's a few of these home runs that people just remember Aaron Boone hitting on the Red Sox all these different home runs and Lay layards is right up there with those so it's kind of like you know he had to do a lot to be considered a jerk and he did it he did it he don't get me wrong he did accomplish his his goal here jimmy so um he dug deep his nickname is the king and that is sarcastic as a matter of fact. Oh, boy. Teammates gave him that nickname because he's such a cocky asshole. Is that right? And thinks he's so great.

He'll say things like, you know, at one point later on, he'll say something publicly where he's like, I don't understand this. They need to let me play every day like Gary Sheffield plays every day, and maybe I'd have those kind of numbers. And it's like, you're not Gary Sheffield, bro. You're just not Gary Sheffield. He said that? He said that. And you're like, you're gary sheffield bro like it's just you're just not gary sheffield he said that and you're like you're not gary sheffield is first of all so put his and the teammates they'd all roll their eyes and you know so the king is what they hey it's the king over here check him out he's great at everything he's that kind of guy just ask him he'll tell you he'll

tell you and then after a while it just kind of became affectionate like he's because they ended up liking him because you know you get used to somebody when you have to be with them all the time. Sure. So that's how it became. So he's born December 27th, 1963. And his parents' names are, and if you're a Mad Men fan, your ears are going to perk up immediately. His parents' names are Don and Betty. Is that right?

He's basically Bobby Draper he's almost the same age I think Bobby was born in maybe you know 58 or something on that show I guess he's Gene he's Gene he's Gene Draper that's who he is he was born in like 63 I want to say on that show so yeah that is fascinating

holy shit Jim Leyritz undercover Gene Draper here we go he's born in anderson or he's born in lakewood ohio grew up in anderson township ohio and um he has a brother and a sister yeah so you know kind of your all-american family three kids don it literally don and betty from mad men you know he went to Turpin High School in Cincinnati. And he talks about how lucky he was because at the time when he was growing up, Cincinnati had a an NBA team.

You know, they had. Yeah, they had all. So they had an NBA team. They had a major league baseball team, a football team, you know, going well. You know, then they got the. Who was the Cincinnati basketball team? The one that was it the Royals? Cincinnati Royals, I think.

Yeah, it's the one that Oscar Robertson played for. No shit. Yeah, yeah. We were in Cincinnati. I almost got an old Oscar Robertson jersey, as a matter of fact. But instead, I got the George Foster. Because you've got to have that. Anyway, he goes to the Turpin High, we'll talk about here.

He's the youngest in the family as well, just like Gene. He's got an older sister and an older brother, just like Gene Draper. That's so wild. So we didn't know that the life of Gene Draper on Mad Men is actually based on Jim Leyritz. We had no idea. I love that you can see inside of his house because just think about Mad Men. That's it. Think about that.

That's what's happening here. Exactly. It's fucking awesome. You don't get that. Damn, man. So he said when he was six, they moved to Cincinnati. His father was transferred from his job. He said when he was 10, one of his Little League teammates was tom brenneman who no kidding yeah

marty brenneman was the long time i mean i think he's a hall of famer a hall of fame reds announcer so he was the voice of cincinnati basically and his son tom ended up being a diamondbacks announcer for a long time and is kind of a pompous alcoholic no he's an alcoholic he's a he seemed like a pompous drunk douchebag to me when I met him working for the Diamondbacks. He did make a big mistake on TV because I think he was intoxicated. Did he get to you guys?

I'm not sure what happened. I don't know. I know he's not on the Diamondbacks staff anymore and it's not because of a mutual... Yeah, it's not because he retired. There was a parting of ways at some point. I don't want to slander the man here or libel him or whatever, but he did something, I believe, allegedly. So anyway, he became good friends with Tom, and their families got to know each other.

Fascinating. And one year, Marty Brenneman, the dad, the announcer, invited the Layritzes down to Tampa during the spring break for the kids to stay at the Reds team hotel and watch the team in spring training. Which. What kind of life is that? That's crazy. And those early 70s Reds teams were those. That's the big red machine going on to the mid-70s. I mean, you're seeing Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, fucking all George Foster, all these great players. It's amazing.

Tony Perez, it's awesome. So anyway, he said everybody wanted to do it. His dad's a big sports fan. And shit, he said, how many kids get to hang out at the same hotel with their childhood heroes for two weeks nobody that's who and actually have them be nice to you because you're you know friends with the announcer's kid you don't want to be a dick to the announcer he's the guy who tells the people about you so everybody players especially back then back then the players and the announcers would hang out and drink together. You know what I mean? Oh, yeah. Before the players were like, you know, well, also, before the media would look for things to talk bad about the players to get people to buy, that's when guys would see Mickey Mantle crash his car into a pole and they wouldn't write about it the next day.

You know what I mean? So that wouldn't happen now. Now it would be video. No. Oh, God, no. With a guy doing a selfie. I'm right here where Mickey Mantle, there's his fiery wreck. I believe he seems to be alive.

That's good. But I'm here on the scene. That's exactly what would be happening now. Different back then. But they used to hang out and drink together and all that kind of shit. I wonder when Tom developed his voice, if he had that voice when he was like eight years old. When he's nine? Yeah.

What do you mean I'm playing center field today? I thought I was pitching. Ah, Christ. Lairitz, why don't you come over here and help me out there, pal? Hey, Lairitz, would you like to go down to Florida with me and the family? I got a little too deep there. I almost sounded like Vince McMahon in his calmer times at that point. Listen, pal. You got to get a little higher.

It's a little higher for Brenneman, but he's got that voice. Yeah, he does. It's a fascinating voice. It's a weird one. It's a bizarre voice. If you want to do Vince's regular voice, you have to condense your neck. That's the key, pal. So he says, I'll quote his book here, as we'll talk about later on.

Lear, it's his book. He wrote about himself. Oh, yeah, he did. He says, quote, one day on one of the other fields, a camera crew was setting up. Former Notre Dame football coach Ara Persagian was in Tampa to film a segment on the Cincinnati Reds for his TV show about the proper techniques for hitting and catching. Pete Rose would be doing the hitting and Johnny benched the catching.

What? Yeah, that's what's going on here. The producers were looking for two kids to help out in the demonstration. I know a couple. I'm a kid. And so Rose said, Tommy, you do the hitting with me.

That's Tom Brenneman. And Jimmy, you do the catching with me. That's Tom Brenneman. And Jimmy, you do the catching with Johnny. You have to be kidding me. Yeah, Johnny Bench, the Hall of Fame catcher. He said, I was so nervous here. I was playing catch with the great Johnny Bench, a future Hall of Famer. And he talked about, you know, Bench showing him proper positioning for receiving the ball, how to throw to second base.

And he said, this is crazy he said after the after the filming ended bench handed him his mitt and the ball to hold for a minute and he was like a little kid going i'm holding fucking johnny mitt this is crazy the two tools that make johnny bench johnny bench that's it and he said from then on he told his dad he wanted to be a catcher and he wanted to be a catcher from then on before that he had no interest in catching but you know being next to johnny bench was like wow that's that's crazy so i don't blame him that's i would feel the same way his older brother mikey talks about a lot being four years older and um basically his dad tried to be like mr marinovich here and if you don't understand

that reference uh listen to the todd marinovich episode first of all it's insane so you really should listen to it anyway but his father marv was a i'm gonna coach you from birth type of guy right and uh the thing is todd really didn't have any choice in that matter whereas this guy mike is jim's older brother told his dad i don't want you pushing me and coaching me and his dad backed off of him because that's not what he wanted. So at least he's if you want if you want dad to coach, he's all in. But if you don't, then he'll back off. So that's good. That's healthy, though.

You know what I mean? That's fine. So he said his dad was a good or his older brother was a good player, but he wasn't. That wasn't what he was interested in. He would never wanted to be a professional athlete or anything like that. So Jim, though, always did. And he asked his dad to focus, you know, hey, coach me up. Show me what to do here. So he told his dad he wanted to play something in college.

He was a basketball player and a baseball player. He played other stuff, but those are the two that he said, you know, he had to concentrate on. And those were the ones he thought he could get scholarships for and shit like that tim's not a big dude right he's 5 10 that's the problem that's a little guy that's a little guy if you're 5 10 and we'll talk about that's what his dad tells him like listen i you know i understand that i get the like spurts stopped i'm sure you feel big but you're not big he said you might be able to go play some junior college or something as a basketball player, but you're a 5'10 guy who doesn't have a 40-inch vertical jump.

You're not going to be a professional basketball player. You're not going to go play for North Carolina and be the starting point guard. But baseball, who knows? You might be able to do it. I've heard a lot of guys do that. Who's the Jimmy Rollins, the old Philly shortstop for a long time there? I saw a thing where he was talking and he was like i don't understand why kids aren't playing baseball more because

you don't have to be the most gifted athlete on earth i mean you can't be you have to be an athlete but you don't have to have a a 45 inch vertical jump or you don't have to be six foot four 240 pounds and you don't have to be any of those things. You can be an average-sized guy who learns to play very good defense and have a good eye at the plate, and you can go places with that. So you have a better chance if you're not a great athlete of becoming a pro if you're a baseball player, whereas the NFL and NBA are the top. Oh, God, it's insane. Oh, oh, oh, 1% of genetic lottery winners, basically. These people are not humans like the rest of us. They're just not.

If you meet an NFL linebacker and you go, oh, my God, we're not the same species of human. Right. Yeah. We aren't made of the same space dust. No. Meet a 6'11 basketball player who can jump 40 inches into the air you're like that is crazy you're a super person how did that happen you are a super person this is wild so but baseball you can be a little guy you can be like we talked about like a chuck knob block

this little guy who hustles and works hard and does all these things and you can be a baseball player so uh not bad so he said anyway uh his father officially dedicated himself to you know to jim's goal of becoming a baseball player or a basketball player in college and possibly beyond here okay he said quote i would describe this approach as dad channeling his favorite coaches hall of fam Famers Bobby Knight and Woody Hayes. Oh, that's not good. No, those are both famous assholes. We did a Patreon episode about Bobby Knight's asshole-ness, and it's hilarious because he's such an asshole.

Famously vicious man. He's like a comic book villain asshole. His stuff is like, it's evil. After he says something, you almost expect him to go, evil, right? Like, yeah. It's fucking crazy woody hayes is the same way he's a sadistic asshole so um he said eventually too don this is

he threw himself into it don's his father there threw himself into it kind of vicariously living through jim and his athletic dreams he made a homemade batting cage in the basement really where jim would hit tennis balls off a tee into a sheet hung from the ceiling so he made like a sheeted in tennis ball batting cage which i mean with hand-eye coordination for hitting that's all you need so all you're learning right doesn't matter what you're hitting right it's not simulating the real thing now putting the bat into the right spot that's it seeing the ball seeing the hitting it no seeing exactly when your bat hits this part of the ball which way it goes what it does and all that kind of shit um so uh one of his coaches jim's coaches in in uh sports here said quote this is his about don layritz what he remembers quote always at the games always

critiquing but not in an overbearing way he'd say things like you ought to listen you don't move your feet when you were behind the plate shit like that so yeah um jim puts it from his book quote he'd often yell instructions from behind the bench during my basketball games he does say that his instructions were only directed toward jim he wasn't yelling at other kids, too. He wasn't that kind of guy. So that's good anyway. You don't want your dad to do that.

He says, though, sometimes he'd yell at him to be quiet in the middle of a game. Shut up, Dad. Dad, I'm playing. Enough. Christ, shut the fuck up. That's embarrassing. You don't want that shit. Remember the kids in Little League whose parents were real vocal, and you're like they they were never happy about it never no never oh god i remember

those kids they're just always yeah the faces the kids would make was very evident but it's the two inch chin drop of just yeah jesus all the other kids look at you that's your dad you could makes you could wish you could mic up their brain just because they're not saying it whatever's happening in there i want to know though shut the fuck up mom or this oh it's something as they get older i think those are the ones that tell their parents you're not allowed to come to my games right when landon was swimming we had i mean there were swim moms that would chase these kids down the fucking pool screaming at him it's like they've got a coach, ladies.

Sit the fuck down. They have a coach. Also, they're in the water. All they hear is, That's what they hear is they're swimming. Shut the fuck up and sit down. If they don't know how to swim by now, you yelling from the side isn't going to make them magically swim better now. Like, we're past that shit do that at practice also if they don't know how to swim by

now it's your fault so sit in your shame shut up sit there shut the fuck up and let your kids do their goddamn thing if your kid does not win it's your fault if they do well go all right that's it otherwise still go all right either way just pretend like everything's fine and it's great, and then they can figure out if they suck or not. That's not my job. That's the coach's job to tell them shit. Hey, you're not good at that. And these places with children athletes are full of those parents, man. Oh, God, yeah.

They really want to quit their day job, and they need that kid to be successful. No, they've all seen the fucking Venus Serena Williams movie. They've all seen it, and they all have this dream like, well, I could probably do that. Maybe they'll make a movie about me someday. They've all seen it. Probably not. But it's so prevalent. It's been worse.

I think it really, really really really started with tiger woods i really do probably i think because that was that 90s you know when the media was getting crazy and i think at that point everyone saw like oh they raised this kid from the time he was four he was on johnny carson hitting fucking golf balls if i do that my kid will be tiger woods too not also tiger woods is very gifted gifted also and athletic as well. None of that. No. It's just that if I concentrate on my child from the time they're four, they're shooing.

Also, Tiger happens to be amazing at a sport that children typically are not amazing at. Well, they don't normally have the focus. That's the problem. Normally, I mean, if you get a kid to focus, maybe they'd be good at it but they're bored by it so they go wander off they hit the ball like clap and they go run over there like they're not interested right if you can get a chase it now yeah you had a kid who was interested in it so you know that's the way it works but that's a big thing now these people who are way too into their kids um and you should be into your kids and that's fine to go do all that,

but don't delude. People shouldn't delude themselves on, oh, my child is obviously going to the major leagues. Right, because he can do something you can't? Well, a lot of people can do that. Yeah, and the problem is even if they're good, they might not want to play anymore after a while. You get kids a lot of times, they hit like 15,

and they're like, don't want to play baseball anymore he's not into it sorry and that happens too so it's tough man it's tough but not really up to up to the parents so um he said his dad was always there though um at one point he was i guess he said he was yelling at he was yelling stuff and the school had banished him as the way he puts it, banished him to the upstairs bleachers. They sent him away from courtside, the father. So he said that he I looked over and he wasn't there, but I could still hear him yelling at me. So I was like, what the fuck is going on here? Did he turn into a ghost or something? So let's see.

Jesus. Yeah. fuck is going on here did he turn into a ghost or something so let's see jesus yeah i guess after the game his mom told him that they asked his dad to move because his dad was pissing the coach off which is understandable so jim said he walked into the principal's office and threw his basketball uniform on his desk and said if they're going to treat my father this way i quit the team what yeah he said by the next game my dad was back behind the bench. Okay. Because of you, John.

Yeah, he threatened. Hey, he wasn't taking any shit, man. He went right to his agent. Said, I'm not taking this. I'm the best player you got. Best player. He played basketball, football, and baseball while he was growing up. But he said that it became having all these sports all

year round made him a good athlete because he was always like in good shape and shit like that he said he was a star in basketball and baseball but not in football so he dropped football after the eighth grade he's like i don't need this concentrate on what i'm doing i guess he broke his left hand in a football game and had to miss half the basketball season so he's like okay fuck this football shit not doing that so uh he said i didn't even like it i'm not gonna risk hurting myself worse in this sport limb yeah so um he also said he switched from football to golf then so he ended up making the golf team as a sophomore so yeah he played golf um one of the amateur baseball teams he played for his coach this is the same coach from earlier said quote one of the most competitive

kids i've ever coached that's the way he uh describes kind of a rich kid if his dad can afford all of this shit that he can do it's definitely they're not poor i don't know if they're rich but they're definitely kind of toward the upper certainly doing great toward the upper part of middle class here where you know hey dad we have a traveling game blah blah blah and he's like oh we'll get the whole family like you know i couldn't have told my parents can we go to my to tampa for two weeks because we're gonna hang out they would have been like are you fucking kidding me we'd have to eat at the motel you know expensive that is i can't take off for two weeks are you out of your fucking mind not happening and that's normal i'm not complaining that's just normal so this guy had a different kind of life rubbing elbows with the brenneman's

yeah it's crazy and um i guess this hayden guy coached lay rich lay rich since he was since he was nine years old and uh this one team that he had him on the midland redskins was jim layritz todd benzinger who's a future hall of famer or not hall of famer future major leaguer and then barry larkin was on the team also who is a future hall of famer so oh god pretty cool that barry larkin grew up around here and then got to play his whole career for the yeah for the reds that's pretty awesome and be like the hometown hero and shit so and be like a fan favorite and be amazing at the game and oh yeah yeah everybody likes Barry Larkin what a life what a life he's had he's always kind

of a quiet guy that was hard to dislike like he just just makes the all-star team every single goddamn year and you know hits 290 and does his thing. It's hard to dislike the guy. So his coach said about Jim, he was always watching the other kids, picking out the guy he thought was the best and trying to be better than him. So that's good. That's what you got to do goal oriented here he said the coach would drive jim home after games and during the rides layer it's would quote figure his his batting average down to the last decimal then he'd figure larkin's average the same way he said whenever larkin got a hit jim had to get a hit

if larkin would steal jim would steal his arm wasn't as strong and he wasn't nearly as fast but jim out hit barry he had a better a better average and more homers is that right i guess so well i mean yeah i don't know not later overall i wouldn't say that's a fact so um when they're getting a major league paycheck it got different a little different and yeah when one of the guys was on the all-star team every single goddamn year. You know, that'll change the relationship maybe. So everybody says he's just cocky. Cocky as fuck is the only way to describe him. From the time he's a kid all the way through, very, very cocky.

His coach saw it as a positive. He said that, you know, he walked the walk, he said. You know, he would be be mouthy but then he knew that was maybe his way of pumping himself up to have to back it up then you know i can't talk a bunch of shit then slack off right if i'm talking a bunch of shit i gotta go out and perform so yeah you're making yourself accountable that's good whatever motivates you yeah but you know what embarrassment motivates a lot of people too and if you go fucking say some shit and then look like an asshole because you can't do it. And go 0 for 4.

Yeah. It's kind of embarrassing. You might shut the fuck up next time. All the shit talkers from back in the day in the NBA are all amazingly great players. Very good at it. Gary Payton, one of the best shit. Great fucking player. Right.

When you lead the league in steals every year you can you know what i mean you can talk some shit larry bird's got some rings for all the all the shit talking all that shit talking for a reason yeah there's a lot of guys like that so i don't know uh one of his other coaches called him quote mouthy mouthy thought he was arrogant uh it's fascinating for that sport too because that's not really a shit-talking sport. It's not. But for guys who are not the most athletic, it's like they have to have something else. They have to pump themselves up.

And his idol was Pete Rose. And Pete Rose, not the biggest, strongest, fastest, nothing about him says anything except he's the most balls to the wall guy you know what i mean so uh and uh that's who everybody compared jim to because he acted like pete and that's what he was tom brenneman said quote all he ever wanted to do was play sports uh it was sports day and night he had a basketball hoop in his driveway we played for hours and um yeah i guess by the time layritz got to high school he was one of the better point guards around actually is that right yep um he said uh what was this oh yeah his coach said quote he enjoyed having a good time he ran with kids who like to have a good time i didn't babysit him i don't know what they do at nine when we play

well i don't know what they do at nine not at nine. I don't know what they do at 9, not at 9 years old, 9 p.m., when we play at 6. But anybody I knew who was drinking, they're gone. Jim did everything hard. He worked hard. He played hard. Oh, boy. He worked hard. He played hard here.

He said by the time 1981 came around, he's a junior in high school, and the scouts started looking at him college and pro baseball scouts and uh people they were taking notes on him and he's like oh shit you know this is he started realizing he has to run every ball out hustle like everybody's watching him and uh that's when he talked to his dad and he said that at the time he was 5 10 165 and his dad said if you want to be a professional i'd play baseball because you're not going to be an nba player just not going to happen probably not at that size no doesn't matter how much you want it it's just

charles oakley is on the court sir yeah well the guys who are that size and and play in the nba are insanely quick and fast and have the craziest handles you're going to have. They've got to be amazing. You know what I'm saying? Like, Allen Iverson looks tiny. He's bigger than that. So, you know, back in the day, I'm trying to think of an old... He's the same size as Spud Webb, but Spud can dunk.

No, Spud Webb is 5'6". No, he's 5'10". He's 5'6". 5'10", no one would give a shit that he was dunking. You're right. Yeah, he's 5'6". That's why it was amazing. And then Muggsy can dunk, and you're like, oh, my God.

He's 5'3". That's crazy. And then Nate Robinson's, what, 5'5", 5'4"? I think he's 5'8", isn't he? I don't remember. You want to... I want everybody to be my son. Jimmy, much like himself, Jimmy tries to inflate people's heights a little bit.

He's like, yeah, what's that guy, 6'2"? I swore Spudud was 510 no he's five six that's why it was so interesting that he was a dunker because you were like that guy's a fucking tiny person how the hell is he doing that he's a tiny little man like that's wild most of the people in the audience are bigger than him and yet he's dunking that's crazy the wait is over so far you're not losing the only thing you're losing is my patience quickly i see that the queen of the courtroom is back i didn't do anything you wouldn't know the truth if it came up and slapped you in the face

i see he's not intimidated by anything. I can fix that. New cases. She wanted to fight me. Leave her alone. Okay, so, um... This is not a so. This is a period. Classic Judy. Did you sleep with her? Yes, Your Honor.

You married his cousin. His brother. That's not him. Yes, ma'am. I would make a beeline for the door the emmy award-winning series returns how did i know that i have crystal ball in my head it's an all-new season it's streaming you can say anything judy justice only on freebie freebie taylor swift is soaring high her every move captured in the news cycle and devoured by her devoted fans.

She's broken billboard records and made Grammys history, not to mention becoming a billionaire in the process. But along the way, Taylor has had to wage war, first by taking on a very powerful, very famous manager, Scooter Braun. And then by going up against the biggest live events company, Ticketmaster. Hi, I'm David Brown, the host of Wondery's show, Business Wars. We go deep into some of the biggest corporate rivalries of all time. And in our latest season, Taylor Swift will shake up not only the music business, but Hollywood and the NFL. Follow Business Wars wherever you get your podcasts you can listen ad free on the amazon music or wondery app yeah so uh yeah he chose to concentrate

on baseball and uh i guess the braves he was out playing tennis one day with his friend and he's so fucking in his book he talks about how i was playing tennis with my friend who's on the was on the high school team and halfway into the first game he was telling me how that if i was on the tennis team i'd be the best player on the team he's much like lex luger when he's like i had the third grade high jump record like he's that kind of guy like very much he's very over important he saved his field day ribbons from, like, the fourth grade, and he still has them. He's like, yeah, the two-by-two relay. I'm the fucking champ, baby.

Blue ribbon. I mean, you can't take that away from somebody. That's 1969 I won that, first grade. What's that up there that's all rotten on the shelf? That's my fifth-grade cakewalk cake. It's pretty good. I kept it. Yeah, I saved it. cake it's pretty good i uh i kept it yeah i saved i won the cake walk and i kept it looks weird like that because i let it rot for like the

first six months before i realized i need to throw a layer of laminate on it and really kind of if i wanted to save it off i mean i want to stick around much longer so it's a it's a poly uh urethane kind of a it's a it's a it's a mix it's an alloy a thick lacquer on it i would like to call a plastic alloy really it's a mix of many different things and so um so the braves called him the atlanta braves that is and said hey um is jim because he plays basketball too they called his dad and his dad talked to him they They said, is Jim interested in playing professional baseball because we're interested in drafting him? Wow.

And he said he would love to play professional baseball. Problem is, he was playing tennis with his friend yesterday. By the way, he'd be the best player on the team if he was on the team, according to this man. And he broke his foot while he was doing that. Broke his foot playing tennis, so his leg is in a cast. He's re-having a foot injury right now. Yep, it's not good.

So he said, we're still going to get drafted somewhere, even though he's hurt. And then he sat there. He was an all-state player in his senior year, and he was playing for these traveling teams with great players and all this shit. And he ends up not being drafted at all. Jim Lairridge was not drafted

undrafted completely yeah undrafted right so uh he meets a girl named christy in the 10th grade and he said that you know he had a relationship with her that lasted through the end of high school she was a cheerleader he was a popular athlete it was just uh it was jack and diane all over again too it's too much Americana. It's just too much in the heartland and everything. I mean, it's too much, man. So they were going to get married one day, but then after high school, they broke up because she went to Miami of Ohio and he ended up going to Middle Georgia Junior College

to play baseball. Oh my. Yikes. I don't want to go to Middle Georgia for College to play baseball. Oh, my. Yikes. I don't want to go to Middle Georgia for anything. That sounds rough. Middle? Yeah. No one in Georgia is like, I'll stay away from the middle part most of the time.

At that point in his life, he's got to feel like nothing's going to happen, right? You've got to feel like that foot injury playing tennis fucked your whole life. I mean, he is one to say like i got fucked over a lot but he's also gonna say like i'm fine and i'm gonna be i'm gonna kick this thing's ass he's that kind of guy no matter what yeah so he said there was a braves wanting to draft him as part of the reason he went down to georgia um that also uh he wanted to test out his um his fiddle skills i believe at the time yeah it was in question and he said i'm gonna challenge fiddle team i'll challenge him he'd be the first chair

well again that's where you're gonna go is down to georgia obviously where you'd be first chair on the what is it the middle georgia junior college fiddle team it's a tough one the championship every year is brutal. It's just tough because you know who you're playing. So it's tough. You're like, God damn it. Last week, Jim came. How am I supposed to win?

He was dragging that wooden fiddle. This week, he's got a golden. That's really weird. Well, you know. Where'd he get that golden fiddle? The college, some alumni funding, I believe, is how this all happened. Right?

I think that's what it is. They're funding the program more. And that's good. If they want to win, what else are you going to do? So he's down there anyway. It's a 12-hour drive to see each other. And they said between all of us, they both had schoolwork and he had games and all this shit. So there's no way to really do that.

So had to break up with the old girlfriend to stick to the baseball see around stay on the baseball uh path here he is so he attended this college it's in cochran georgia um or corcoran however they say it down there i'm not sure or cochran georgia we don't like saying cochran because it just it sounds dirty to us so we call it Corcoran. Sounds real filthy. Sounds filthy. Then he transfers to the University of Kentucky after a couple years, which is a big goddamn school. That's huge. So he played college baseball on the Kentucky Wildcats team.

In 1985, he played on the team, and he said, all right, now it's draft time. Four years of college, ready to get drafted and no one drafted him again undrafted undrafted again and all through college they they draft guys in college just to see if they'll come out never got drafted in college just nobody ever no thank you a big no thank you on jim layritz and a lot of times too cockiness especially back then if you've ever seen money ball yeah cockiness everything yeah was not a deal breaker back then it's frowned upon no it wasn't that's i know it was cockiness was what they wanted encouraged yeah if you've seen money ball they sat around the table talking about how much confidence a kid has they they would look at his girlfriend to make sure his girlfriend was hot.

Yeah, but is that talkingness? Because otherwise he's got no confidence. Yeah. Okay, yeah. They want that. They want a kid who's going to come in, thinks his shit doesn't stink. They want personality. No, not that.

They want a guy who can play, who can have a slump for three weeks and still be like, I'm the greatest player in the world. I'll snap out of this and then be able to snap out of it. It's like a fighter pilot. You need a certain type of psychology for baseball because otherwise you can get in these depressive dips. Baseball is attrition. It's every day.

It is, yeah. So you have to be like, what are you talking about? I'm great. Remember Billy Bean, Lenny Dykstra we talked about? Right, right. Just, you know, oh, I can hit that guy, no problem, even though he's throwing 100 with sliders. Man, I got him.

And it is, yeah. If you're not the best we've got in that position today, then I'm putting somebody else in. You lose your position, that may be the end of your career. It's everything, man. And when you're up there at the plate, you're all alone. There's nobody to pass to. Everyone's staring at you.

That's it. Yeah, that's not easy. You've got to have a lot of confidence to get up there and do that. And so, yeah, back then, literally, they would look at you that's it yeah that's not easy you gotta have a lot of confidence to get up there and do that and so yeah back then literally they would look at guys girlfriends and if they didn't have a hot girlfriend they would they wouldn't their stock would drop for them because that meant he didn't have enough confidence because he didn't go after the hotter women which is crazy not yeah maybe that kid maybe that chick's cool and he likes her that's not a thing can't have that maybe she gives a great blow yeah that's not what it is but for this even i mean she's like a popular cheerleader he he's cocky and brash and see it's very odd that he wasn't

drafted it's just what they were looking for back then an asshole so very strange but as a free agent he gets signed uh because they gotta fill out all these minor league teams. So he is signed as on August 24th, 1985, as a free agent by the New York Yankees. So there you go. They took him first. Yeah, they signed him as a free agent. He goes to the minors. We'll breeze through that very quickly.

In his first year, what did he hit? He hit very well. Jesus Christ. In 1986, playing for the low single A and the regular single A team, he hit.344 that year. Wow. So, I mean, he came in cocky. 87 in Fort Lauderdale, single A ball. He hit.308 with six homers, 51 RBI.

Not bad. This is in 102 games. Double A, 1988, he played in 112 games, and he had a.241 average. Double A is hard. Double A is the biggest. That's the biggest leap in baseball to go from single to double A. Double A is where all the talent is. Triple A is like a way station.

You go there on the way up, on the way down. Guys who are like older 4A guys, things like that. But the double A is like all of the good prospects are there. So there's really good pitching there. It's harder to hit. So he does that. The next year, though, on the same team in double A, he hits 315. Oh.

315 with a 423 on base percentage. So that's really good. I mean, that's impressive. You're looking at that guy hard. So the next year they bring him up to AAA, Columbus, and AAA in only 59 games. He hits.289, eight homers. I mean. It's time for the majors.

Guy's hitting, man. I mean, he hits time for the majors. Guy's hitting, man. I mean, he hits. That's it. You know, shit. He also has some problems also. His attitude causes him issues for a long time. Well, in 1988, as a result of that, I don't know when it was filed, but as a result of the 1988 season when he was with Albany Colony there in AA, the team's 14-year-old bat boy filed

a $6 million suit against Learitz, alleging that he's bullied him all throughout the 1988 season. Holy shit. The 14-year-old bat boy, dude. $6 million bullying suit? Bullying suit. What the fuck could he have done? Well, Nick Bouchain is the guy's name.

He claimed that Learitz stuffed him headfirst into a garbage can. That'll do it. Well, then dropped the can onto a cement floor, hurting him, then sprayed ice cold water on him at that point. And this is among other different things, but that was the most physically egregious action. things but that was the most physically egregious you know action he later dropped the lawsuit which uh because he didn't file it till i think 1994 but the yankees ended up repaying his medical bills and his 15 dollar a game salary that he sat out so they gave him his medical bills and like an extra 200 bucks there you go chief told him to go on his own way it's not six million but uh you know we'll get close we'll get as close as we can oh man so he's fine in 1990 after 59 games of playing

well well that's kind of up and down but he gets called up to the new york yankees here we go yeah this you know for me as a kid growing up in New York would have been a dream. But as a baseball player to get to be on the Yankees in the late 80s and early 90s was not a spectacular dream. It was a hellhole. It was a an owner who was like getting suspended from being the owner all the time and doing all sorts of weird shit. And managers were being fired left and right. There's no consistency. The team was a mess. That's my childhood Yankee team. It was a lot of fun, though. It was a lot of fun, and every once in a while you get some good players.

By 87, you had Ricky Henderson, Don Mattingly, Dave Winfield. I was like, man, that's a dream lineup. I love those guys. 1990, God, I probably watched out of 162 games in 1990 i probably watched at least 100 games that year like i was obsessed with the yankees and uh in the summer when you're a kid like you'd go run around all during the day and shit and then the games are at night and then you just sit around in the summer night watching the yankee game like that's what you did as a kid when I was a kid.

So that's what I did anyway. A lot of kids didn't, but me, I liked it. So the Yankees suck this year. They have two managers. They fire Bucky Dent. Bucky Dent was their manager. He went 18-31. And they also had Stump Merrill.

I don't know if you remember Stump Merrill. Stump Merrill. Stump Merrill. He went 49 and 64. Total of 67 and 95. Yikes. For dead last in the AL East. And I watched everyone just like, God, we fucking suck a dick.

Dead last. I think this was the year, we've talked about this, where Andy Hawkins threw a no-hitter and we lost to nothing or four to one it was that bad because layritz was in that game i want to say he made one of the errors i'm not sure out in the outfield he was playing like right field or something but oh what a disaster fucking mess even the attendance like the yankees didn't even have good attendance only two million people attending that year. For the year? For the year. They were eighth of the 14 teams in the American League then. Oh, man. And you have to know, too, attendance didn't spike until 98, until the home run race with Sosa and McGuire.

That's when baseball attendance went through the roof. Before that, there was only a few teams that really, really drew a lot and crushed and sold out. So this 90 team, Yankee team, goddammit, I can remember being outside with my wiffle ball and going through the lineup, being every guy in this lineup pretending to do different stances as a child here. Catching Bob Guerin, catching.

God, he sucked. Jesus, Bob Guerin sucked. Bob Guerin, and they had matt noakes also at that point who crushed it hit like 47 home runs in detroit the year before comes over here and it's 238 with eight home runs i was like what the fuck happened to this guy he was so good is he sick somebody check on him that's what it felt like like he was sick it was that fucking bad um don mattingly at first base who's my you know as a child my favorite athlete no wrong i fucking loved him uh he was all injured though at this point his back was trashed yeah his back was all fucked up this year

steve sacks we've just gotten from the dodgers he was okay alvaro espinoza oh my god at shortstop oh i remember alvaro espinoza he couldn't at shortstop oh I remember Alvaro Espinoza he couldn't hit his body weight but he had a fucking cannon of an arm from shortstop I mean he could be falling away in the hole and fucking throw 95 miles an hour to first base he was awesome

Jim Leyritz on that team Oscar Azocar oh my god he was a rookie I believe that year came out hitting fucking balls he was a rookie I believe that year came out hitting fucking balls he was like hitting 350 for a while and then he fell off and then he just went away and never heard of him again Roberto

Kelly in center field who I loved I loved Roberto Kelly man he was really good but he had the unfortunate I remember watching an afternoon game think it was against Toronto when I was a little kid and it was his first game and I remember being like that's a debut for this guy young man today I remember watching an afternoon game. I think it was against Toronto when I was a little kid, and it was his first game. And I remember being like, that's a debut for this young man today. I remember that very clearly.

And then he, unfortunately for him, Bernie Williams came on the team a few years later. And goodbye, Roberto Kelly at that point. Did Roberto Kelly go to Toronto after that? I think he was, where was he, Cincinnati, I want to say, for a while. I see him with red on. And then I think he was, where was he, Cincinnati, I want to say, for a while. I see him with red on. And then I think he was also on Toronto at some point, too. He kicked around for a while here. Jesse Barfield on that team.

Jesus Christ. He came from Toronto, was supposed to be really good, and hit.246 this year. God damn it. Cannon of an arm from right field, though. Cannon. And then finally, Steve Balboni with the DH. And we've all seen who's a very large man who's bald with a mustache and looks like somebody's father who owns a pizza restaurant, not a professional baseball player. Rounding it out, some alumni on the team.

Mel Hall also on that team. The aforementioned Matt Noakes, Randy Velarde, Mike Blowers, Deion Sanders on this team mel hall also on that team uh the aforementioned matt noakes randy velarde mike blowers deon sanders on this team up and down remember that a lot rick serone this is for old yankee fans here luis polonia uh kevin moss who came up this year as a rookie he hit 24 home runs before the all-star break as a rookie we were like oh there he is look at this here's our guy yeah mattingly was injured he came in at first base and was like the savior and then just went shit the bed yeah not not 24 home runs but he had a shitload of home runs i don't remember how many but it was a good amount of home runs hensley mulins oh baby oh hensley last names

hensley mulins he was supposed to be amazing and didn't do shit oh hensley Hensley. Two last names. Jesus. Hensley Mulins. He was supposed to be amazing and didn't do shit. Oh, Hensley. Hensley Mulins broke my fucking heart, man. Hensley, you broke my heart, Hensley Mulins. Pitching quickly, you got Greg Catteray, who sucked ass. Pascual Perez,

who we kept waiting for to not be injured anymore, and then he barely pitched and he was gone again. I don't know. Mike Witt, Jeff Robinson, Lee Guterman. Oh, God, these pitchers suck. Andy Hawkins, who threw a no-hitter and lost. Mark Leiter. Not Al Leiter, Mark Leiter.

Tim Leary, who must have dropped a bunch of acid, and that's why he pitches so poorly. I'm not sure. Anyway. This is a bad lineup. It's not good. That's why they were up poorly. I'm not sure. Anyway. This is a bad lineup. It's not good. That's why they were 67-95 that year. There's no star.

I mean, obviously, you've got Mattingly. But he was injured all the time. Yeah. There's no star. It's bad. It's not bad. It's not good, dude. It's not a good team.

And I sat there watching the whole thing going, maybe it'll get better. Never got better. Never got better. So that's about as much real sports as we'll talk in this one i just had to that's some uh if you grew up if you grew up in that era in new york you're you you were very sad too and all of those names bring both the the twang of nostalgia and also pain to your heart at all at once can't help it he had hensley mulins baby hurting hensley jesus christ the whole group of them there's not not and mattingly then too at the end is that that's the end no no that's the middle he just had a bad back injury you know that was out of his peak he didn't have like anything big after

that no 84 to 89 is his peak where he hit fucking 300 plus every year and led the league in doubles and did all that shit even tons of homers and then he hurt his back really fucking bad and this is the time where like 90 91 he's just all fucked up and then after that he's good sometimes but he has like a different stance every day he has to mattingly begins after this point just doing whatever stance doesn't hurt that day oh no literally you'll see him one day because he had a very particular stance and he'd explode on the ball like a he looked like a snake that was gonna that was pouncing on something like yeah and he'd just strike and uh after that though he would sometimes

his back would be all stiff in the box sometimes he'd be standing up leaning back you're like what the fuck is this stance who is this guy that's what hurt the least amount that day fascinating but he went out and played anyway i mean that's nobody played through that shit now they would sit down if they can't get into their stance it'd be like hurts to get in my stance and they'd sit the fuck down till they got better about it yeah but he wanted to play and so he is so that's why i like mattingly and also i like mattingly because he was a pain in the ass to management he was always arguing with steinbrenner about the length of his hair about his contract shit like that you know sideburns stuff like that they'd. It was fun. So the bat twirl that Learitz does, every at bat, every ball that's pitched, he'll back

out of the box and he'll do this little bat twirl. He'll hold the ball in the middle and kind of twirl it like a baton. Yeah. Does it every goddamn pitch. So it annoys people that don't like him, obviously. Yeah. He says the bat twirl, I picked that up watching Mickey Rivers, who is a fucking great old Yankee center fielder from the 70s, and he played a bunch of places.

He said watching the ball into the glove, Pete Rose did that, and I've always done it, watching the pitch go into the glove if he takes it, like watching the ball the whole way. And Mattingly used to do that too. He would get his face like three inches from the ball watching it. It was almost like I looked at it closer than you, Wump. So if I didn't swing at it, it's not a strike. And psychologically, I think it worked.

I really do. Mattingly did not strike out a lot. So maybe that's what it was. So he said, quote, I know it bothers people. When I first came up, guys got all over me from other dugouts. I think it's why i've got hit by 13 pitches my first year that's a lot and one in the first year but i've been doing it for four years this is later and i think i've been accepted now and that's a nice

feeling okay he talks about later on uh he'll be on opiate anthony and he'll bring up in like 2006 he'll talk about using greenies which we discussed discussed in detail in the Doc Ellis episode here. Was it Dexamil? Was that the name of it? Yeah, and something else with amine at the end. Yeah, so that's the speed is what the players were taking. Dexamil was the brand, right? Yeah, that was the name of the actual drug that was being made.

So Jim Laird said, quote, I can remember my first amphetamine. Oh, boy, that was the name of the actual drug that was being made. So Jim Lear, it said, quote, I can remember my first amphetamine. Oh, boy. That sounds. Doesn't that sound. That sounds like I can remember my first kiss or I can remember like, you know, I remember my first blowjob. My first hayride. My first amphetamine. I remember my first amphetamine.

Oh, it was a gorgeous night sitting down with my mom and my dad and my brothers and sisters, watching the fireworks on the 4th of July and, you know. My first amphetamine. Eating some corn on the cob and a burger off the grill that my dad whipped up. Fascinating sentence, Jim. Then we all took a bunch of speed and really tripped out on those fucking fireworks, buddy. I'll tell you what. It was something.

He said, quote, I was out all night drinking with Andy Hawkins and some of the guys on the team. I was a young player. This is 1990. This is rookie year. He said, I came in. I was hungover, sleeping by my locker. Not good as a rookie. You don't want to be sleeping in the locker room as a rookie.

That makes you look bad all of a sudden don mattingly comes up to me and said hey you're in the lineup like hey dumb shit motherfucker which normally honestly a lot of guys wouldn't tell a rookie that they'd let him get in trouble but mattingly that was actually a nice move to go hey brother you're in the lineup you better like you know chop chop get in the shower or something he said i went what and he goes yeah i just hurt my back so that's why mattingly hurt his back so he goes you're putting you in the lineup this actually isn't true though because in this game that he's talking about mattingly played first base and he played third base so he's mixed up on on those things perhaps it's the amphetamines james well it's the amphetamines and all the days

probably blend together also in these games and some other time mattingly came up to him and said hey you're in the lineup i just hurt my back and he was like oh shit but not the first time he took isn't it fun when a guy that that tells you an amazing story about his first this is why i remember it because don mattingly told me that i'm taking his spot but we can check that jim and we examine it and we go no you're completely fucking you're all fucked up on this jim perhaps you were taking amphetamines before and you this is also people's memories suck everyone just because you could see you know all of us we can see it in our head happening that doesn't mean it happened your brain does shit that you don't understand you can't just because

you don't know you forgot doesn't mean you forgot that's the thing and we all do that that's why there's something called the mandela effect which is just i'm delusional and i think that my memory is better than rather than the you know, my memory being wrong. I think there's an alternate parallel universe where where other things happen. Yeah. Where the fucking Raisin Bran son had sunglasses. I know that because I've seen it. So I know it was real. I know the Sinbad was in the Genie movie and all that. No, you don't. You'd actually you don't.

And it's a it becomes like a joke where people are like i i totally know i saw it stop doing that that's what stop no one's laughing it's just annoying where i saw it and you're ruining reality for everyone else please stop you didn't see it not that our listeners do that but pass that on to anyone who you might do this in your life because our listeners are too smart for that yes they know so he said now i'm walking around going i don't know how i'm gonna do this there's no way that i can go play this game today i ran into my teammate who knew i had some of the uh little helpers as they called them he said who i knew had some of the little helpers he said take one of these it should help it'll take the edge off.

So sure enough, I took one. And he goes, okay, you can take two, but no more than two. So I popped one more. And I went out and went three for four with two homers. Holy shit. They work. Yeah. So they get you.

That's why. Remember I said in the Doc Ellis episode, afternoon games are the reason why amphetamines are in baseball. Guys are drunk and they have to be able to hit a baseball in the sun when it's 92 degrees at one o'clock in the afternoon the next day yeah not good will clark will those sunglasses because he was drunk he was drunk and want you to see it so apparently this game that he's referencing they they did some research it's june 30th 1990 against the white socks he went three for five with two home runs and four rbi so he was right about that he did it but mattingly was playing

first base so that wasn't right there so um other times too i didn't know they did this jason grimsley later on when he was testifying i think before congress and doing the mitchell report stuff he said that um uh they would some teams would add this shit to add the greenies to coffee and there would be coffee and it would be marked let it or unleaded for if it has greenies in it or not and uh yeah that's that's how that worked and um he said this is layer it's quote that's usually where the greenies came in handy after a good night out we had mcdonald's and a greenie and we were good for nine innings holy shit man yeah that's not what guys do now in baseball there's they go out and shit but they

have night games and they're all you know they have like they're staggered and these teams to have some fun these teams also prepare like healthy meals for them they know that's what they're eating they're young guys they might not they might go they're gonna go out and eat mcdonald's if we let them let's put food out but some of the teams are doing that as late as i can like you know 90s 2000s i know really yeah rod beck when he was playing for the cubs he said they were so fucking cheap. They'd have, on day games, you'd come in in the morning and they would just have like

a big pile of McDonald's there. They just have like a bunch of Egg McMuffins and shit that you could have like cold and sitting on the table. And they're like, what the fuck is that? Whereas he said like the Red Sox

and the Giants would have like, you know, steak and eggs and shit. Like, yeah, whatever. Yeah, really good food. And after the game, there'd be seafood and shit. And like, you know. Oh. Yeah. So the Cubs would give you like, the Cubs, it good food, and after the game, there'd be seafood and shit. And, like, you know. Oh.

Yeah. So the Cubs would give you, like. What a life. Yeah, the Cubs, it was like. He goes, it might as well have been wax paper sandwiches, like a fucking lunchbox from the 60s. It was really weird. They were so fucking cheap. Well, they were so cheap, they made the president buy a ball to get an autograph from Sammy Sosa.

Is that right? Yeah, the goddamn equipment guy wouldn't give him a ball unless somebody coughed up five bucks. That's how cheap the Cubs are. It was 98 season and Bill Clinton came in the locker room to meet Sammy Sosa and everybody and all that shit. And yeah, he said, hey, can I have a ball? And they made a Secret Service guy dig in his pocket and find five dollars

to get a fuck for these balls they wanted. It's crazy. It's policy, sir. It's wild, man. The players, too. They'd have to, like, if they were given away, like, jerseys, they'd have to pay for them. That shit would come out of their salary on the Cubs. Shit.

It's wild. Whereas other teams, they'd, you know, there you go. Who gives a shit? Yeah. They didn't care. It's a write-off. Yeah. The Cubs, he said, just were very cheap back then.

So Jim this year plays in 92 games. Pretty good for a rookie. That's damn fine, actually. 339 plate appearances. And he hits.257, five homers, 25 RBIs. And he plays a little third, a little first, a little outfield, catches now and then. He's a good, versatile guy to have. Yeah, somebody needs a day off, you can plug him in there.

And he's useful. He's useful, exactly. No, he's good to have around. Makes $100,000 that year. Not bad. Yeah, 1990, damn good salary. 1990, not for baseball. No.

Compared to everybody else back then, it was great, but not for baseball. 91, Yankees, still terrible. 71 and 91 this year. Not good under old St merrill jesus christ the man's name is stump um so at this point too his dad is like he bought a satellite dish when jim made the major so he could see every one of his games and he tapes them all and watches them and then like can tell jim what he's doing wrong so he uh jim said quote he sits down in the basement probably until two or three in the morning watching tapes he probably knows me best of

anybody he watches more tape than i do than him than the coaches than anybody uh it's fucking crazy this year jim only plays in 32 games has 91 plate appearances hits 182 with no homers for rbi they really what kind of happened they don't really put him in very much that year. He's not really in that much. He makes 135 grand, though. Okay. And he's a Yankee, technically, so that's good. 92, 76, and 86.

Still bad. Yeah. Goddamn, this was painful as a child. Oh, fuck. If you don't know when Crystal Pepsi was discontinued, what was in Al Capone's vault, or which famous meteorologist is Lenny Kravitz's second cousin, then you haven't spent enough time on Wikipedia.

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Well, this is the first year of Buck Showalter. So at least there's a direction they're going in after this. Buck brought them 20 more wins. Yeah, at least there's a, like I said, you feel like, okay, they've acquired people. There's a direction. After this, they got like Paul O'Neill and a couple of pieces that were really good. Bernie Williams came up now. And, you know, he came up earlier in 91, I want to say.

So anyway, this year, though, 76 and 86, this is the thing about Leiritz. His attitude really becomes a problem. They always say that he's just he's always there's a lot of like little unwritten rules of baseball. He breaks based on his cockiness and shit like that. Leiritz says, quote quote there aren't many guys this is he said this later there aren't many guys around who there aren't many guys who would still be around if they'd done some of the things i've done it's very rewarding it's one of those things that a lot of people would like to say they did i did it my way and it worked i go home smiling

every night because of that that's fine problem with that is when you're not exactly what somebody wants anymore when you start when you lose 10 of your abilities that nobody wants you around anymore yeah that's the problem whereas the guys who everybody likes harder to cut that guy you know what i'm saying and a guy that's got uh 10 to spare too you know what i mean yeah if you're really good and you and you've got and you're likable uh yeah you know i mean yeah if you're really good and you and you've got and you're likable uh yeah you know i mean that's fantastic that's what you want it to be many guys have made teams and not been cut and stayed around the league a couple extra years because they're quote good for the clubhouse the good clubhouse guy he's a he's practically a coach on the field and

he talks to the young guys and he you know there's always a role sometimes for guys like that so but not if you're an asshole that's the problem yeah if you're a jerk and you're losing a step that it's so easy to get rid of you that's what it is well he in 1991 he was down in columbus for a little while and he was actually suspended quote because of his attitude so he was such a dick they like he coming back down to the minors he couldn't handle it apparently it seems like so he had a real fucking big league attitude with everybody and they were like hey chief you got to carry your bag and ride the bus like the rest of us asshole i don't know who you think you are for it yep um he would say that publicly that he needs when he's on the yankees he should be playing more this is when he said like they let gary sheffield play and look what he's doing well hang in there gary sheffield will get better too you've seen gary sheffield

swing a bat man it's wild like yeah watch him slap that thing back and forth with his wrists and then take a cut and then tell me you can do that too i don't think that's a solid fucking man too that's a lot of man that is his swing is just fucking brutal it was beautiful to watch because it's it's absolute brutality i mean he's whipping that bat around with the strong ass wrists and then just taking a cut you gotta love gary sheffield on the field he's great so he says though he doesn't apologize for shit but he says his attitude is better now. He's becoming more team oriented because he got a new agent and he thanks his new agent for helping him clear his head.

Oh, yeah. His agent said, hey, if you want to play, you should probably not be a dick. And that guy has interest in you playing because that makes him money. Exactly. The other thing is his stupid little hip shake when he digs into the box too he does this little hip shake he he thinks he's hot shit this guy it's it's pretty fucking funny here it's it's ridiculous but he says though it's all because he idolized pete rose he said quote i wanted to be like him ever since the first day i saw him play

he didn't have much talent but he made himself a great player i just loved everything about him people called him a hot dog but look at the way he played always 110 to me that's the way you should play part of the problem with baseball is that is that people get too caught up in the little things that shouldn't matter the things i do uh i don't do them to show anybody up or to be a hot dog that's just my style i hate that he keeps using that word hot dog be a hot dog he said once you get termed being uncoachable it's going to hurt you i did things my own way and had success with it i'd grown up watching rose and ken griffey and the way they went about hitting ken griffey senior he's talking about i didn't go along with some things hitting coaches wanted me to do and that might have gotten me into trouble so i would say so um but uh show walter also said at the time just looking at him

a guy who could catch and swing the bat as well as he did i couldn't believe he was a guy who'd gone unnoticed he's like buck wanted him on the team there he said that uh show walter would he said that he understood that layer it's turned people off and, you know, kind of pissed him off a little bit. He said, quote, I don't think there's anything malicious about Jimmy. He's not an asshole, but he's an asshole. Not on purpose. And he's never shied away from the ramifications of anything he's said or done. The only thing I've ever tried to get across to Jimmy is to make sure he looks at the big picture.

I know he's made an effort to approach things professionally with some more maturity now. So he's good now. He's good now. Yeah. Gonna do it here. He said at the time later, it's about it. Quote, I had some blowouts with teammates.

I felt pretty much alienated from the whole team. When I got sent back to Columbus that year, it was the best thing that could have happened even though he got suspended because of his attitude that's weird he said i'm sure those guys never expected to see me again but by september i was back and it and it had gotten better from there so he said that uh yeah he compared his situation to that of garyffield, saying that if he were freed from the Yankees the way Sheffield was from the Brewers, the result might be similar. So Sheffield ended up going somewhere else. Where did he go? San Diego. Yeah.

So he's saying if the Yankees just let me go, I'd obviously slide right into a starting spot for somebody and probably hit 40 home runs, I assume, right? Send me somewhere else and let me thrive. Yeah, Jesus Christ. He said, quote, I knew some things I've said would get me into trouble, but I didn't want to be 40 years old and feel like I hadn't done everything possible to make sure I'd gotten a chance. Some things I said were designed to get the Yankees to do something. Rather than trade him, they just send him down, though.

That's the thing. They don't care that much. That year, 92, he plays in 63 games, hits 257, seven home runs. So a little better. He makes $126,500. I had no idea Jim Laris was so low paid. Yeah. In his whole career, we'll get to the total at the end, but it's not a lot if you consider a baseball player through this era.

And the name. I mean, if you've watched baseball in this era, you know his fucking name. You know who that guy is. Oh, yeah. He's around. A baseball household name. He was around everywhere. He played on World Series games quite a bit.

That's why he was on big stages. Nothing. Now, he ends up with a woman named Carrie. He's married and then divorced here from somebody in this in this beginning period and then he ends up with a woman named carrie k-a-r-r-i and uh they're gonna go through a bunch of shit here they uh were she said that they were both in quote when we met we weren't the happiest people in the world we were both in marriages where the other spouse didn't want children and we we've been lucky with Austin and Dakota. That's the kids they have.

He doesn't name the kids juniors, but he names them all like Western places. Austin, Dakota, and later on he'll have Phoenix. Austin, Dakota, and Phoenix are his kids' names. Yes. What the fuck? Likes Western shit. They met at a country Western place. He was at a country bar in Fort Lauderdale.

Oh, God. A country Western bar in fucking Fort Lauderdale? If anybody ever wants to kidnap and torture me, kidnap me. Take me directly to Fort Lauderdale and make me go into a country bar in Fort Lauderdale. Listen to Toby Keith. I will find something to cut my wrists with. I promise you that. I will bleed out in that motherfucker before the end of the first song.

It's happening. He loves it, obviously, because he's smiling enough to make somebody else impressed. He said later on, they still dance to John Michael Montgomery's I Love the Way You Love Me, which was their wedding song. Oh, Christ. It's a good country ballad, James. Oh, Jesus Christ. And she thinks, though, the kids soften Jim up and he's a different guy. He's a different guy, Jimmy.

It's all good. He's good now. I love John Michael Montgomery. Oh, God. I don't like that name. That just sounds like a hillbilly to me. John Michael Montgomery. Oh, God. I don't like that name. That just sounds like a hillbilly to me. John Michael Montgomery. No, thank you.

His brother is the guy in Montgomery Gentry. And Gentry's dead. Gentry died in a helicopter crash. Oh, Jesus. Sounds like he wears a big hat. He does. He's a big fucking guy with a big fucking hat. If you wear a big hat, you're not allowed to die in a helicopter crash.

You have to travel by grain thresher. That's how you have to travel. I'm sorry. You have to die in a tractor explosion. That's the only way I'll accept it. You can't have a big, giant, dumb cowboy hat on and then be like, I'm traveling by helicopter. No, you're not. No, you're not, cowboy.

Don't you have a herd to drive? What the fuck are you talking about gentry wasn't that guy gentry was the was the little guy that he looked like the the dark-haired guy from uh from uh from sigfried and roy no hat no hat none at all i never saw that guy wearing a montgomery wore the hat these are the big hat. I'm wearing a big hat. You wear no hat. That's our band. Huh?

I want to wear a hat, too. Nope. Nope. It's just me. I'm wearing enough hat for both of us, okay? That's what happened. Enough hat for the two of us right here. That's what happened.

But also Montgomery's bald, so he has to wear a big fucking hat to cover up his stupid head. And it's not like bald on purpose that's that's that's nature babe it's just not going well up there huh not good at all not good jesus so uh 93 yankees 88 and 74 getting better getting better um buck show walter helped turning it around. The Jim Leyritz plays in 95 games, which that's solid right there. Really? Has 259 at-bats.

Hits.309 with 14 homers, 53 RBI. So that's a good off-the-bench year right there. Not bad at all. Good shit. What do you make? $152,000. Some upper management salary for that. That's crazy. That's amazing.

Yeah, for him, 14 home runs in the major leagues in Yankee Stadium. Yeah, paid the same as a guy that has like four QTs that he checks on every week. Or just some corporate middle manager back then. Fuck, that's rough. Somebody that harps on four managers for their reports every week. All the time. But he'll get a little bit more next year. He'll get a little bump because he's assigned a major league contract

as opposed to this minor league deal he's got where he's kind of got prorated when he goes up and down. 94 Yankees. This is the strike this is the strike shortened year by the way right this year they were 70 and 43 oh god it was going so great they were in first place in the al east shit this was the first time i ever remember this being a thing since i was alive so i was very mad when they went on strike they're finally fucking good and they're on strike now i was so fucking mad them and the expos were the best in the national league think about that yeah absolutely so they they were yankees were good this year on the way up uh he's plays in 75 games which i mean you know that's a lot of them anyway. 75 games, hits.265 with 17 home runs, 58 RBI.

So that's something there. Makes $742,500 that year. How did he manage that? That's a weird contract. Major League deal. Oh, so it's a new one. Yeah, it's a new deal. It's not like the end of his salary.

No, balloon payment. The old balloon payment. 95 Yankees, 79-65-1. They finished second, but they go to the playoffs on the wild card there and play the goddamn fucking Mariners that year. We'll get into that in a second. Jim that year plays in 77 games, hits 269, seven homers, 37 ribbies. So he's a solid off-the-bench guy.

In game two of the American League divisional series against seattle um leiritz hit a two run walk off home run in the 15th inning giving the yankees the win god it was pretty exhausting day yeah yeah that was when yankee fans were like who the fuck is this guy we love jim Lear. It's like, we knew who he was. He was around a few years, but made us like him. That was the one where Tim Belcher, the pitcher for the Mariners, was just fucking yelling at a

cameraman who was filming him walking through the tunnel to the clubhouse. He was like, you get the fuck out of my fucking... Yeah, he was screaming at him. It was like a wrestling promo with cursing. It was crazy. He gave up a two run walk off in the 15th. Nobody blames you. It's fine.

We just want to see what your face looks like in baseball. They don't ever have cameras there. And this was like, you know, the playoffs on Fox. We're going to have cameras, you know, up the coach's mother's ass and see what she thinks about it. Things like that. Yeah, that's what we're going to do. We're going to look around the hitting coach's colon and see why the team's only hitting.243 this series.

That's what's happening. So anyway, so Learitz is a big hero, but that's the year where Randy Johnson ends up closing that last game, and it's just a fucking nightmare. This is also Don Mattingly's last series, which is why he was retiring after this year. He's another guy. Came up when the Yankees sucked, played with them all the way up until now,

retired, they win the World Series the next year. I felt so bad for him. That was bad. And let Randy Johnson retire you. Yuck. I fucking hated that. That whole series was, it still makes me mad.

Anyway, Jim makes $1,350,000 this year. Wow, look at Jimmy. Doing better, Jimmy. Yeah. 96 Yankees, 92 and 70, first in their division. Not bad at all. Jimmy plays in 88 games, hits 264.

So the last three years, 265, 2695 269 264 okay that's what he hits uh seven home runs 40 ribbies this year in the uh the alds they play the rangers and win three to one that one is the one game i went to um of course are you bad luck for your favorite teams i went there that was the one game they lost to the rangers it was a shit game too it was a blowout that was when my friend parked we went late we were there late my friend had to we had to park like in the middle of the south bronx somewhere there was nowhere to park on the street and when the game finally got over and we hung out and we left and when we were walking out there's nobody on the street but us. And, you know, it's the South Bronx in 96, and we had a cop car pull up and say,

what the fuck are you two doing walking around? Then laugh and drive away. We had that happen to us. Did we get on the road? We were in a lot of trouble. Jesus, you're going to get killed in joy. Like, thanks. We'll be back to do the paperwork.

That's literally what it was. They laughed and drove away. This is perfect. This is a great night. James, I just realized I've been to so many sporting events rooting for a specific team, and I don't think I've ever seen my team win. No. Never happens.

Never happens. Never. I went to a World Series game in 2001. I think he's lost that one. The game and the series, so that was miserable but yeah it's good i've been to several broncos games here against the cardinals and they lose every time unreal right i don't know what what the fuck stop both of us need to stop and we know that you're the game yeah you've cursed the suns oh god they're never winning again if i show up if you try to go to a game seven i will break your legs in the future

you're not allowed to go you're not allowed to go to a game set like i want the security to have your picture up do not admit for game seven like we're sorry mr westman you're not allowed to come in here anymore on game set you can be here for game six yeah game one of the next series no problem game seven we're sorry head on down the block watch it on tv watch it from a bar you dumb shit we're taking your tickets from you no shit so uh the next series they win four to one over baltimore that's the one with the kid stealing the home run ball away and that made the rule of any outside interference, it's a home run.

That rule is from here. Jeffrey Meyer, I think his name was. That was the kid? I think that was the kid's name. Wow. But they won the series 4-1, so it's not like that was game seven. Right.

The Orioles only won one game of that series, so don't complain. Then they go on to beat the Braves in the World Series. They were down 0-2 and then won the next four. And I was so happy. That was great. Boy, were those Braves good. Jesus.

Yeah, they just couldn't win that fucking World Series, though. And that's the team that wanted to draft him, and then he got to get his revenge later. Well, in the series, the Yankees trailed the Braves 2- one games two games to one in game four and this was one if the braves won this game it was going to be three to one and it's yeah it's hard to come back you can pretty much call it uh you're pretty fucked at that point and it's in atlanta too so that wasn't good the yankees lost the first two at home and the yankees are down six nothing after five innings here oh god it looks bad i was watching this with my friends, and we were just getting real high, just being like, this is so, this sucks, man.

Well, at least they went to the World Series. We were at this point literally saying, this is the first time we've got to see the Yankees, all of us, go to the World Series. This is great. So cool. But then the Yankees got three runs in the sixth inning, and in the eighth inning, they brought on,

Atlanta had Mark W mark wallers who was their closer come in and uh two runners on one out two on jim layritz at the plate and layritz hit a fucking three run home run to tie the game it was wow it was a miracle jimmy it was a miracle we all jumped we're like holy shit they just fucking tied the game it was incredible it was a goddamn miracle did wallace go and get in his car after that pitch i believe he did no he just walked right off no that was to tie the game and um so that was a big deal and then the yankees won that game eight to six and ten innings to tie the series and then in game five he played because andy pett he was andy

pettit's personal catcher he always caught andy Pettit's game, and they ended up winning in six. I remember Charlie Hayes catching that last ball. It was beautiful. Anyway, he wins, and he makes that year $1,470,000. He's a hero. I went to the Yankee parade. He was a fucking hero. He was, I mean, it was like Jeter was a rookie that year.

It was Jeter, a couple of the big guys, and it was motherfucking Jim Leyritz. He comes to the front of a float. It was, hey, that guy who did it, yay. Jim Leyritz. Beloved. I mean, ticker tape falling on him. Well, three million people went to that parade, Jimmy. Three million people cheer you in the streets.

Grace. Grace. people went to that parade jimmy three million people cheer you in the streets grace grace that parade was like they just beat the germans in a fucking world war that's how crazy that parade was grace and jim had a sniper shot on hitler oh and he did it man took him right out dead between the eyes bullseye on hitler unbelievable right in the mustache he got him so that's grace now quick it's quickly downhill from here that we've set the scene december 5th 1996 he's traded by the yankees we were like what no they traded him i guess his value is never going to be higher so they traded him point yeah to the angels for a player to be named later. Just take him. We'll figure it out another time. We'll sort it out later.

Yeah. We'll figure it out. You'll give us somebody. I don't know. So, Jim, there are some people that are disappointed in New York. A few fans and a bunch of foster children, because Jim and his wife used to bring a bunch of foster children to see games at Yankee Stadium,

like orphans and you know sick kids and shit like that they'd have whole groups of them go into the stadium that he would pay for or whatever they were like his sponsorship or whatever so that was a big deal and so those kids I guess they were shit out of luck after that hopefully Bernie's got

a whoops for kids that nobody wants somebody who came in and hope Jorge Posada catcher hopefully will help out so 1997 uh then so he plays we'll talk about 97 he starts the year uh with anaheim but then in july at the deadline he's traded to texas so for ken hill the pitcher yeah um so there yeah you can go to texas and have all sorts of line dancing and people with multiple, you know, a lot of first and middle names singing songs to you. Randy Arthur Mecklenburg's big hits down there are going to be playing.

I'm convinced that everybody in country music does the same thing that comedians do and they just use their first and middle name as their first and last name. Probably. I'm pretty sure that's what it is. I'm sure it is. Them, you know, I'm sure porn guys do that. Yeah, they do it. Wrestlers do that sometimes, I believe.

So, anyway, that year, what is this, 97? He ends up, hit 277 for both teams, 11 home runs. Makes $1,916,972. Fantastic. Not bad. And then November 6, 1997, traded by the Rangers again. No. Another trade to the Red Sox for Mark Brandenburg, Bill Hasselman, and Aaron Seeley.

Aaron Seeley then became for Seattle. He pitched a lot. 1998, Boston. He strolls into Boston in 98 spring training like, I'm going to be the starting catcher this year, baby. I did it. This is my time. And there's this big article talking about, quote,

that attitude may have cost him his job. Really? So I guess he was told that year that basically you're going to be you're just going to be like a pinch hitter a designated hitter you know against lefties and things like that you might be an outfielder first baseman you're not going to catch very much this year right and he said about that quote i'm completely dumbfounded by the whole thing i thought i was coming in to get ready for April 1st, but I guess they still consider me a 19-year-old rookie and that I've got to win a job. There's probably still a few teams out there that think I can catch.

You've got a job, though. Yeah, and every spring training, they talk about, if you read old guys' books, all they talk about is every spring, there's a bunch of kids in there trying to take your job. So you've got to fight for it, and you've got to show that that's your job, and you've got to win the job every fucking year. Unless you're a Hall of Famer. Ken Griffey Jr. in 1998 doesn't have to win his job. You know he's starting in left field because he's going to be better than everybody. Jim Lear wants to make a team.

He's never been a starter in his whole career. So you want to start, you you got to show them you can start but he doesn't want to do that also griffey can pack on pounds and still keep his job that's the other thing oh yeah he's yeah he just looked like he could on this bench and look is he eating in there what's happening it looks like he's eating he's just got nachos and a hot dog does he have a dozen donuts sitting on the bench next to his nachos oh no they're just the little the little entomans white ones that's what he's got just a little sleeve of them you will be glad to know that the concentrate of of mlb whatever talent that he had running through his veins has completely dissipated with the ingestion of all that shitty food because his son was an

awful athlete. Well, I mean, Hey, it's not just his genetics, you know, good point. Yeah.

He might've went for something, but he might not have really scoped it. How athletic are you? When he was looking for a wife, you know, what do you got here? Let's see you take a cut with this bat. Trey didn't even

play baseball he went to football and then he was awful undrafted and he signed with three teams that never played him ever that's hilarious didn't work out for him no so uh the they said jason veritech was coming in that's what the manager said they liked jason veritech and they wanted him to be a catcher and veritechk, good catcher. Holy shit, he's so good. A little story, by the way. Varitek, when he came in, wore number 47. And then the next year, 1999, the Red Sox got Rod Beck, and Beck always wore. Rod always wore 47.

So Varitek, being a second-year guy, said, hey, take 47. I'm not attached to it. You take it. It's your number, and gave it to him. I apologize. I'm sitting in your seat. Yeah. A guy like that, that's a guy that you – a catcher who's like, hey, pitcher, take my number.

I just want to be on the team. That's going to win out over attitude of, they're treating me like I'm 19 and I've got to win a job. Fuck these people. Who do you want if all else is equal? 39 for all I care. I don't give a win a job fuck these people who do you want if they're all else is equal 39 for all i care i don't give a shit yeah that's the guy you want all else is equal what the fuck do you care you know it's just the way it is so june 20th 1998 they trade jim and his attitude away again and this happens every year he gets he's like a trade deadline guy and he's traded by the red socks with oh, oh, my God, is that guy's name real?

Holy shit. I'm going to say Ethan Faget, we'll call him. Oh, no. Let's call him Faget. Let's call him Faget about it. F-A-G-G-E-T-T. I can't. No.

That's Faget. We're going Faget on that one. Ethan Faget. That's Ethan. That's who he is. Hey. No. That's forget. We're going forget on that one. Ethan forget. That's Ethan. That's who he is. Hey, wow. What do you think people chanted at him all through the these little minor league parks with people drunk in them?

Oh, boy. Is he? They've shipped him to Boston to traded by Boston. So he was he he gets traded to San Diego. He's a minor. He played in Boston. Yeah, he's a minor played in boston though yeah he's a minor leaguer um that year jim hits 276 12 home runs fucking 42 ribbies and 114 games i mean he's not bad yeah but he's a pain in the ass they don't like him uh makes two million dollars though

that year wow not bad 1999 starts the year with san diego and then july 31st the trade deadline 1999 he's traded by san diego to where the yankees again he went home to die yeah that steinbrenner will always take back a lost dog that he let out of the yard at one point always taken yeah and especially if they had a moment in yankee history that matters welcome there always that's what it is that's the same thing uh david cone after he was he was done and he went and pitched for the red socks for a year he had like a fucking 10 era he was like he was terrible he was done i mean it was no one wanted him but the yankees signed him to a one year 10 million dollar contract even though he was no onekees signed him to a one-year $10 million contract. $10 million?

No one would even sign him to a minor league deal, and they signed him to a $10 million deal, and they said it was, quote, for services rendered. They don't care if he throws an inning this year. He was underpaid when he threw a perfect game back in 98 or whatever, but that's a PR moment, and everybody likes having David Cohn back, and there you go. So 99 season for the Padres and Yankees. This kind of sucks for him because, well, 98 season, he finished out the year with the Padres,

which was the year the Yankees beat the hell out of the Padres and swept them in the World Series. So, he got beat up by the Yankees, and then he got to go back to the Yankees here for the 99 season, where they'll beat up the Braves in the World Series that year, the Yankees. So anyway, he hits 235 with, what is this, eight home runs, 26 rubies in 1999. $1.9 million he makes. Jesus.

Not bad. June 20th, 2000, traded by the Yankees again for Jose Vizcaíno and some cash to the Dodgers. Oh, dear Lord. So this year he ends up hitting.209 with two homers, 12 RBI. He has a shoulder injury that's going to bother him forever here now. Baseball's got to be exhausting, too. Playing for San Diego, being traded, and fly all the way the fuck across the country. Then them trade you, and you fly right the fuck back.

Yep, going back the other direction, back to California with all your shit. Then he'll never play another major league game after that. It's over. It's over with. He hit.264. Remember? What did we say? That's what he hits.

hit 264 remember what do we say is that's what he hits he's a 264 hitter with 90 homers 387 rbi in a grand total of 903 games so makes a million dollars that year all together he made about 10.8 million dollars in his career too so a great player makes that in about a month and a half now so that's uh holy shit that's Cohn got that for doing nothing. For doing. For one season. One season of doing Ugots. And it was this season, too. I think it was 2001 or two, as a matter of fact.

He had a little tear coming out of Lairitz's eye. I had to do my whole career for that? Did you have one ring or two rings? Lairitz, I want to say, where is this? 2000? No, not the Yankeeses it depends on if they gave him another ring for the being on the team for being on the 2000 he was on the yankee team and they could choose they could vote to give him a ring from the beginning of the season so he might

have to um oh wait no he was on the wait a second he's on the 99 yankees so he has that he definitely has to 96 and 99 forgot all about that and then possibly 2000 if they decided to so i know that he has a 99 ring because there's some dispute over it later so uh after this he signs with the newark bears of the independent league atlantic league this a lot of guys went through ricky henderson was on this team jose canseco was i remember they did like a real sports thing on it because there's like you know three major league players playing on this team all at the same time all the same time yeah we talked about canseco being on it uh he ends up signing with the padres who assigned him to triple a he never got called up to the majors that year and he's done 2002 his problems really begin this is it's

literally the instant he's out of baseball he can't hold it together that being at the park every day center of your universe have to stay in shape for march to get going and all that shit once that goes some of these guys just i would say james that it was probably all his packing and moving packing and unpacking. That's what did it for him. Yeah, definitely. Once he stops packing and unpacking, then the problem starts. Starts fucking off here. Well, he drives on a suspended license.

He's always got tickets and problems and suspensions and all this type of shit. So he gets caught for driving on a suspended license in June of 2002 in Florida. This is also he was speeding at that point as well so he's speeding with a suspended license so that's not smart 2003 he wants to make a comeback with the yankees oh i believe they offered him an old timers day spot because he was retired for a couple years and he said no no no i want to come to spring training and he tried to make a comeback for the yankees and it didn't work out and he ended up not playing for them and you go why would this guy he's been playing for newark the last couple years so he thinks he's still got it and uh but i mean why be this much

of a push why because i think he might need the money because he is in the middle of a really fucking contentious divorce i mean oh we're gonna hear all about this crazy shit oh my god these two what do you think he's got left probably a million of it after taxes i'll tell you exactly what he's got left if you yeah he's i got his trust me it's all right it's all here so this this is a mess this whole thing there's a they're fighting over custody they're fighting with each other there they go to a counselor and the counselor tells the court that neither of them are ideal parents. They're both fucking fuck-ups. Oh, no.

They're both. It's wild, man. And by now, it's the three kids? Yeah, there's three kids here. They talk about all these instances of him verbally abusing her, even in public before. At one point, I guess, when they were fighting, he left in 2002 and took her Beanie Baby collection. He stole her Beanie Baby. I don't know if it's stole, but he took her Beanie Baby collection.

That's going to end up being adjudicated later on. A judge is going to have to sit there and talk about Beanie Babies, Jimmy. This is how crazy this is. I'll take her Beanie Baby. She thinks they're worth so much. In 2002, that craze was over, too, wasn't it? Yeah. I mean, he's like, I'll still take that Diana bear.

That's important to her. Independence Day bear. It's important to her. That Independence Day bear. It's important to her. I'm taking it. John Michael Montgomery bear. Oh, I got to have that one. Got to have that. The problem is you got to make sure not to lose the giant hat. It's worth nothing without the giant hat.

Not worth a fucking thing without that hat, Jimmy. So he makes off with her beanie baby collection while in the middle of a divorce he filed for divorce claiming that she was a drug addict who neglected their three children that's his claim in court records so i figured i better take the beanie babies so snort them yeah so she doesn't neglect them too you know how it goes she'll snort them yeah so she doesn't neglect them too you know how it goes she'll she'll break those little balls in there down and snort them right up she's gonna lose the hat oh man he would call her all the time during the divorce proceedings and leave her nasty voicemails there's they played voicemails in court of her call of him screaming at her on a voicemail calling her a whore and a slut and all this shit in the court papers i was like oh no this is so fucking bad

uh according to the court documents quote he repeatedly threatens the wife that he says that he intends on having her arrested and that he has no intention of supporting her or the children. In 2003, in August 2003, Carrie fled the home with their children due to domestic violence. She left with only what she could fit in her Chevy Suburban truck. Wow. Had to flee. You could fit a lot in there. You could fit a one-bedroom apartment in there, but still, it's not all of her stuff. So they said, quote,

the rest of the stuff he held on to and wouldn't turn over, noting her clothing, stamp collection, and more than 800 Beanie Babies were among them. I want my stamps and Beanie Babies back. She's 19. Why is she? She's fucking 30, and he's, I mean, at this point this point christ almighty he should be a little bit well she's like 35 and he's she's like a 12 year old girl i have beanie babies and stamps a nine-year-old boy not a 12 year old girl a nine-year-old boy she's like 19 and that's like

the things that she collected the last four years god damn it oh my god she gets an order of protection against jim in september of 2003 but that october she said she was confronted by him when he attempted to hand her to hand over court documents she told him he was violating an order of protection and then he went into a rage apparently according to the court documents. So then days later, they crossed paths again, and he cursed at her before walking away, according to the court documents. So eventually, Jim wins custody of the children, eventually, which is interesting. Yeah, in the divorce papers here, he claimed that nearly all of his money had disappeared because of exorbitant taxes and a shady financial advisor. That's what he said. Oh, no.

But as I quote this article, quote, the glimpse into Leiritz's 2003 financial records shows he spent large amounts of money on alcohol, swank clubs, and ritzy hotels in Florida, New York, and beyond. He was traveling. He's just pissing his money away, yeah. Quote, the former catcher also struck out on his finances, watching more than $10 million he earned over 11 years in the majors shrink to about $600,000, the record says. By 2003, he had $600,000 left. Oh, my God.

That's what he had. And 600 Beanie Babies. And 800 Beanie Babies. And 800 Beanie Babies. If only they were worth a dollar apiece, he'd be styling. I mean, $1,000 apiece, a dollar apiece. So, yeah, I mean, he's 40 years old, and he's got 600 grand. So he's got to consider, what am I going to do with my life here? I've got to get a job, especially if he wants to go around in swanky clubs and shit.

That's not going to last long. So they say the financial records from August 2003 to December 2003, they talk about a two-week trip to New York in October. He dropped thousands of dollars at the China Club, Taos, Elanes, and other night spots.

He also spent more than $3,000 at the Shelburne murray hill hotel oh my god in florida he blew through hundreds of dollars at liquor stores including fine spirits in cooper city one day in august he spent 256 dollars and 23 cents on alcohol he returned two days later to buy an additional 169.53 worth of booze wow that's so much booze that's a lot of booze because that's not in like a bar that's like buying a liquor store yeah that's so much it's not a bar you can get a bottle for you know whatever i mean if he drinks like top shelf shit it's not that it could be not that much but in the florida heat man that's just bad in a bar though you can drink that much booze and you're drunk but you aren't like

dead you know what i mean yeah yeah drink good good stuff you could put uh two hundred dollars on a bill in a second no this 256 dollars even if you're buying really good scotch that's like you know three bottles of it that's yeah that's a lot that's a lot it's not bad um so during these counseling sessions that him and his wife went on he told the counselor uh joy yaffa who's a point court appointed therapist quote my child my life is my children i've had my fun now they're more important to me okay that's all it is uh he the this yaffa recommended that layritz gained primary custody of his sons and said that they did say that his transition

from athlete to non-athlete has not been easy for him. Talking about his salary has shrank to about $40,000 a year in his first few years of retirement. Mostly from autograph signings and appearances. Yankee shit. He's going to Yankee shit.

You know, heroes of thekee shit, you know, heroes of the 96 team. And you know, it'll be him standing there next to him. Yeah. Him and Bucky Den are going to stand there and sign your autographs because they both hit big home runs. So that's what he's making.

Oh God. Uh, she Yafa wrote quote, Mr. Layerts is individual issues centered around being able to cope with life transitions and adjusting to life without baseball commitment to traditional family lifestyle continued to be a major source of frustration i would say so um he admitted to drinking six days a week usually when he was playing and using amphetamines obviously

also hgh obviously clearly and uh he said he tried to cut back on the booze after he retired in 2000. Yeah, you can't change your entire lifestyle. I don't play ball anymore. I don't do booze anymore. It's really hard to do that. But he said that that was the big point of contention during the custody hearings or how much he drinks and all that kind of shit.

He also has a live-in girlfriend at this time. watch he drinks and all that kind of shit he also has a live-in girlfriend at this time um that's not gonna last long when you have no money not a lot no live-in girlfriends and ex-wives this counselor wrote quote mr leiritz explained that during baseball season many players including himself took amphetamines and would go out and drink alcohol to quote come down from the amphetamines yeah that happens mr leirich stated that during the off season he used to smoke marijuana once or twice two times per month well that doesn't really matter twice a month you're smoking weed i don't care how about your everyday speed use yeah and six days a week of drinking is a little worse so uh yafa recommended that carrie be referred to a substance abuse program also because court papers filed in the divorce here said that Carrie obtained 930 pills of Adderall, 930 pills prescribed by five different doctors.

So she's doctor shopping. Yeah, doctor shopping. One of whom was a podiatrist a podiatrist they can they can write adderall yeah they can write a script for anything but usually you know your your attention deficit doesn't have anything to do with your feet maybe she's got those uh happy feet yeah leg shit i was gonna say maybe she can't concentrate because her feet just keep dancing she can't stop the dancing and they're like restless leg shit. I was going to say, maybe she can't concentrate because her feet just keep dancing. She can't stop the dancing.

And they're like, listen, get some Adderall and control those feet. She's got so much John Michael Montgomery playing in her head. Yeah, can't help it. I'm line dancing, standing here. I'm electric sliding in the fucking grocery store. I can't do it. Doctor just looks over this clipboard with his glasses. He's like, you have happy feet, ma'am.

I'm sorry. That's terrible. We're going to have to subscribe. Here, you're going to have to prescribe you some Adderall for that. Jesus. Credit card records submitted in the divorce show that Leiritz spent thousands at South Florida nightclubs during a four-month period in 2003. In the last six months of 2002, he had $600,000 left. He also was constantly getting tickets and then not paying them.

His license was suspended four times in this era, by the way. Four different suspensions. It's a fucking mess. suspensions um it's a fucking mess uh one guy here uh lawyer talks about how um the or no no he's a psychiatrist or psychologist i apologize jack singer he talks about how he's treated former pro athletes who sank into drug use and depression he said the big problems tend to be anger and stress because they're not being treated like the gods that they're used to. Soon you have these angry, out-of-control guys who self-medicate to get back into control. It can be dangerous if they don't seek help. Yeah.

They'd have all these arguments, him and his wife. At one point they were fighting in bars and restaurants and all this type of shit. Everybody knew he was screaming at her in public saying crazy shit. Also, he, I guess, a witness to one of the couple's arguments told police that Leiritz punched a man in a Pembroke Pines bar

but he wasn't ever charged for it. So, yeah, the therapist in the divorce proceeding said Mr. Leiritz stated that both he and Mrs. Leairitz led a partying lifestyle. Jesus Christ. They eventually recommended after Jim's the primary residential parent, but they share its joint custody. So at this point, they were unemployed, both the Lairitz's, yet they would frequently place the children in after school daycare.

both the Layritzes, yet they would frequently place the children in after-school daycare, and Carrie left them with babysitters, according to a custody evaluation and the transcript of a hearing before the divorce judge. Teachers reported that the children were often absent when in Carrie's care, and when they did attend, they did not have lunch or were missing socks or wore disheveled or torn uniforms. What the fuck? So she's having her own problems as carrie um obviously according to this psychologist or whatever court documents the judge here in the

case also admonished the layritses to spend more time with their children uh-huh the judge had to tell them that quote to me if two parents aren't working and both of them are posing as incredibly involved parents then go get your kids yeah go fucking hang out with them then um so yeah uh he said carrie i guess said the children spend equal time with both parents after all this they began to settle into a routine she ended up saying he's a great father and that's really all obviously we didn't get along as husband and wife but you have to come to an understanding this understanding they came to in 2003 was when he was arrested for aggravated stalking of her yeah that was a problem um aggravated stalking does that mean he's armed probably i don't know if i don't know what the hell that would be i don't know if that's um been warned away from it or i don't know up in I don't know what the hell that would be. I don't know if that's been warned away from it.

I don't know. Up in the ante somewhat here. But it doesn't end up, the prosecutors dropped the case on the day of the trial was supposed to begin. Amid different contradictory witness statements and shit like that. But aggravated stalking, that's not good. That doesn't look good on the record. No, it doesn't. Somehow, in 2004, after all this, he gets a job on the New York City ESPN radio affiliate.

Really? Yeah. Well, also on MLB radio. He co-hosted a radio show with Vinny Micucci and the Chooch. It's K-107 the chooch k107 chc the chooch uh layritz and the chooch in the afternoon sing in the background hey i'm the chooch i'm here with my buddy Jimmy Laertes.

How yous doing out there today? The chooch is in. Laertes, he had to take a day off today. Apparently, he's got a court thing with his wife. I don't know, something. But it's all right because the chooch has you covered. Let's talk about it. The lines are open.

Let's talk about the Mets suck. The Yankees are surging. And the Knicks are going to be terrible as usual. Let's go. Line two. Light them up, baby. You're on with the chooch. Get choochin'. I said get choochin'.

That means talk. Jesus Christ. Fucking people. Hang up on him. Did they know? Was the aggravated stalking, was that common? Was that knowledge to everybody? Because it's hard to get on the radio.

It's hard to get in media in New York. Their court documents came out in the Daily News. So, I mean, it was everyone knew about it. And then he also, he was a MLB Radio Daily on MLB Radio and was a regular contributor to the Michael K show on the ESPN New York City affiliate so 2006 in June 8th 2006 that's when he did the he was doing an Opie and Anthony interview on a satellite radio there and that's what he was talking about using greenies and all that kind of shit so that was a that was the first time publicly he had admitted all that so uh 2007 you knew about it from the court documents but that was the first time publicly he had admitted all that. So 2007, you knew about it from the court documents, but that was the first time he talked about it.

In 2007, October of 2007, he's working with Harold Reynolds and Chris Myers covering the pre- and post-game reports on the field for the 2007 playoffs and World Series for Fox.com. Unbelievable. So he did a good job there he worked it as a television analyst during the 2007 world series here and uh he's getting all sorts of broadcasting opportunities he had a sports marketing company that he founded full county enterprises and uh also brought some promotional work and he was making over a hundred thousand bucks a year again so doing great finally that's doing good again doing well um so he's also partying at night i mean really oh hell yeah he's never left it he's always been partying they talk about this is from an article quote a steamy myspace page that's what time of year this is it's 2006 or 7 2007 here belonging to a

gorgeous user named angela bates features shots of her getting cozy with the journeyman catcher at two bars including one which he's dressed up as a pilot a pirate for a halloween party a grinning layer it's 44 also appears in a photo wearing a partially opened red satin robe with his arm around a lingerie clad blonde barbie doll type and three other scantily dressed women the snapshot labeled playboy mansion 07 pajama party so yeah he's hanging out with all he hangs hangs out with playboy uh women now that's what he yeah that's what he chills with in florida with playboy women um but i can smell spray tan from here i'm just grossed out banana boat smell it man um november 2007 he apparently misled florida authorities and when he got his driver's license renewed even though it had been suspended five days earlier by new york

so he had a lapsed florida driver's license so he had a new york license because he was living up there they suspended his license so he just went a New York license because he was living up there. They suspended his license. So he just went down to Florida and renewed his license down there rather than dealing with that. He had been busted. He got arrested or not arrested, but charged with driving while talking on his cell phone up in Albany on June 20th. And they suspended his license because he failed to answer a summons, even though he was notified multiple times. license because he failed to answer a summons even though he was notified multiple times they said uh the paperwork log jam prevented authorities in florida from knowing that layritz license had been suspended five days earlier so i had also been suspended three times in florida since 2003

wow so he's getting suspended a lot they uh they said if they had been aware of layritz's suspension in New York, they would not have granted him a new license. Duh. Uh, spokesman for the Florida, whatever the shit said, quote,

I'm sure the state of New York was processing this information when he came to get a new license. He knew it. He knew what he was doing. He knew it. If you are suspended in another state, purchasing a license in Florida is wrong and unlawful. There you go.

So shouldn't be driving likes to hang out with playmates so december 27 2007 he's out celebrating his 44th birthday oh boy partying with playboy models is what he's doing in florida doing it up quote curvy blonde pinup erica chevalier chevalier whatever the fuck her name is, told something. Erica something. Told the Daily News that she was downing Grey Goose vodka with him at a Fort Lauderdale party to celebrate his 44th birthday. Hell yeah. She had been in the March issue of Playboy that year.

Oh. So, yeah, not even like an old Playboy model. He's getting current ones, for Christ's sake. And she claims that he was definitely not trashed when she left when he left the bar. They went to the Blue Martini and they went to Automatic Slims, which are two different bars here. I hate them already. It sounds awful. And she said they went with friends and, quote, we were just sitting around drinking.

He was fine when I left, which you left before him, so how do you know what happened after you left? It doesn't make sense. They said, well, he might have been buzzed. He wasn't falling over, but what do you think? He was buzzed from the vodka, and she said I'm sure he was, but not hammered. So,

yeah, they were at a bar, Blue Martini, moved to Automatic Slims, had a low-key party with about a half dozen, as the newspaper called it, sexy pals. Yeah. Bunch of ladies around. Yeah. This young woman said, quote, he's just the happiest, nicest guy in the world. All he talked about was his kids.

It wasn't a crazy night at all. He was just having a few drinks with some some playboy models from that current year and the bartender at the blue martini confirmed that he'd been in the place with two women hanging out uh quote he came in and had a few mixed drinks i think he had two and he also said that this guy has served lay ritz before and he said quote he doesn't get plastered he'll have a few drinks and then switch to water okay that's what he says so 3 20 a.m he's driving home oh yeah you know what i love whenever i say 3 20 a.m you know there's a problem he's driving home uh he is driving his 2006 ford expedition and he apparently drives

from what everybody says through a red. That's the allegation here. Problem is there's other people on the road, even though it's 320 in the morning. Oh, no. Someone on the road is Frida Ann Veitch. She is driving a 2000 Mitsubishi Montero through a green light through the intersection. Oh, no. It's so small. He plows. It's one of those little suvs smaller suv he plowed into the side of it with the expedition oh dear lord uh it rolled over

and crashed into a pole uh she was not wearing her seat belt and was thrown from the vehicle during the roll oh my god um thrown from that and later on, she'll be taken to the Broward General Medical Center and pronounced dead. Of course she is. Yeah, she died there. She got hit by an expedition. Yeah, she was rammed in the side, they said, at the intersection of Southwest 2nd Street and Southwest 7th Street in Fort Lauderdale near the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. Oh, my God. A police spokeswoman told the South Florida Sun Sentinel that there was a red light and that witnesses said Layritz didn't stop.

They didn't. They said the fault is still being determined. And we'll get into this. According to the police report, Layritz then failed field sobriety tests and declined a breathalyzer, which that's not good. Police wrote in the accident report that Layritz had, quote, the odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from his person, which is a very technical way to put that. Stink of booze.

You are drunk. Stunk of booze. So there we go. Frida, though, this poor woman, Jesus Christ, she there, she was pronounced dead. So after that, then they did the mandatory blood alcohol test on him. So 320 is when the accident happened. He's not tested until 6 a.m. because once she dies, then it's the law where they're taking your shit no matter what. So that's when that gets tested, and we'll talk about that.

The weird thing is that Veach here, her name, she was a bartender and a waitress at a bar. And they said she worked at places Learitz frequented. All the time, yeah. Yeah, a one bartender at the Crazy 8 Sports Bar in Fort Lauderdale. God, this is just awful. The Crazy 8 Sports Bar in Fort Lauderdale. God, this is just awful. The Crazy 8 Sports Bar in Fort Lauderdale. She said, this is a bartender named Jillian. She said, quote, he definitely knew her.

Like, she served him before. That sort of shit. Witnesses, there's some witnesses to this whole deal here. They say that he smacked the SUV into her in the intersection. The car rolled and hit a pole, her car. So that's not good. Oh, by the way, she has two children as well. Yeah, that's not good.

A five-year-old included in this. Dear Lord. One witness, Garth Henry, he said that he ran to the SUV, hers, from the sidewalk, but nobody was in there. He saw it flip and ran over and didn't see anybody. He didn't see that she was ejected. And he said, quote, she was on the ground behind the car, kind of bent up. Oh, that's awful. And another witness here, Karen Rivera, said that Leiritz came over, tried to shake, shake her.

Frida's leg after the shake. Don't touch someone there and asked her if she'd been drinking. She's completely unconscious in a pretzel thrown out of a fucking car. That's rolling over. He's like, Hey, you've been drinking. I have trying to establish that it's her fault right away.

Okay. Then, um, there, there by the way there's video of him of this whole thing there's video once the cops get there it's all on video his sobriety test is on video it's all on video you can find it's out there you can watch it um they said that uh he uh did that and then according to a police video taken on the scene he told an officer quote she hit me pretty good uh you hit her in the side bud yeah hit me pretty good yeah it's all her she must have been shit-faced anyway i'll be going home now uh later on it's on video when he's told that she was dead as well and they said there is uh

no reaction from him at all doesn't break down and cry. He's just standing there like, okay, that's not good on video. They, this, who was this one? The Henry witness here said, quote, said that within moments of the collision, Learitz approached him at the Southwest 7th and 2nd Street crash site, identified himself as the other driver, and then asked the person there if he had been in the SUV. Were you in the suv and he said that he pointed down to frida and uh veach's body and uh and uh leiritz put his head in his hands for a second like oh shit she's down there now the she had come from i guess they were on family vacation in phoenix frida here she's 30 years old by the

way with two kids jesus and they had decided that she's going to quit the late shift she is tending bar at this point at the original steakhouse in fort lauderdale and she wants to quit at the end of this year and they want to try to have another child okay she had these children are from her previous marriage she's with her husband they want to have a child with the two of them. So she was on her way back from a late bartending shift there, and it was supposed to be one of her last nights at work, by the way. Oh, God damn it. Yeah, she's got a 13-year-old girl and a 5-year-old boy,

and they were trying to have a third, and she called her husband to say she was leaving the restaurant. He said, quote, we were getting ready to start having another child. And he said that he couldn't believe it because he talked to her 15 minutes before this happened. So he was in a lot of shock there. By the next day, the family had retained an attorney who announced they planned to file a lawsuit against Jim Leyritz. Here, man, this lawyer said, quote, this is a tragic accident, an accident that took the life of a young woman with two beautiful young children and a young husband. So, um, yeah, he stood outside the husband, Jordan.

He stood outside and talked to the media about this shit, um, called, uh, Frida, a beautiful woman who always wanted everyone around her to be happy he said that i he just talked to her she said she'd be home in 15 minutes and then she was gone he said that their son julian the five-year-old has been asking a lot of questions like why hasn't mommy come home things like that um who's gonna take care of me he said quote i had a five-year-old who cried himself to sleep last night and has a lot of questions he's aware that she's gone and it's affecting him deeply he asked me why mommy wasn't going to come home why mommy was in the grass and who's going to take care of him uh she was a good mother and a great wife so jesus christ so um anyway layards is going to be charged with uh manslaughter yeah dui manslaughter here and also

misdemeanor count of damaging property while driving under the influence they said he was stinking drunk that's the way the cop described him with red watery eyes flunked several sobriety tests which he says he passes later refused the blood test here he ends up being released on eleven thousand dollars bail which seems light he goes into seclusion we'll talk about that who is he staying with who's who does he go to who carrie his ex-wife what he stayed with her for three days after this he went to her house whoa what a fucking weird relationship they have it gets weirder by the way wait a year this shit so um the husband jordan of the deceased woman he said quote um he talks about that uh um his wife didn't wear a seat belt what they said uh when asked what he

would say to layritz if he had the opportunity he said those are words i can't say right now i'm very angry i lost my wife and layritz was out of jail in nine hours that makes no sense another guy tom mckeown who's a friend of of uh frida said he often drank with lehritz at bars in florida he should just be tom mckeown florida bar trash it should be his chiron alcoholic yeah local alcoholic local bar drunk local bar fly tom mckeown he says the bottom line is he shouldn't have been drinking and driving he said i know her family very well everybody feels absolute pity for the kids she was one of the best mothers i've ever seen so jim goes into seclusion in his ex-wife's house which is very weird um his lawyer his booking agent said that he's working on securing a criminal lawyer and he says his only

focus right now is to find an attorney who will defend him he just wants to find an attorney and uh yeah he so he ends up at his ex-wife's house and who said quote i can't answer any of your questions i'm sorry this is weird too yesterday evening lehretz spent a short time with his three young children who were brought to the house by his attractive ex-wife carrie why would you put that in the newspaper who cares right now if she's attractive or not there's a dead lady and what are we talking about so his attorney he got an attorney and said that uh results of the blood test would not be known for another week. And, you know, Lairitz is, quote, absolutely emotionally crushed by the fact that this young lady died.

Got a real sunny situation going on here. Now, a friend here said that a frantic Lairitz called her at 430 a.m. an hour after the crash and said, quote, he just he pretty much just kept repeating that someone's dead. He just kept saying that layer. It's his friends said that, you know, they don't think it could have been like this. There has to be something because they don't think he could have been that drunk. One of his friends said, quote, obviously, there must be something to it because the records are what they are. one of his friends said quote obviously there must be something to it because the records are what they are but i can swear right now that i never ever saw him getting drunk or acting the way people are talking that's just not the person i know and i don't believe for a minute that he became the wild party person that some people are making him out to be okay well let's go to the

science shall we we can answer these questions... I would hold my comments till the blood tests come in is what I'm getting at. Well, Leiritz's blood alcohol at 6.10 a.m., almost two hours and 50 minutes after the accident, they did two tests. One was a 0.14 and the other a 0.13 which is well over the 0.08 limit and also that is three fucking hours later right your shit dissipates a lot how drunk was he oh boy dude yeah i don't care what any of these people said if you blow that three hours later you're a shit hammered man fucking bullshit that's not blowing that's fucking blood so they drew it that's that's what's in Three hours later, you're a shit hammered, man. Fucking bullshit. That's not blowing. That's fucking blood. So they drew it. That's what's in there now.

That's crazy. That's what's there now. Yeah. Three hours later. There's no way for him to argue this. Nope. So they also test Frida Ann Beach's blood, and her blood alcohol level was 0.18. What? She was drunk, too.

Her blood alcohol level was 0.18. What? She was drunk, too. Now, Florida has a law that, remember, this is the wide receiver, didn't go to prison forever because the person he hit was also drunk and doing something that caused the accident. So they called it equal whatever the fuck. So that's a thing in Florida you got to watch out for. So, yeah, the lawyer, his lawyer said, I think the evidence is so favorable on his side that ultimately he's going to be exonerated on all charges in the criminal case. And I think we're going to succeed in the defense of the civil case.

Not only was he not negligent, but she was the direct and proximate and proximate cause of the accident. He ran a red. Now he blamed her. Soon as she's drunk, she must have been. She couldn't know green from red now. Now her lawyer says, or the family's lawyer says, quote, whether or not she was intoxicated is not relevant because she was driving with a green light in her own lane of traffic

within the speed limit, not breaking any laws. And she was in, well, except for being drunk. Except for what? She was not in any way the cause of this accident. By the way, the Yankees don't respond for comment at all when asked. Not our problem. Leirich should expect that.

Instead, he says, am I disappointed there's not a little more support there? I would say a little bit. But at the same time, I really truly understand the reasonings. Yeah. You seem like a drunk asshole who fucked around with Playboy models and then killed a mother of two. That's what it seems like at this point that's the perception from the outside so you know um his friend says he deserves better than that his friend said quote he's not a leper and he's innocent you're guilty until proven innocent in this country unfortunately so yeah yeah unfortunately he's saying so he said

that the yankees weren't alone in snubbing him. He said, if it was just them doing it, I would say, yeah. But you know what? It's everything. So now he's losing his jobs also. Of course. He earns about, he was earning about $5,250 a month working as an MLB.com analyst. Wow.

And his contract expired in March and was not expected to be renewed. Now, they said when asked, we don't expect to renew it. We're going to say no. At the memorial, the preacher who was talking said, quote, he should get the maximum because her children won't know their mother forever. Excellent. That's a lot there. Maximum, by the way, is 15 years. He's facing.

Oh, shit. Yeah, that's a lot. Wow.um, by the way, is 15 years he's facing. Oh, shit. Yeah, that's a lot. Wow. They did, oh, my God. They did these fucking eulogies that must have been heartbreaking. It's a lot, man. And the kids talk, that's bad. Oh, no.

That's rough, man. I've been to a funeral where the person's daughter, who was like a 12-year-old, talked, and it was, you want to talk about heartbreaking? Jesusesus christ i watched a gangster cry his eyes out over that it was bad it was fucking bad so um they said that um um they they they have the whole memorial service and everybody's talking about i mean obviously what a wonderful She's somebody's mother and she's dead. That sucks. So now he says, I wasn't drunk. They talked to a DUI lawyer who says that, quote, almost no one thinks that they're impaired at the time of their arrest. Yeah. He said, quote, you would not believe the number of people I've represented over the years who blew a.15 and tell me they thought they were fine.

That's what happens now in church. he's going to church now, Jimmy. Yeah, of course he is. He's hanging out with his parents going to church. Yeah. He spent about an hour at a big Southern Baptist church before he hopped in the passenger seat of his father's car and returned to the ranch house and all that kind of shit. There, he met up with an unidentified man and woman who accompanied him and his dad to the downtown Fort Lauderdale office of his defense attorney. So, yeah, he's going to church. He's trying to do all that.

One of his friends said, quote, I've known Jim a long time, and he's about as friendly, easygoing guy as you're going to see. All the drinking they're talking about, I just never saw that side of him. He's a great father, and you'd see him at school at every event at any time they'd say uh they'd have a game that's good and then he went out and got drunk and plowed into a lady so those you those two things can exist you can be a great person that got drunk and did a dumb thing that happens then you're kind of an asshole and you can have experiences with him that show you what he is and uh his court documents explain otherwise that's what i'm saying a little bit otherwise so he's going to be allowed to continue to be out on bond while he awaits trial on dui manslaughter charges the judge does order him

not to drive and stay away from drugs and alcohol his compliance will be monitored through a machine that sends breath test results to court officers so that's what he's got going on he's not allowed to drive at all um nothing they he's in a the uh the judge said quote no alcohol at all no products containing alcohol quote i don't care if it's listerine she said no alcohol. And he told her, I fully understand. So, wow. 2008 here. Let's see here.

Oh, they also swabbed his DNA as well there because that's part of they can do that. 2008, he's awaiting trial. He says he's broke. I'm sure. Broke. He says, quote, I like to be liked. I can hear the whispers. I feel the stares.

To listen to people who just don't know the facts hurts. But I can't help it. I listen. I know I shouldn't. I can't tell you how many times I go away, sit in my backyard and just break down and cry. People are so wrong about who I am. Oh, my Jesus Christ. This article describes him as, quote, sitting in his dining room table in Plantation, Florida. One of the chairs next to him is broken in half.

His roadside sobriety test is playing on a small DVD nearby. He's just kind of playing on a loop. And his boys, ages 8, 12, and 14, noisily chase each other around the house in their baseball uniforms. The table is covered in colored files stuffed fat with witness testimonies and police reports and proof. Here's a string of upset texts the victim, Frida Ann Veach, is alleged to have typed to her husband while driving drunk moments before the accident. Here's an emergency room medical report after she apparently drove drunk into a tree on another occasion here's a long list of

driving infractions then he says quote please don't make it look like i'm attacking her this is just my case yourself sir wow this is just my case my side that's for court not for a newspaper not for a reporter sitting next to you in no way do i want to disrespect her memory i just want the truth out i've stayed quiet out of respect but i'm fighting for three children here yeah his children obviously not hers um he says that he peppers his attorneys daily with more evidence, highlighting thousands of deposition pages and go, this is all he does. He's obsessed with it. Basically.

Um, he says there's witnesses now that he's uncovered that suggest maybe he was driving through a yellow light that night, not a red one. Oh no. He said he's been to this accident scene several times to take photos after 1am and illustrate how obstructed the view of that intersection is at that hour his attorney said quote jim is obsessive yeah no shit um it's all he's doing uh the they said do you think that's healthy and the lawyer said not healthy at all jim says it helps it reintroduces the truth every day he just has to look at i has to tell himself

that this is true even though who knows so um this whole deal um he by the way they also talk about he recently had to sell his world series shit uh also he's doing all of that um he says what you see over there is all that's left he says of the dozen framed photos and jerseys. A guy from an auction house came over the other day and took whatever had worth, about five grand. That's where he's at. So he is low. He's low. Who do you lean on at this point?

You need your family. You need people around you. Your cellmate. You need your cellmate if he's kind and gentle and warm and on a cold winter's night you need a lot of things yeah what what you really need though he gets and that's a knock at the door yeah it's a knock at the door and it's visit vinnie posse vinnie posse ends his ma he's there she's there to set jimmy straight and tell her tell him what he's exactly doing wrong and she says.

How is it you've come to arrive here? What are you doing? Jimmy, oh, my God. You were playing for the Yankees. We sat around and watched you. Oh, my God. My uncle actually had a stroke that day and died because he was so happy. And you know what?

We didn't even mourn him because he died happy and you did that for him. Thank you for killing my uncle. Now what the fuck happened? What's wrong with you, Jimmy? Are you eating right? I know you're drinking, but are you eating? Jimmy, get over here. What are you doing? You plowing into people? Jimmy, I got in a car accident once

in 1978 and I'll tell you into people. Jimmy, I got in a car accident once in 1978. And I'll tell you what, my neck still, I still wake up at night from that, Jimmy. You should feel terrible. Did you check? Did you go to the doctor, Jimmy? Jimmy, did you go to the doctor? Where's your ex-wife? She was nice. You shouldn't be with those playboy girls. They're not good for you. You're going to end up, you're going to end up killing mothers in the street. That's what I, Jimmy, Jimmy, eat something. Jimmy! I got gub of gold! Jimmy, come back! There's a plate!

Oh, God! Jesus, Jimmy! Poof! In a cloud of a lot of things. Marinara sauce and motherly love. Motherly love, it's called in Italian, Jimmy. That's what that's called. Overbearing annoyance is motherly love.

She just loves me. It's fine. She's gone. And Jim is very confused because he's super white and from the Midwest. No idea what just happened. So, I'm like, wow, that's crazy. Jim, at this point, makes it all worse somehow in the press. He says, quote, this accident happens whether i was drinking that day or not

uh it would have happened at two in the afternoon there was no possibility of me avoiding that crash with all my senses a mother was taken away from her kids i can't change that but i didn't do it the accident did and that accident was not my fault that's called holy shit that's uh yeah that's like um that's not good that's that's just saying things that are not true uh hoping that they are it's the the different things there's different ways there's a vanishing perpetrator that people talk about there's a like a different perpetrators and he just made it someone else he just pushed it on there so uh he even then he shows the dvd playing the roadside sobriety test and uh he says quote i'm scared to death here but look at this i'm passing everything how does he know that he's not a cop his attorney says most

defendants don't want judgment day to our most defendants don't want judgment day to come at their trial but jim um and he says quote i've been begging for it i can't wait yeah i've been begging for it so um he uh also now needs charity the uh he seeks aid from the baseball assistance team that a charity that helps former players through tough times he said quote they've basically been a savior if it wasn't for them i don't know what i would have done you've already sold all your shit um he said that no one was helping him and his family and uh that um uh the the lawyer for the veach family didn't doesn't give a shit that he's getting help described lehretz as someone who has destroyed the lives of a number of people and question the propriety of giving him assistance.

He said, I'd be interested in learning whether the baseball assistance team takes into consideration whether they're pouring salt in the wounds of the victims in this case. So but they're representing him. They have nothing to do with that. That's baseball player thing. So Jim Martin, the executive director of the baseball assistance team, spoke out about the program and just said, quote, it's not the kid's fault when somebody does something stupid. So, you know, we're feeding his kids here. It's been like a year since the accident. He's made unpaid appearances at a couple events, but that's it.

In September, he posed with fans and signed autographs at a suburban golf club in Union, New Jersey, to benefit the local Chamber of Commerce. What is that benefiting? Take pictures with a guy? Well, the event organizer, Bill Lederman, said, This is a country of second chances. There's no Yankee fan alive who doesn't think, regardless of the outcome of this trial, that he deserves one. Wow. Don't speak for me.

Shut up. shut the fuck up what is your name dipshit um leader bill liederman can suck my cock how's that eat dicks bill liederman a whole fucking ballpark frank bun full of them you fucking ass wipe yeah um jesus christ don't just don't speak for me layritz's agent said that uh corporate event organizers have asked to book layritz only to say a few hours later quote it's just not going to work out right now we don't we don't need you they weren't paying attention to the news and they were like oh he killed oh shit a lady died okay never mind cross him off and uh kids yeah the agent said that he didn't ever have to ask why

he said quote i knew the reason um yeah so may 2009 he's awaiting trial he is hospitalized after threatening suicide what'd you do okay um there's a malfunctioning turns out later on that the breathalyzer test on his car was malfunctioning so he was blowing blowing into it, and it was coming back that he couldn't drive. And it turned out later to be a malfunction in the system, they found out. So rather than calling and saying, I'd like another test, figuring out how you do this above board,

he freaked the fuck out. He freaked out, and I guess he was, the police came, and he got angry at them. He ends up in a psych ward. What? Oh, yeah.

He was he also the SWAT team had to bring him down with guns drawn. He was like climbing over a fence. It was it was really bad. He hurt his arm doing this in public. He had a panic attack. He lost his fucking mind. Yeah. And he ended up handcuffed to a psych hospital bed.

That is not good. Jim, Jesus Christ. He's released from there to the custody of his ex-wife who took him in with her. She's back. Now they live together again. Oh, but they're not together, but they live together. They're just roommates. She said he just got home.

I can't say anything until he talks to his lawyer. He's going to see him right now. And then she said, I'm sorry, I can't say anything again. Apparently, the police lieutenant said a person from New Jersey called Davey Police about 9.20 p.m. and said they had concern for Lairitz's welfare. Davey Police then went to carry Lairitz's home who told them that Jim Lairitz had blown into the breathalyzer in an attempt to start his car but the device

indicated he had been drinking. Carrie told the cops that he had not been drinking and it turns out that the breathalyzer was broken. So Lairitz became upset because he knew the result would be reported to authorities as a possible violation of bail and his lawyer said that caused him to be distraught.

And yeah, so Carries told the cops that Leiritz said something to the effect of, quote, he might as well end it if it's too much trouble. So that's why they called and said, hey, we got to worry. So when police talked to Leiritz, who was at the house the house he told them I just need to talk to somebody officers told them he could voluntarily go to the hospital he asked them if they could give him a ride and he packed his own bag and then the cops drove him to a hospital and he checked in voluntarily so I don't know where the SWAT team came in because they that was reported somewhere else too I'm not sure about that handcuffed to the bed that he ended up yeah i don't know how the fuck that happened so he checked that's what another that's what the uh that's a cop said that

so um oh no wait is that his lawyer hold on is that his goddamn lawyer his lawyer said it that way i think his lawyer said it that way never mind that's his lawyer oh no no that's police lieutenant bill coin never mind like that huh i said it like that, huh? I said it like that. Wow. So anyway, they say he's okay. He's doing fine there. So this is the time he calls Jerry Springer time because he moves back in with his ex-wife to help with expenses. Also, he's dating and he has to bring people home to his ex-wife. He said, quote, my opening line hasn't been the best. You need to listen to me

breathe into a machine just to start my car you can have a drink with me but don't kiss me because i can't have it on my lips i don't know what my future is either oh yeah and my ex-wife is at the house and i have no job and can't pay for dinner that's something yeah uh he said having his new girlfriend over at his ex-wife with having his ex-wife in the other room is, quote, my Jerry Springer moment. And he said, only thing I know how to do is teach baseball, coach baseball and talk baseball. Yeah, he's got speaking engagements a little bit. He he ends up he has he he's got this thing where he's going to get he charges people to sit and hang out with Yankee fans and watch games with them.

It's really weird. Buy me a ticket and I'll sit next to you. Yeah. It's fucking strange. Uh, it's so weird. Also, he had a deal with an athletic company that had,

he had just completed some infomercials that just completed some infomercials for an international real estate company. And he said, I was going to be the Eric Estrada of Costa Rica, and that's gone now. He's working with some kids and doing shit like that and trying to get people to let him back into the world here. He has to pay for his own tickets.

He had to pay for his own tickets for the closing of Old Yankee Stadium and the opening of the new one. Security escorted him out of areas where he was used to being able to go one guard threatened to have him arrested so he's not being treated like that it's over they said do you feel alone like an outsider or a pariah and he said all of those things and they said well what's the greatest shame he said that charities don't want me around either i can't even people won't even let me do charity work um help yeah it's fucking crazy um he said uh it's nuts um he talks about even like jeter's golf tournament asked him not to come

jorge pasada's foundation for kids with cranial syncytosis asked him not to come those kids have cranial problems they need everybody they can get not jim laritz holy shit man um so yeah he's trying to get back in and they won't let him in but he one place to let him in it's church he goes hard into church at this point oh yeah hard hard hard his ex-wife and him go to church together um it shows by the way his breathalyzer shows he uh 5 528 tests over 373 days and 19 153 miles and two fails uh he says the machine is faulty and that the latest fail was triggered by chicken wing spices which is possible we We don't know. Who the fuck knows?

He was so panicked about it that he rushed to the police station with the chicken wings. It was these. Look, officer, that's what you do with them. Then blow. A friend in New Jersey also found him so frenzied that she thought he was suicidal, and that's the whole thing. He calls the whole hospital incident quote an embarrassing

national or an embarrassing national misunderstanding and he said it ended up with him in a psych ward next to a man who was arguing with himself and making clucking noises oh god he then says i'm not crazy and i'm not suicidal and i've never had a problem with alcohol. And I don't speak chicken. I don't speak rooster, and I will not start now. He admits to being drunk three times since the accident, at a Halloween on a private yacht, in a suite at a concert at the game celebrating the University of Florida's football championship, but never when he had kids or never when he's driving.

He's allowed to drink, just not to drink and drive. And they said, well, why drink at all? And he said he said quote until you've been in my shoes don't judge what the fuck does that mean that's so weird that's a dumb thing that just means i'm not going to answer that question because it's unanswerable why drink it i'm not judging i'm asking a question answer it and i'll judge that fucking crazy so july 2009 everything is tranquil living with your ex-wife. What can go wrong when you're living with your ex-wife? Well, July of 2009, he is arrested for domestic violence against it is a charge of domestic violence battery. After Davey police were called to the Ridge Trace home, he shares with his ex-wife at about 3 a.m.

Oh, God. Yeah, this isn't going to work, bro. It didn't work when you were together, for Christ's sake. I think it's going to work now. Carrie Layritz told officers that she and her ex-husband had argued about child support payments that she wrote to herself from his accounts without his knowledge.

So Layritz learned about the check, became enraged, and hit her in the face twice in the home's foyer and pushed her to the floors which he told police she ran next door and called 9-1-1 uh but then jim's gonna say that carrie's account of what happened and where it happened changed during follow-up interviews they said later she she later said that she'd been in a fight a fight began when jim dragged her out of the bed and pushed her against the bedroom wall, opening a half inch cut above her left eye.

Police checked the area and found what looked like blood smeared on the wall by somebody's hand. Carrie also admitted to drinking that night. One of Lairitz's three sons, all of whom were asleep during this incident, told police, quote, Mom was drunk and she probably hit herself again. What? Okay. Quote, Mom was drunk and she probably hit herself again. What? Okay.

Now, his lawyer also says her statement was inconsistent with what she initially told police. The physical evidence did not seem to equal an account of events, and she was admittedly under the influence of alcohol. Well, that doesn't matter at all. So, Leiritz told police his ex-wife invented the story because he was evicting her from the home. This was her house that she moved into another one of his attorneys said that quote there was absolutely no assault i don't think there's any legitimacy to the claims being made here i think law enforcement did what they needed to do in the circumstances now carrie who had a big bruise above her eye when was she was saying this said that she did lie. And she said if her story changed somewhat, it was because she was frazzled when she spoke to police early in the morning after being knocked around by Jim. She said, quote, I think it's unfair that a female gets hit.

Now I have to turn around and defend myself. So she also said her 12 year old son told police she hit herself because Jim told him that's what happened. told police she hit herself because jim told him that's what happened so yeah uh but a neighbor lily lau a neighbor who let carrie into the home after the fight said the left side of her face was covered in blood and she was frantic when she pleaded to be let inside um she said she did not see jim layer it's outside but carrie did smell like alcohol so not good um at all um from this he's out on bail for manslaughter charges remember that the judge goes in fucking jail asshole you can't do this so uh yeah he gets told that he is going to have to uh stay in jail um and uh yeah police found no evidence of a struggle near the front door but found blood in the bedroom where she said that other story happened.

So on the stand in this court case, just for this hearing, Carrie said her story changed because the attack happened quickly and her memory wasn't completely clear and stuff like that. She said, I got knocked in the face two times that much. I remember. So the judge says, you, sir, have to go to jail now and stay there while you await your trial and he said quote you're kidding me and then he started sobbing and then he said i don't care at this point wow uh like five like five days later he gets reinstated his bail gets reinstated here um now he's on the offensive and he said she threatened me. She said, quote, I can get you thrown in jail if you mess with me. And Jim Layridge showed text messages sent by Carrie suggesting that she would get him in trouble if he tried to force her to leave his house.

Quote, don't mess with me. You can't make me leave. OK. Anyway, she said the whole thing. She's disappointed that he's going to be let out. don't mess with me. You can't make me leave. Okay. Um, anyway, she said the whole thing, she's disappointed that he's going to be let out. But she said, I put it all in God's hands.

Um, the civil case goes forward. Jim settles the civil case. It's a wrongful death lawsuit by agreeing to pay $350,000 in both insurance and personal funds to free to ends family. So there's that. November 2010 is the trial. It's been almost three years. They said that the testimony was inconclusive

on whether Leyritz ran a red light when he collided with the other vehicle. Defense experts testified that Leyritz may have been below. This is crazy. They testified that he may have been below the 0.08 blood alcohol limit when the crash occurred even though his blood alcohol level is 0.14 three hours later so they're saying that he drank uh and got in the car and then hit her and then got drunker as his and then got drunker yeah three hours later unbelievable

when a judge when that happens this is what i mean in the world we can't have we can't have reality and then not reality facts and well i mean everyone's entitled to their opinion if you think that the fuck you know we can't have that there's reality then there's you go to the hospital because you don't fucking know what reality is those are the two things we should have in this fucking country i'm tired of this shit to speak i'm sick it. Because you're crazy. Sarah says this all the time when someone's acting crazy on like

a politician or something. She goes, can we call the ambulance for that person? Because why can't we call the ambulance? Why? Because that person's clearly not in reality. Either they're a liar or they belong in a rubber room. You fucking pick which one. Which one are you? You have to say it beforehand. I'm crazy or everything I'm about to say is horse shit i want to hear one of those

two things come out of your fucking mouth before you say crazy shit but they let this asshole testify and uh two witnesses testified that uh frida ann had the green light at the intersection causing the crash but under cross-examination they were uh those witnesses were less definitive about whether layritz's right light was red or yellow because how the fuck would you see both that's why well the other answer is if her light's green then the other one's fucking red that's how it usually works yeah that's that's the way it is that's what are we talking about they don't both turn fucking green but in court court, it's different. In court, one thing can be green.

They can both be green somehow in court. That's the thing. In court, it's not if you didn't prove this and prove that. It's what the jury believes. So prosecutors insisted that he was too drunk to react to the traffic light or avoid the collision with the car. They said he consumed the equivalent of between 11 and 12 shots of liquor in the three hours before the crash. And, yeah. Anyway, a call comes in and goes to deliberation.

45 minutes of deliberation. Not much. He is acquitted of manslaughter. Stop that. Acquitted of DUI manslaughter. Convicted, though, of a misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence. How can you be one of them? How how can so that i don't know florida man fucking i'm gonna say florida and just call it that um he was weeping while the jurors said that and he said thank you for listening it's a horrible

situation for everyone there are no winners he said to the jury the defense attorney said that uh he would like layritz to be sentenced to the 18 days he's already served community service and a 500 fine that's what he would like yeah for sentencing he also said justice was done but he has to expect or accept responsibility for drinking and driving sentencing oh my god you sir yeah may fuck off one year of probation oh my god and a 500 fine he learned his lesson oh boy so yeah oh by the way in 2010 he is uh ticketed for improper change of lanes and other traffic problems. So he's still not driving. I would be 10 and 2 eyes on the road if I was him. So, I mean, all this shit.

Either way, you got to feel bad for this lady's fucking family now, too. They're like, Jesus, nothing even. They did get $350,000, but still, you can't replace a mother with that. What do you do, buy a mother? Here, kids, I bought you a replacement mom. Here she is. It's fucking ridiculous. I mean, there's a lot of people.

His ex-wife, this has been a disaster. I mean, I feel bad for all these people, Jimmy. Not nearly as bad as I feel for everybody on here is him. They're all him. He has like seven LinkedIns. It's disturbing. Oh, yeah. One of them is director of partnerships bio planet

international at bio planet international llc in california and this is what he says quote this is about him as a sales specialist and motivational speaker jim leiritz draws life lessons gleaned from his inspirational comeback story and his 11-year mlb career to close deals and energize audiences he offers presentations on creating a winning mentality, building high-performance teams, overcoming adversity, quieting the critics, and letting faith guide your path to success. What is his comeback story? Go to hell. This.

Oh, boy. He was charged and then he got out of it. Oh, boy. He's involved with a bunch of charities now. Apparently, his brother-in-law died from ALS, so he's working with a bunch of ALS charities and shit like that. February 2011, he's hired as a pitching coach for the Newark Bears. Yes, he was never a pitcher in his life, but he was a catcher.

People automatically went, was he a pitcher? Catchers can be decent pitching coaches too because they work with pitchers so much no one knows your when you're dropping your head a little bit too much they see it it's all they're the person that sees it they stare at you for hours a day yep they look at your release point all the time to know where the ball's coming and uh and on april 14th 2012 it was announced that leiritz was returning to the Yankees on a personal services contract as well. So they're even going to take him back into the family. He writes a book in 2011 called Catching Heat.

Oh, dear Lord. Want to hear his pitch for it? I do. Quote, most people remember me for two events, both of which tested my faith in different ways. I controlled one. The other I did not. I was in control of the home run I hit in the 1996 World Series against the Atlanta Braves, which turned the series around for the New York Yankees and eventually led them to their first world championship in 18 years. I was not in control of the 2007 car accident in which I was involved that resulted in the tragic loss of a woman's life.

I decided that I would not let my life be defined by either of those moments. This is my story. Oh, boy. I hate it. No good. 2012, another traffic citation of some kind in Orange County, California. 2015, he's living in Orange County California with his new wife Michelle they get married in July

of I said that like he's the new champion in wrestling a new tag team champions of the world Jim and Michelle and she has two daughters he has his three sons he's a member and an usher at the Saddleback Church

in Lake Forest California kids names are Austin Dakota and Phoenix He's a member and an usher at the Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California. Kids' names are Austin, Dakota, and Phoenix. And at one point he said, quote, my wife called me from California and she said, are you sitting down? And I said, why? What happened? I thought something happened to my mom or dad or something happened to my kids. And she was crying.

And I said, what's wrong? And she said, I just came home and found an envelope at the front door. thought it was one of your checks from one of your appearances i opened it up and she said it was an invite to old timers day you've been invited back she's crying over that oh yeah she said it was uh are you sitting down are you sitting down they're letting you come back now so uh he's also says he's rebuilding his life as the national director of development for Raleigh Fingers Charity, the greatest save to prevent child sex trafficking and abductions. That's good, I guess. He spent 13 years in the Yankee system, and they used to call him the king, he says, because of his cockiness.

And that's okay. He says, somebody asked me the other day, what would you change in your life, if anything? And I said, with all the hardships and all the glorified things I've gone through, the good and the bad, I would not change anything except for the one moment when that woman passed away. Oh, God. And that's the only regret I have in my entire life. He saved that heart at the end there. Kick, save, and a beauty. That was gripping.

Yeah. Kick, save, and a beauty. I mean, she had to die for me to understand what was good for me, and that's okay, I think. That would have been real bad. 2016, he started being on a co-hosted and nationally syndicated weekly radio show with Dave Meltzer. Is that the wrestling Dave Meltzer? Somebody out there tell me that it's called Sports Blender on SB Nation. Maybe because a blender would be baseball.

I don't know, but Dave Meltzer is a wrestling guy anyway, forever. The, the kind of preeminent wrestling journalist in quotes, I say, that's all in quotes, big time,

hard quotes on that. He's also doing charity work. He says, quote, I'm a spokesman for pink tie.org, which provides money for different charities that need financial assistance. That's good. He said one of his big projects is through the Teen Project.

It rescues young women who have timed out of foster care, many of whom have been victims of sex trafficking. The Teen Project provides drug treatment at no cost to the recipients and even offers transitional housing for free to focus on sobriety education and housing. Can't get enough of Jim Leyritz? I had plenty. No problem.

You can rent to Leyritz. It's okay. On his website, it has everything. Jim's passionate about sharing his personal motivational story and speaks nationwide, including, this is great, sporting events, corporations, and churches. Now, he has different prices for all of it. Okay. This is his church speaking fees and topics. At church, his topics are going all in, a daily walk with God, faith, perseverance, and never giving up, the purpose-driven life.

It's not about you. And then also living a legacy, the difference between a baseball legacy and a life legacy. By the way this picture of him speaking he is in a full padre uniform what he's on stage with a bottle of water a little table with notebooks on it in a full padre uniform with his watch on okay so keynote speaker one hour speech followed by 30 minute q&A and meet and greet session, 100 autographed photos, five to ten thousand dollars. That will cost you God speaker. Just a speaker.

Forty minute speech. Twenty minute Q&A. And Jim's fucking out. Three thousand to five thousand dollars. All of this is plus travel and lodging as well. And I'm sure it's, you know, top tier. Now, his college and sporting industry fees are different he talks about teamwork importance of every player creating

a winning mentality performing under pressure that one's called then tenacity over talent outworking your opponent also adapting to circumstances not everyone becomes a pro athlete that's the name of that speech. And then importance of education. Why being a college athlete makes you attractive in business. One hour speech, 30 minute Q&A, meet and greet, 100 autographs, $8,000 to $10,000. Wow. He'll take a little chunk

off for the churches and then just the 40 minute speech deal, well, $3,000 to $5,000 for a church, $5,000 to $7,000 for athletic shit. Finally, corporate. He's got corporate gigs too. And that's where he makes the money. Building a high-performance team,

maximizing the strengths and weaknesses of your staff. These are all probably the same speeches with different names, by the way. Of course, yeah. Creating a winning mentality, performing under pressure. That's the same one for sports. Adjusting to your corporate culture. Acceptability, accountability. I'm sorry, adaptability, accountability, and timing. under pressure that's the same one for sports adjusting to your corporate culture acceptability accountability or i'm sorry adaptability accountability and timing and then tenacity

over talent again so for this you get um one hour speech 45 minute q a hundred autographs plus golf or dinner with your executive team starting at fifteen15,000. Starting. Or 45-minute speech, 30-minute Q&A, $7,000 to $10,000. Or on his website, you can just, quote, hang out with Jimmy Lairitz. For how much? Well, Jim is available in New York City for the final, this was for 2020, for the following 2020 game watches.

And one was booked already maximize your stadium experience by watching the game with two-time world champ jim layritz gain real world insights on what's it like to be a yankee and compete in high pressure games share your favorite moments in yankee history with jim in case you didn't know what you wanted to talk about with the guy who you're paying for you could talk oh I could talk about Yankee history with him. Okay. Game watches include a two-hour hang with Jim at a public location of your choice within New York City limits.

Guests may bring pictures, balls, books to be autographed. Pricing varies according to dates and number of guests. Jim is also available to add excitement to your business events client meetings golf tournaments and trade shows for fan appearances or for appearances game watches and fan experiences contact michelle at jim layritz.com his wife so hang out with that that everybody is jim layritz oh man what a fucking trip, man. Oh, my God. Do you want to book him and go to a Renegades game and then just only talk about DUI car crashes? We can do that. Let's do it. If we do it, we can.

Yeah, that's a business expense. Let's ruin his day. Because then we'll talk about it afterwards as a business expense. Let's do it. We'll get like 15 bucks. We'll get front row tickets, me, you, and Jim just hanging out there. The three Jimmys are going to sit there and have a good time. Jimmy, Jimmy, and Jimmy, let's line them up.

Hey, Jim, what was your favorite booze? We'll talk about his drink of choice. He comes back there with a beer. We slap it from his hand. And go, I heard keys jingling in your pocket, chief. Sit down and have a pretzel. Anyway, that's Jim Leyritz. Mustard, no beer.

No beer. There he is. If you like that, tell the world. Get on whatever app or platform you're listening to. Give us five stars and tell them anything you want. Honestly, tell us what your favorite sports movie is. Do that because we talked about those. Check that all

out there and uh have a lot of fun doing that please it helps us out a lot also head over to shut up and give me murder.com where you can get everything crime and sports and small town murder you can get all the merchandise anything that we talk about there's a damn shirt for it i promise you check out your merchandise get tickets for live shows my goodness small town murder in new orleans on july 15th that's coming up uh there is a crime and sports with tickets remaining and uh i would get those just trust me on that uh in sacramento at the ace of spades in october not october august and that is uh it's going to be daryl strawberry is the subject so get your damn tickets to those and if you're around the New Orleans area, come see us.

Even if you're not a small town murder listener, we crush at live shows. We're fucking comedians. We're not like podcast people who sit there and talk and we're like, okay, we're comics. We're bringing the fucking, we're bringing the pain, bitches. We're going to have fun, you guys. Come to the fucking show. We're going to have fun. Check it all out and do that.

Follow us on social media at Crime and Sports on Twitter and Facebook at Small Town Murder on Instagram and also Patreon. My goodness, are you going to want Patreon.com slash Crime and Sports is where you get everything. All of the bonus stuff, man. It's all bonus stuff. Anything extra, you're going to get it there. We have like 150 episodes. You get access to Crime and Sports and Small Town Murders episodes.

This week, the episodes you're going to get here are for Crime and Sports. We are going to talk about, we did a long list of our sports movies and just kind of a couple lines on each of them. We're going to do our top five sports movies, each of us, and why, and we're going to get in depth, and I'm sure we're going to talk

about why this one's good and that one sucks, and why you like that one better and i like this one better that's something you can't help but have a little debate about yeah but we're going to exclude a couple that we know will be on our list and we'll just talk about them separately during this episode like major league yeah major league is going to be one or two for both of us so we're going to fantastic move let's take that out and put it over here and we'll talk about that and we'll kind of see what's left so things like that check that out then for small town murder we are going to do uh people just like it so we have to do it again it's fun too we're going to talk about old-timey murders where we go back in the newspaper archives and i find just the weirdest shit you can think of over the last 150 years that have happened in different ways of murders and uh

they're always crazy and i'm also going to bring in some weird articles that i've gotten that i've gathered over the years like a a clown that's murdered in his dressing room in madison square garden and they're trying to figure out how it happened in the 50s it's so funny for me i just cracked up laughing i'm like good there's a picture of him with his big stupid feet it's so funny that's a fun investigation there's paint everywhere it's amazing that's so funny. That's a fun investigation. There's paint everywhere. It's amazing. That's patreon.com slash crimeandsports is where you get all of that.

And yeah, follow us on social media. And you'll get a shout out as well if you're a patron. And Jimmy will mispronounce your name while trying his hardest to get it right. Also, PayPal, you can donate there using our email address, crimeandsports at gmail.com.

But all of that said, Jimmy, hit me with the names of my favorite people who would never, ever, ever, ever plow into us and then claim the light was green. Jimmy, hit me with them now. This week's executive producers are Leona Messing, Robin Heyer, Isaac Moya in New Mexico. I hope you love it there. Oh, yes. He wanted me to tell him that it was okay. That was a few weeks ago it's not okay he knows it's not okay it's not okay janae wood mathis she came to our show in uh

where were we just at uh i don't remember but it was good to see you janae karen lewis fran hitsky in australia jordan bennett sandra wilkie britain edwards and colton cox thank you guys for everything truly truly. Thank you. You're fantastic individuals. Other producers this week are Justine McNeil. That's what it is. And also the master of karate and friendship for everyone, James. Good, good.

He is the day man. The day man is here. Excellent. Liz Vasquez, Joey Pepperoni Nips, Ruben Barbasol, Ken Rodriguez, Peyton Meadows, Natalie Young, happy hour checking in in Ontario, California. Chloe Rush, Georgiana Porter, Barry McCockiner. You happy now? You proud of yourself?

Lori Knack, Tony Pepperoni Nips, impasta, evidently. Janice Hill, Jason Barnes, Jude Kendall, Megan Deliberate, Megan Deliberate, she wrote a book. barnes jude kendall megan deliberate um deliberate and megan had deliberate deliberate she wrote a book it's called no place for lizard on kickstarter james there's called don't ask jimmy to pronounce italian last names that's the name of the book that megan doug jones kayla jones jason gillis shelly roberts jamelle thomas happy birthday martha taljard or talgi art talja i don't know uh she she wanted me to try to pronounce some some latin shit that says shut up and give me murder but there's no way i can do that tase it uh me homicidium is that close yo brendan abel steve chanel kirby cherry michael davis gina engel madison Abel, Steve Schnell, Kirby Cherry, Michael Davis, Gina Engel, Madison with no last name, Alicia with no last name, Ann

Jones, Sammy Salami Nips, Levi Wiley, Mellie Clark, the real Colby Cheese Murderer, the real one, James, Caitlin Ann, Matt Clark, coming out of the dark, Mike Miller, Jose Avila,

Patrick Britton, Katrina Livensparger, Courtney Horst, Ann Skeba, Andrew Edgington, Jason Owls, Alice Owls, I think. I got a Hardick. Are you proud of yourself, you son of a bitch? Grace Anderson, Ryan Benner, Ryan Horan, Arista Garten, Laura Taylor, Yvette Anselmo, Courtney Bolton, Tiffany Kirchenberger, Raka Gunmegas, Linda Jackson, Jacob Cunningham, Bell Hooper, Dave Pearson, Jody Matthews, Malin, Malin, Stephanie, no, Steffi, Kim Windham, Angela Doherty, Alex Stace, Jay Hawker,

Kim Windham, Angela Doherty, Alex Stace, Jay Hawker, Grayson with no last name, Nicole with no last name, Denisha Mays, Sherry Kappas, Brayden Tang, I think, Colin Monette, Samantha Flowers. It's delicious stuff. Nipsey 3. I don't think anyone's ever had that. Oh, really? I think I had it when I was like three one time or something. I've had it.

Yeah. Fuck yeah, it still exists. I haven't had it in years but i know it still exists nipsey three jen de boer uh courtney with no last name i'm not the one supporting it uh samantha flowers i said that courtney with no last name lila cummings uh christy mcnamara uh kelly with no last name michael dowd chloe brasher marcia pan s that sounds like a drug uh una newman uh jen Newman, Jen Cry, Shelby with no last name, Andrea Tedesco, Daniel, Danielle, Kelly, Sybil, Sybil, Sybil, Sierra, Kelly McCabe. I know

it. Ty Johnson, Joel W. Sybil. Listen, it's spelled C-Y-B-E-L-E. That's Sybil. Sybil. Maybe. Sybil. It's probably Sy-Y-B-E-L-E. That's Seibel. Seibel. Seibel. It's probably Seibel. Jay Chopius. Chapius. Chapius. Chapius.

Joel W., I think I said that. Daniel Jackson. Pat with no last name. Brian Backner. Lisa with no last name. Rachel Van Gordon. Dana Crum. Toya Ward.

Chris Drain. What? Ben Klain. Kyle Howell. Hattie Sprugans, Caleb with no last name, Amy Colby, Robert Glenn, Lisa Green, Loretta Leak, Deshanea Bass, Madison Wood, Paula Thompson, Don't Hurt People and Take Their Stuff,idently, Crystal Log. Long, not log. The Creepy Lady Next Door. Babruski.

Cole Mann. Joe Muscle Man. Omar Goos Man. Kelly from the Netherlands. I'm a man. Hey. Netherlands, thank you. Christina Farrington. Jenna Lowe.

Danielle Mitchell. Trisha McCarthy. Carl Martin. Jennifer McC... Oh, man. Kulich. Casey. Casey Harrell. Alejandro Bailing.

Kate Peterson. Jonathan Eric Fedderson. Adam Taylor. Chris Roddick. Gracie Bellender. Kyle Banks. Blanks. Dana White's penis.

Wendy Chappelle. Pickle Pie. Berlin's Wednesday. Rob Seguin. Jennifer McKay. Oh, no. Funmi Lorindi. I don't know. hear from him berlin's winzy uh rob segwin uh jennifer mckay fun oh no fun fun me lorindy i don't know uh chantelle marie max burns jason pickett gage wagner uh fred goins jake stover uh garrett fairchild lauren and jacob with no last name sarah fields boy jennifer little matt with no last name theresa bowie no mich Kost, Gray Crenshaw, Jamie

Soledad, Delia Armstrong, Miss Lene, and all of our patrons. You guys are amazing. Thank you so much, everybody. All of you wonderful, wonderful goddamn people who support the show. And, you know, you make this a thing that we can do. And we care about what you guys think more than anybody else's because thank you for doing that. So we try to make the good Patreon stuff for you.

We really hoped you enjoyed John Wayne Gacy's theme song, by the way, a couple weeks ago. If you're not a patron, I would say the theme song's worth at least five bucks just to hear that and wonder what would John Wayne Gacy sing if he wrote a song describing himself and how he feels. And I think we nailed it perfectly. Shooting up the charts with a bullet, James. Man, everyone seems to like it what are you gonna do so um anyway that said you want to find us on social media individually very easy to do that you can

go to shut up and give me murder.com there's links to all of our stuff or just fucking google search crime and sports podcast hosts and we'll pop up we better pop up anyway or else we'll know who to hunt. Anyway, either way, do that. Keep following us. Keep coming back over and over again live from the Crime and Sports studios. We will see you next week. Hey Prime members, you can listen to Crime and Sports early and ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen early and ad-free with Wondery Plus and Apple Podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at wondery.com slash survey.