Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour presented by NASCAR on FOX - Joe Girardi Interview

Episode Date: April 11, 2024

On episode 16 of "Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour” get ready for a highly-entertaining conversation between NASCAR legend Kevin Harvick and four-time World Series champion Joe Girardi! Kevin and Joe discuss their transitions into the broadcast booth, why Shohei Ohtani is the best player in baseball, how Girardi became interested in NASCAR, and so much more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Unless you go to a race, you truly don't understand how great it is. You have to go and watch the speed and the precision and just how exciting it is. And I absolutely love it. Welcome to Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour, presented by NASCAR on Fox. We encourage you to follow us on YouTube or at Harvick. Happy Pod anywhere on social media and anywhere else that you take in your podcast. Today we've got Joe Girardi, a former baseball manager, and now on the Yes Network doing television like I am.

And what was probably one of the best influences on my retirement decision, gave me some great advice along the way. We've had some great conversations. And thanks for joining us today, Joe. Thanks, Kevin. Thanks for having me. Yeah, we're, you know, I tell people all the time that the same things that you told me.

I've had a couple drivers ask me along the way about the advice of how you knew it was time to get out of the car. And you told me to make sure that I took that jersey off when I felt like it was right that I would just know. And I just thank you so much for all the time that you spent to be able to give that advice. And that last year for me was something special. and to be able to get out of that race car and not have to tell somebody, have somebody tell you that you have to get out of that race car and then not being able to come back and find a job was probably one of the most rewarding things that I ever did in my career

because I felt like I felt like I had finally made it. I was able to start my career and end it on my own terms. So I appreciate that. Thank you. Well, you're welcome. I mean, obviously, it's always hard to take our uniforms off. And your decision is a little bit tougher than mine was because I think it's really evident when you can't play. I mean, you were still racing at a high level, but, you know, you knew when it was time.

And now you're doing something great. And the great thing about broadcasting is we're not so invested in who wins or loses. We just get to enjoy it and talk about the things that we love. How has that been for you to go from playing to managing the team to, to, you know, in that dugout on a weekly basis, and now you're sitting up top. And what's that like for you to be able to do the broadcast? I know you've done it for several years in different situations, but now you're back on the S network.

You're watching the games every week and doing the things that you're doing. What's the difference from being player coach to sitting in the booth and watching the games for you? Well, the game is much slower when you're watching it up top than when you're watching it from the dugout because I'm, when I'm watching it up top in broadcasting, I don't need to make decisions. Like, do I need to get this pitcher ready? Do I need to get a pinch hitter ready? You know, do I need to steal? Do I need to hit and run? I don't have to worry about those things. I have to talk about what I see. You know, and you try to first guess, not second guess, because I think it's, you know, managers have a ton of information to them and they make the decision based on the information.

but there's the human element and the guy that's across you that's competing against you. So it doesn't always go right the moves that you make. But I really like it. It's much slower up there. There's a lot less pressure up there. And, you know, the greatest thing about broadcasting, you know, in between being a player and a manager is you're part of a team still. And I think, you know, for athletes, when we get out of what we do,

whether it's for you driving, you were part of a big team. For me playing and managing, I was part of a big team. You get to be part of a team again, and I think that's special to us. Well, that's been one of the things that I've enjoyed the most, and we've actually got some people that used to be on the Fox baseball team, and they said, you know, the thing that I love about Coach Gerardy the most was he would shake everybody's hands, he knew everybody's names, and for me as well, that has been a great part of what we do in the,

on the broadcast side is to get to know new people and learn new processes. But there are still pieces about racing that I look down and say, well, that was really exciting. But I don't really miss any of it. Is there anything that you miss? What's the thing that you miss the most about the competition or coaching the team or anything like that, that you say, well, that was the part that I missed sitting up here in the booth? I don't miss playing one bit.

I really don't. I feel so much better that I'm not playing physically. than when I was catching every day, you know, you have to find ways to go to sleep where you were comfortable, where you're back didn't hurt. I don't miss that one bit. I do miss managing. I do miss the relationships with, you know, my coaches, the players and all the people in the organization. I do miss the strategy. But I'm happy with what I'm doing.

And if I get a chance, that would be great. If I don't, that's great, too, because I really love what I'm doing with the broadcasting. I'm going to be 60 years old and, you know, schedules are tough, but I love it. How's the game changed? We look at what we do in the garage and all the analytics and all the engineers and, you know, the races are plotted out before the game, the race even starts. Tell us how baseball has changed on that side of things from when you coached or even when you played to where it is today. because it seems like it's very similar on the baseball side

as to how you look at all those analytics and the decisions that you make. Well, the first thing that always stands out to me is the size of the players, how big they are. I mean, I'd be considered really tiny right now as a baseball player. You see shorts to opposite are 6-3, 6-6, where they were always guys that were 5-10 to 6-1.

And I've noticed, you know, I look at Aaron Judge. Aaron Judge is like a mountain of a man. I mean, it's a defensive end playing center field that moves really well. And so many players are so much bigger. Pitchers are bigger. I also think the analytics and the information that's available to us allows us to dissect the game, dissect players, make decisions about players, but also create repertoire for pitchers that help them. You get instant feedback where a lot of times you had to wait to see what the hitter did,

but you have cameras on you, you have spin rates that you can measure just from your bullpens and you get instant feedback. And I think that's really helped players. Analytically, there's so much farther ahead than what I played and we used analytics somewhat. But now there's so much information, you know, it helps the players with their swing pass and everything that they do, how they run. It's amazing. So when you were coaching and you had.

had all the information. So now, do you think that the coaches can make the same decision? Or are there more people involved in making that decision? Because I would assume as a coach, you would go off of your gut reaction as to sometimes when a pitcher needs to come out or we need to put somebody else in or change the batter or whatever this case is. Do you think that is it just the coach involved now? Or are there more decisions than just the coach?

No, I think they're giving a ton of information now. And the thing about analytics is it takes the emotion out of the decision is the one thing it does. And over time, it's supposed to work. But I think as a manager, sometimes you have to make a decision based on what's available that day, not necessarily what analytically you would do, or sometimes how the player's going. I think you can't forget that there's a heartbeat inside and there's a brain inside that sometimes it's at the top of the game and sometimes it's not. So I think you have to use all the information that's given to you

and your gut feeling about the player that day. And I think that's really important. But again, the analytics helps you make better decisions. For the most part, they're going to be right most of the time. But the other thing about analytics is you have to remember the other team has them too. And the other team, you know, sets up their matchups as well and they're paid to beat you. So just because you make a decision analytically,

and it works in a little piece of paper on a box, it's not always going to work in the game. Yeah. And the game has definitely changed. And for me as a spectator, sitting and watching a game, especially in person, the pace of the game is, I'm a fan of shortening the games and doing the things that they've done with the clock.

And I think from a player's standpoint and a manager standpoint, point and a team standpoint, that may be debatable, but from a fan standpoint, I love the pace of the new game. What is your opinion of that, you know, of the clock and the pitchers and the injuries and everything that we hear about this conversation outside of, outside of the players and what they think? What's your opinion? I like it. You know, from a player's standpoint, it's probably like playing 20 less games from a time schedule. And that's substantial. when you're playing 162 games a year, you're playing 30 or so in spring training,

you're reducing your time on your feet, and it's less wear and tear on your body. And it might lengthen your career or help you be more successful in the months of August and September when you're really, really tired, and you've been through a rough season. As far as the injuries, the injuries were happening before the clock

at an alarming rate for me. And I think it's partly because of the size of the players, the max effort that they're using, all the training that they're doing trying to increase everything, their flexibility, their strength. You know, I'm not sure a body's meant to handle it. And especially when you talk about pitchers, and those seem to be the players that are getting hurt the most,

the arm is meant to be thrown like a softball, you know, underhand. It's not meant to go overhand. That's not how our body was designed. And when you start putting the torque and the strength, sometimes, to me, the body just can't handle it. That's why you see all the injuries. Thank God, though, we have wonderful surgeons to get players back on the field, and they come back sometimes bigger, better, and stronger.

But I think you're going to continue to see them. And I think everyone's trying to get so much movement on the ball. The torque that they put on their pitches is going to cause some problems. It's just something we're going to have to live with. So how do you think our buddy Gene Monaghan would deal with all this? Would he agree with? Would he agree with you on that? Would he say, Gene Monaghan.

So I think Gene, just to explain to everybody, Gene Monaghan, former trainer of the New York Yankees, he was a good friend of mine and actually is the one who introduced us. But Gene is a huge race fan. I believe he probably turned you into a race fan as well. Yeah, he did. Yeah. And I think the first game that we took Gene back to, I said, Gene, let's go up and watch the Yankees game.

And he took his little bag up with him. and about three innings into the game, I lost Gene. He was back in the dugout, working on the players. But, you know, I think from the training room standpoint, it seems like that has changed throughout the years as to how you approach the body, the amount of games that you guys play on a baseball schedule. I think our schedule is long.

How do you keep up? How do the players keep up with their bodies? I know it's obviously way different than the way that you would do that. But on the road, is there a regiment? I mean, you can't just go out and, you know, throw the ball around every day. You talk about the, you know, the flexibility and the strength. And so how do you manage that with making sure that you have enough rest throughout the season? Well, sometimes it's hard to rest because you'll play a game, you know, on the West Coast,

and you'll fly back and get into New York at, you know, seven, eight o'clock in the morning. And then you have that day off. But it just, it really, it's difficult. You play Sunday night baseball and you get into the next town at 4.4. am and you're playing the next day. But I think baseball has done a really good job of focusing on recovery, learning more and more techniques. I think they have more trainers today than we ever had.

When I was a player, there were two trainers. A lot of clubs will have four trainers, and they'll have massage therapists. And there's so much emphasis on recovery because they understand that's how you keep players healthy. They're doing a real good job. I mean, there's sleep pods in clubhouses. We never had that.

you kind of fell asleep maybe on the couch in front of the TV a little bit. But I think the training has gotten better. And I think they've also, with all the analytics that we have and the slow motion cameras, they realize that sometimes what they're asking a player to do, his body just won't do it. And I think that's really important because I think if you're trying to do something your body just doesn't allow you to do, you're eventually going to have injury. And I think they've done a really good job of setting baselines on players of where, what they can do and what they can do.

And what they can't do, you know, they, they try to move slowly to see if they can get more flexibility or you may have a, you know, a left hip that doesn't move the same as the right hip. How do we get a balance there? If you get a balance, there's probably less chance of an injury. They've done a really good job with those type of things. Who's the best player right now? Otani, Trout, Judge, Akuna.

Who do you think is the best player right now? Well, I think you have to say Otani because he pitches. He does both. I mean, he's a top-notch DH and he's a top-notch pitcher. The number one offensive player in the game, you know, if I was to look at it, I think it would be a Cooney Jr. Because of what he's able to do on the base pass. And he's a very good defender as well.

I think you'd have to put Aaron Judge in that because of what he physically is able to do. You know, he's able to hit 50 home runs every year driving runs. He takes his walks. He plays center field. but I think it would have to be Otani because he's a two-way player. So you mentioned Aaron Judge, and I think it's a really interesting time for the Yankees not having Warner World Series. You've got a star player with Aaron Judge.

How do you compare Aaron Judge as the leader to where, let's just say, Derek Jeter was at this particular time? Is he the, I mean, obviously he's the true leader of the team, but how would you compare the styles of those two? Because they seem different to me. Yeah, I would say it's pretty similar. I don't have a ton of information on how Aaron Judge leads. I had him for like a year and a half.

But they're kind of quiet leaders in a sense where they're going to talk to players individually. They're never going to embarrass players. They're always going to act like they're their big brother. I mean, Aaron Judge, they used to love to watch him because he would wait on the corner of the dugout until everyone got in the dugout, and then he would go down the stairs. And I was like, man, that's like the big brother protecting everyone.

And he's big enough to do that at 6-7, 275, 280. But they're kind of similar. They both play very hard. They're both very prepared. They're both all about winning. But it's more of a not in-your-face type of leadership, more of a loving leadership, and I think they're pretty similar, actually. Who's the best player you ever coached?

Ooh, the best player I ever coached. That's a great question. Because I've had some good ones. I've had GED. I've had A-Rod. I've had Mariana Rivera. I've had Bryce Harper. It's Miguel Cabrera.

It's hard to say. I would say you could look at all those guys and say you could make a case about each one of them. Miguel Cabrera is the only guy that I ever managed that won the Triple Crown, which is an amazing feat. So you spend a lot of time in. New York and, you know, we had a, our powerhouse team, one of our powerhouse teams in Hendrick Motorsports win in their 40th anniversary this week, they, of their first race. And, you know, you hear all the chatter about, you know, this or that and what makes the team great.

What's, what makes the, what, explain to me the Yankees mystique. I know you've played for, for different teams. You've coached in different places and, you know, been all around the, the baseball. bar world and you know, Hendrick Motorsports for us has this mystique about what they do and how they always win and how they always find their way back to the front. Explain that to the racing world as to what it's like to live in that as a Yankee, as a Yankees coach or as a player, whatever that is and why it's different than everywhere else. I think it's great because you know, first of all, every year that you walk through the doors in the spring training, you have a great

chance to win. So that's exciting. You know, I managed to Marlins. It's my first team I managed and the team was dismantled. And people asked me, you know, what my goal was. Was it not to lose 100 games? I'm thinking, what? I mean, I come from the Yankees. I mean, we're expected to win the World Series. I said, you know, our goal is to win the World Series. And if we don't get there, that means we fell short. We've got to find a way to get better. But I think the great thing about being a Yankee and having that opportunity is you're going to have everything that you need to be successful. And they're going to do everything they can to help you. And they're going to put you in great spots to be successful.

But you also have to understand that if you don't do it, there's a consequence to that. And that's okay. I mean, that's sports. And I think the biggest thing about being a Yankee is embracing the extra. expectations and understanding you're actually really fortunate that people are that passionate about it and that the organization is willing to give you whatever it takes to win. You have to embrace that. And Joe Torrey had a great line.

He said, New York will either make you or break you. Some players couldn't handle it. Some players just weren't meant to be in that type of environment. But a lot of players are. And it's really enjoyable. but you know when you walk through the, you know, those doors, there's 27 championships, the players and the Hall of Famers that have come before you. You see them all in spring training.

Like every spring training, you know, yogi would be there when I was the manager. And you're like, wow, I'm in the presence of greatness. I remember seeing other great, you know, like Goose Gossage. And you just saw a ton of awesome players. Now guys like Bernie Williams are coming back. And Tino Martinez, these are guys that were part of that, you know, four championships, the three in a row. And there's just an expectation.

And I learned to love it. Like a lot of people like, well, isn't it hard being under that scrutiny and having to deal with the media? No. You just know that it's part of your day. You prepare for it. And you make sure that, you know,

you're protective of your team. And you go out and win. And when you win, there's no place like it. Yeah. And what do you think's kept them from winning the World Series over the last several years?

What's that piece that's missing? I think there's a couple of things. I think it's gotten harder. the more playoff teams that you add, I think the harder it gets because you have a better chance of having an off series. And I think their biggest downfalls, they haven't been able to stay helpful.

The injury bug has really hurt them. And you know, you think about it, they lost their leadoff hitter and their ace to start the season, Garrett Cole and they're eight and two. So they're overcoming it. But you can only have so many injuries that you can overcome.

And right now they're doing a really good job of it. Yeah. And, you know, it just seems like, I mean, obviously everything that happened in 2017 and has led to this year. And I think as you go back to that moment with the Astros and everything that it changed and affected in the sport, it just seems like, I mean, you tell me what you think the ripple effect was from that particular point to where we are today. Because I'd be, I'd miss, I'd probably be miss speaking if I, if I gave. 100% of my opinion, but tell us from your standpoint, everything that that has affected, because when you look at the stats and everything that happened from that time period, I mean, it's a, it's a big topic of debate, I guess you could say,

but tell me what you think the ripple effect, just for the Yankees in general, has been from that particular point. Yeah, I think it's been hard. But, you know, it was a chance that maybe we had an opportunity to go to the World Series. We won the three games at home. We lost all four on the road. But, you know, Kevin, stuff like that has been going on forever, maybe not at that level and using, you know, TVs and electronics.

But, I mean, when you're playing at such a competitive level, you understand that you have to protect everything, all your signs, all your information as much as possible, because everyone's always looking for an edge. I mean, that's the bottom line. And it's in every sport. I mean, we saw what happened in college football. And it's going to make the game better because they're going to start using the headsets that they use in the NFL, basically.

You know, the speaker is going to be in the quarterback's ear and they're going to be able to give the plays. So that stuff can't happen. I think it just improves the game. And I think, you know, baseball has done a really good job with using pitchcom. And I've got to tell you, Kevin, during the whole course of a game, I always watched the runners on second when we were on defense. and I watched the coaches in the boxes to see if they were giving location or they were giving the pitch. I'd be really happy that I didn't have to do that now. That would make my job easier.

And always telling our catcher to change signs, right? A lot of times that's why catchers would go to the mound because we had to change signs all the time. So you'd have so many on you and some pitchers were better at remembering difficult signs and others. So some of you had to make it kind of easy. man, I think this has just made our game better and I'm happy. So I know I know that you're a race fan. You've obviously been around for a while. Tell me how you became a race fan, your first interaction at the racetrack,

your first race that you attended. So Gene Monaghan, as we talked about early, got me into racing. And when I was a player and Joe Torrey, was a manager. Joe Torrey teamed up with Stevie Donahue, the assistant trainer. And they called their team was pits and chips and it was Monaghan Racing. And my name was bootleg racing. And Charlie Wantswitz, our video guy was Wands Racing. And what we did is we had to pick one driver from each tier, the top 14, then the next 14. And it would be 42, I believe. And then the bottom 14.

I know the numbers have changed. And you took your total score. and the total score you won and we kept points the whole year. And at the end of the year, Gino would give the points later a little die cast car on a plaque with a championship trophy, basically. And Gino would write news and notes every week. He would rip us. He was the commissioner. And we'd always go to him with some of our complaints.

And he'd always say, duly noted, but denied is what he would always say. So I really got into it. And Gene took me to my first race in Rockingham, North Carolina. That was the first race. And then I continued to go with them a few every year. And I remember going down to Homestead. I remember going to Daytona 500 with Gene. And we got up early that morning and drove over.

And the race is about to start. And Gene's walking right down between the cars. And I'm thinking, are we going to get in trouble? Shouldn't we like get behind, you know, the wall? And, you know, these guys got the car started. but everyone loved Gene and Gene just kind of did what Gene wanted to do and I fall in love with and I tell everyone unless you go to a race you truly don't understand how great it is you have to go and watch the speed and the precision and just how exciting it is and I absolutely love it

I always have it on and I'm doing things and I mean I was listening to the story about the clock yesterday and how many people's houses it's moved to and where it is. And, you know, yours got put in the basement, I guess, but the grandfather clock. But it was just really, it's got to wind up on the set here shortly. It's got to wind up on the set. I promised them I would bring it to the set because it sits in the garage. So my wife said it didn't match the, didn't match the decor in the house. But I was adamant that there's no way that the grandfather clock can't be in the house somewhere.

So I lost that battle, but I had a small victory by keeping it in the garage. So have you picked a favorite driver? Is there somebody that you like in the current NASCAR field? Who would be your favorite driver? Well, my favorite driver is retired. So I'm learning to like the new drivers because so many of the guys I cheered for are retired. And that happens. But, you know, I like Denny Hamlin.

You know, he's always in the mix no matter what. And that's exciting to me because that's a champion, a guy that's always in the mix. But there's so many good young drivers now that I just need to get to know. You know, I didn't really have to root for anyone else because I used to root for Kevin Harvick all the time. But now I got to find a new love. Well, you know, I appreciated that. And I think it's, I tell fans all the time.

there's a lot of great personalities. A lot of them haven't come out of their shell yet to show us all of their personalities. And I think that is definitely something that they all need to work on. But our pit road has been overrun with professional athletes of guys that didn't quite make the cut, whether it be in baseball or the NFL. And I think that is something that is pretty intriguing to me that gets, overlooked and maybe you don't have to become a fan of a driver. We're trying to get the pit crew guys more out there.

But Denny Hamlin is, that's going to be, that's going to be an interesting clip that gets advertised on this show because Denny has a lot of very passionate fans that root against him. So before I let you go, I need to know what was your first car? What did you drive and how did you stop driving it? Did you sell it, wreck it? How did it end? Okay.

My first card was a Ford Red Temple that I bought myself from a paper route and I had a German Shepherd that I bred. And I raised money to buy a car so I could go out to the Cape Cod and play baseball and have it in college. And then the next car I bought was part of my signing bonus. It was a Ford Bronco. So that was my first car, a red tempo. So are you still a Ford guy? No, I do like them, but my wife and I drive some nice Mercedes. Okay, good.

Well, I'm glad to see that you moved on from all that. But I just, I got to thank you for taking the time today. I know you've got a lot going on. We enjoy listening to the broadcast, and we got a lot of folks that were on your Fox team while you were with the group on the baseball side and that said to say hello, specifically, Chris Myers, he helped me come up with a lot of the pressing hard questions for this interview as we prepped yesterday. So, Joe, thanks for taking the time.

We appreciate you supporting our sport, and we'll be watching the progression of the year in baseball. Well, Kevin, thank you. And please say hi to everyone. And please wish your son. Good luck this weekend. I know he's going to be, you know, you're going to be announcing for him soon, and that's going to be, what a thrill for you.

Well, I appreciate it, Joe. And we appreciate everybody watching Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour, presented by NASCAR on Fox. Follow us on YouTube or anywhere else that you catch your podcast. Follow us on social. Happy Harvick Pod, anywhere you use social media. Thanks for watching.