The Press Box - Pedro Martínez on Home Run Chases, Doing TV, Mets Joy, and Red Sox Sadness.

Episode Date: September 23, 2022

Bryan is joined by Hall of Famer and MLB Network analyst Pedro Martínez to talk about all things baseball. They discuss Aaron Judge’s current pursuit of Roger Maris's AL home run record, Pedro’s feelings about the Mets versus the Red Sox, as well as his unexpected post-baseball TV career. Host: Bryan Curtis Guest: Pedro Martinez Producer: Devon Manze Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I'm Derek Thompson, long-time writer with the Atlantic Magazine on tech, culture, and politics. There is a lot of noise out there, and my goal is to cut through the headlines, loud tweets, and hot takes in my new podcast, plain English. I'll talk to some of the smartest people I know to give you clear viewpoints and memorable takeaways. Plain English starts November 16th. Listen for free on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, fellow media consumers. This is the press box, Brian Curtis, of the ringer here, along with producer Devin Manzi. As you may have

noticed from watching videos on Twitter, we're in the middle of a home run chase. Yeah, baseball is the big story. The Yankees-Aren Judge is on the doorstep of tying Roger Maris' American League home run record as we record this. We were looking for a baseball analyst, and we found, let's see here, Pedro Martinez.

Pedro Martinez is one of the only sports announcers who validates the cliche, he needs no introduction. So let's just say we talked about what it's like to be a pitcher during a home run chase, about the way Martinez analyzes baseball on MLB Network, about the unfinished business of this year's New York Mets, and the utter crappiness of this year's Red Sox.

Here's Pedro Martinez. All right, Pedro. As we record this, Aaron Judge of the Yankees is sitting on 60 home runs. If you were still playing, would you want to pitch to Aaron Judge? tonight? It all depends of the situation but I most likely

will face him in every about I mean it will be him against me. You can't make it personal. At that point you don't want to be the guy you know to have your name linked to the record

but at the same time you need to respect the game you need to respect the fans and and give George a good battle. That's what you've got to do out there. I wouldn't run away from the challenge. That's exactly what I like about playing baseball.

How would you pitch him? To be honest, the way I would pitch him, I wouldn't suggest nowadays unless you really know what you're doing, but I have a pretty good idea of how to probably approach him, according to what I had

back in my prime. I would probably keep him honest, which is saying pitch up and in, tight to keep him honest and keep him away from stretching those arms. And then I'll just probably run to fastball slow in a way, which I was really good at locating. That's probably the primarily reason why I have so much emphasis on pitching inside because

I could shoot the outside corner and make my living out of it. And I could also slow down my change up to a point where, he had to give me one of the two. Either take fastball and give me, you know, and go chasing the change up, or give me the change up and chase a fastball. And the fastball, most likely, since I could command better, and it was above average,

keep it in you, make it an uncomfortable or bad for him. And then I had the breaking ball, which is something I, if I saw myself in trouble, use. You pitched during the big home run chases in 1998 and 2001. How do pitchers feel during home run chases? You don't want to have your name linked to the record. But you also have the pride of facing the best,

facing the most challenging person out there. And if you happen to end up on top, then you consider yourself someone, special and someone that could probably say, I'm as good as you are, and maybe better. Who knows? When I mentioned 1998 in 2001, later a lot of those hitters were either accused of using PEDs or admitted to using PEDs. How do you look back at those home run chases now?

I can only imagine what it would be like if they were right now, competitive. with Aaron Judge. But at the same time, how do I view that? At the time, I didn't know. At the time, that was my challenge to face those guys, which I did. The homers I gave up to some of those guys, I don't regret. I thought that having the biggest challenge out there will make me only better. And, you know, kept my pride up.

The fact that now I know that they were using PEDs and I was clean makes me feel even better. Because I face all those guys with some advantage to some of them and still could not beat me. Let me ask you about broadcasting. You've been doing television now for eight years on MLB Network and Turner. What do you like about broadcasting? I think it's a platform and the opportunity I have to bring to the audience, what I know, what I think, what I understand. And broadcasting gives me the opportunity to continue to have that communication with the people, the young athletes, the fans. And at the same time, I'm able to continue to learn and, and,

and transmit some of the things that I would love to show everybody by playing. But my body doesn't allow me, but my mind does. And this is a great way to not only bring the right information to the people, I take advantage of the platform to actually communicate with my fan base, with the players' fan base. I'm the voice behind the player and the situations that come up. I can actually teach, you know, the audience some of the things that I understand from my point of view are happening during the game and during whatever situation that there is in the game because I went through a lot. And I learned a lot from the game and I learned a lot from the situations.

and a lot of people probably wouldn't understand it as good if you didn't have the experience to explain it to send the message across in a clear way. When you were winding up your career in MLB, was it your plan to try to become a broadcaster? I swear to God, it's the only thing I never imagined. I never thought I would like being in front of a camera. and the reason I'm here is not because of the camera.

It's actually because it gives me the opportunities remain linked to the game, remain linked to what's going on, the different changes that the game is offering right now, adjusting to different things. You learn so much by just having access to information, having access to so many other things that, you know, a lot of people will be surprised how much you can actually dig into. And I think for everybody else, if they knew what we do, the kind of information we have access to,

they'll be really intrigued to come and do what we do. Give me an example of something you've dug into and said, aha, that was a learning experience. Well, I could see the little details that lead to you tipping. Why things happen mechanically in a physical body and how small they are. Small little things can throw a real good picture off the entire night and have a horrible night over something so simple. And we can pinpoint it here. I can see it. I can see it when it happens.

I can slow it down and bring it back. It's so much information that actually I'm like a kid in a candy store. I'm like I'm searching for everything I see. I'm searching for everything I can get my eyes and my hands. It's really interesting to get to know and explain that to the people and explain why things happen and be so accurate with it. This gives you the opportunity to be accurate. And, you know, it also helps a lot the fact that we can relate the message to some of the players

and they can make the adjustment and make the game better. It is really important. For me, that's one of the biggest things that I like about being here is being able to help others improve their game, improve their knowledge, improve what they're watching. Players have told you that. They've heard you say something in TV. about their mechanics and say, okay, I fixed it because you mentioned it on television? Not only that. I've had a lot of players come up, especially from Dominica,

and approached me about the things that I saw. And I actually had opportunities where I have been able to work with some of them mechanically. I also had the opportunity to have conversations during the season when I go to a different baseball field. My own group of guys in Boston when I see something, I say something and to see if we can fix it on time. And some of those guys have approached me to work physically with me. Some of those guys have expressed how much respect and admiration and how much they appreciate what I do.

Some of them take the pieces that we managed to find here to fix their mechanics. it is a great sense of joy when you see someone improving based on the fact that you help them out somehow, even by videos here, you know, by TV. When you first started working for MLB Network, what was the hardest thing for you about television? About television was probably, it was probably, you know, just understanding how, careful you need to be, how accountable you need to be. I came in completely naked when it came to understanding completely how accountable you need to be when you say something in front of a camera when it's recorded and it could be exposed so much to the entire world in just a second. that kind of got me worried a little bit, but at the same time, I just said, you know what,

if I keep my nose in baseball, if I keep it clean, if I just say it the way I know it, and I don't think anybody will have any problem with that. I'm a straight shooter. Like, I love saying it the way it's supposed to be said. And, you know, I take pride on doing that, but at the same time, I don't forget. how hard the game is. I don't forget how hard the players work. A lot of people don't know that it's really difficult for anybody in life to go in front of 50,000 people and embarrass himself. A lot of people don't really understand that. And I've been there. So I understand the players.

I understand their mentality. I understand what they go through. I understand that the human being inside the uniform and the number and the number in the back. the number in the front, what they mean. And, you know, somehow I'm always conscious of all that. And that's what I bring to television. I bring an honest expression. I bring over a clear, hopefully a clear communication between what's going on. And I try to leave that with the fans and what they expect.

to see. And after that, I'm just extremely happy to have the opportunity and honors to have the opportunity. You had a line in your autobiography that I loved. You wrote, the Boston writers would frequently tell me I spoke better English than Roger Clemens, but I still felt that the meaning behind my English words was too blunt or too deep to be grasped. Do you ever worry about being too blunt or too deep on television? No, because that's who I am. And I mean, I'm saying it honestly. I am the way I am.

And just like I'm having this conversation with you, I will have it with anybody. And I'll tell you straight up what bothers me, what doesn't. I gave it up. So what do you want me to say? I just feel like they were my daddies today. I'm going to say it. I don't see anything wrong with saying the truth.

When you played for the Red Sox, you dealt with the Boston sports media every day. What did that feel like? It was boring for me. It was interesting for them, but I always faced them. I gave them straight, honest answers from me, not from anybody. I didn't fake it. I didn't want to go out there and run away from whatever happened. I got my butt kick today, and I didn't have anything on the mound today.

So anything else that you want me to say? I mean, that's what it is. And today I sucked. What can I say? What else you want me to say? You saw it. You know the numbers.

It was just five innings, five runs, and two strikeouts. So that's a horrible night. I'm sorry. Take that. The numbers you can put together. And I don't think I need to be saying. anything else. That's who I am and that's how I was. And I'll continue to be that way.

And it was boring for you because you felt you were answering the same questions night after night or talking about something you had just done and everybody had seen. That's exactly it. When you have seen it, when you know your baseball better than anybody, when you dig in, but they always seem to kind of want to get you to say something that will play for them, even if it hurt me or hurt the team or hurt my teammates feeling or whatever. And that, I would say roughly, never happened, never happened because I'll just give you straight answers and sometimes it will be boring for them that I just said, no, no, I sucked. Didn't you see the game?

What were you watching? and they'll get a kick out of it because, well, what do you mean? What were you watching? I gave up six. You know, they leave me up today. And what do you want me to do? Didn't you see it was just four innings? You want me to explain four innings and six runs and how I gave up two homers?

I mean, you saw it. So that made it boring for me, but interesting for them. Speaking of the Red Sox, they are in last place in the AL East. How do you feel when the Red Sox have a bad season? I feel horrible. That's not the culture I left there. That's not the culture I want to see in Boston. But at the same time, you have good years.

Sometimes you have bad years, but everything goes around your health. And if you're not healthy, you're not sinking. with the rest of your teammates, you're getting a teammate today and another tomorrow and another in two weeks and another goals for two weeks. It's really difficult to sink the entire team. Pitching is not there. Relievers are not there. One comes up and has a little bit of success, but the other one is struggling. It's really difficult to deal with difficult years. And the struggling years like this year's been for the Red Sox normally comes around, health and they haven't been healthy the entire year.

Some of the players that have been healthy have produced for Boston, which is the case of Bogart, Devers, J.D. Martinez, guys that are known to do what they do are going to have some success and you're going to see the numbers, you know, show up. But some of the guys haven't been successful, even though they have the talent. It's just because they're not healthy and they're not out there to repeat those kind of mechanics and feel for pitching and pitches that they have, it's really difficult to go through a year like that.

When I saw you at MLB Network Studios a few years ago, you told me one thing you really wanted to do was sit down and have a big interview with Roger Clemens, where you just picked his brain and asked him about pitching. Did that ever happen? Yes, I have. I have the opportunity. I have had the opportunity to sit down with him in a personal way. and just talk baseball.

Same thing, I just saw the series, Nolan, facing Nolan. I'm so intrigued to sit down with Nolan Ryan just to, you know, debower what he did, how he did it, how he went about it. Nolan Ryan, as you know, was one of my idols also. You know, who grew up in baseball

and didn't know Nolan Ryan, especially, you know, back in the 80s, when Nolan Ryan was that elite, the most dominant picture that you could see right along with Don Seaver. I'm intrigued about a lot of people. I'm also intrigued about talking to Barack Obama. And another person that I wanted to kind of interview

or have an opportunity to talk was Nelson Mandela. It's people that their minds and their brains and their knowledge intrigues me. I mean, I want to know why, and why is it that they were so great, and they're so, so bright. And the same thing goes to baseball. There are players that I love talking to. There are players that I would love to know them better. I'm a curious person, and I'm always studying and learning from everybody.

Let's say you sat down with Obama. What's the first question you ask him? I just want to take him to his background. and have him explain to me what motivated him to be the kind of person that he was and the mentality he has. He's very well respect all over the world. How you get to be the way he was. And not that I want to be like him or anything like that,

but what made him so unique, so special. And how he achieved that. What was it? what was the combination? Was it Michelle? Was it his parents? His background, he's growing up,

his upbringing by his family. There's so many things. I think that if we have a conversation between me and him, it will probably become more fluent as you get to hear or to see his smile, to see his sincerity, to see his eyes. I think it's really important.

I believe so much in looking someone in the eyes and just having conversations. So what intrigues you is finding a person who's had a great career, like you had a great career, and then basically working backwards and saying, how did you get here? What were the things that made you great? Yeah, yeah. I'm always intrigued about the special person. So I had the opportunity to talk to Albert Pooleholz the other day, and I just did not get enough of above the poohalls and his dedication, his background, how he grew up.

I pretty much know because I grew up pretty much the same way, but to hear from the person, from the one that lived it, what is like to be in the spot. It's just amazing. It's amazing to get to know the human being. And then you get the feel for their heart, their souls, and how they express themselves, how much respect they have for other people. What makes them so well-liked by everybody, by society? And to get to know that in a personal way,

it's sometimes more important than it is about your career. Your career is a number. I did that too, but I feel like nobody ever knew me as a person. And now, as we're speaking, you get into know that I'm very different than I was. when I was competing. When I was competing, I didn't want you around. I didn't want to be your friend. I didn't want to be anybody's friend.

I just went out there to knock you down, to put you down, and keep you on the ground if I could, and beat you somehow and find a way to beat you. After the game, yeah, we can go out for a beer to have rice and beans. But no, during the game, no, no, no. Not Dominicans, no, the Israelis,

not Americans, I didn't want nobody. Nobody messing around with my game. A couple more for you, Pedro. The Red Sox are in last place, but the New York Mets are in first place, and you played four seasons with the Mets. How is your attachment to the Mets

different than your attachment to the Red Sox? Well, as you know, the Red Sox, for me, were the door that opened to most of my success in my career. And the city of Boston, Boston has a unique link to me. And as much as I love being in the Mets, it will never be the same because not only I spent longer time in Boston,

not only I built and got really a special relationship with the fan base, with management, with the people, with the workers, with everybody. It's a very unique relationship. Like when Pedro gets to Boston, you never know what's going to happen, but it's going to be fun. It's going to be love between mutual sides. It's going to be interesting. You never know. They're going to support me in whatever I do.

They're going to treat me like a king. Not that I don't get that in New York. I do get it. And I love the Mets. And I love my time in the Mets. It was just that I did not have enough. time to, which we have a real good relationship, but to mature that relationship that I was building with the fan days, with New York, that connection that I had with Boston, build it in New York

and let it grow. I did not have enough time to do that. And that's one part I regret, and also not winning it. Because I went to New York with the purpose of winning in the Nationally, just like I can't deal in Boston. That was a message you gave to Jacob de Grom and Max Scherzer last month. It was, I think you used the phrase, unfinished business in New York. Because it's some of the things that you have in your, in your, in your, in your, in your, in your, in your, in your, in your, in your, if you give me another opportunity,

I would go in trying to achieve. I would love to try and achieve that. And, and, and, and I can't anymore. So I had to rely on the two guys that will probably give you the best impression of me on the mound being healthy. How did you find Met fans different than Red Sox fans? The Boston Red Sox fans are more insightful. They read more. They expect more.

They demand more. Very supportive, though. The most supportive fan base that you can find in all of baseball. regardless of whether you struggle or not. It depends on the series. Well, I can tell you, I have nothing to say about the fan base of Boston because I never experienced pitching on an empty seat in Boston.

I might be the only one that could probably say never pitched with an empty seat at Fenway Park. So that's, for me, it's very unique. It's very, uh, It's very sentimental because I can't actually talk or speak on behalf of anybody else. I can only speak on my behalf. And my behalf is I never pitch with an empty seat. So that's a very unique way to live your life in Boston.

With the Mets, less expectations, a lot of fun kind of while, which I have a little bit, of me, a little bit of me, a lot of me probably, is loose and wild. And I wanted to be out there and I wanted to kind of, you know, enjoy the moment with the fans. And I did that. And New York really perceived that I had that kind of wildness in me and kind of passionate at the same time because I'll go to the game and it will be the same thing I showed in Boston. But then when I was in pitching, they really soaked in my attitude. I was happy. I was a happy camper.

I would throw bubble gum. I would jump in the stands and run with anybody or play catch with anybody from the stands and run around and be loud. And they loved that. And that's why they love me and I love them too because we had a lot in coming, especially when I wasn't pitching. But when I was pitching, they got what they wanted from. me.

Pedro Martinez, thanks for coming on the press box. Well, thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure. I guess we can call each other Colleen. I love it. Thank you so much, Pedro. I really appreciate it. It's time for the second weekly edition of David Shoemaker Guesses,

the strained pun headline. All right. Monday's headline about a military vehicle called the dingo ending Germany's wishy-washy attitude toward aid to Ukraine was the dingo ate my maybe Today's headline comes from the LA Times It's the story of British royal succession Queen Elizabeth was on the throne for seven decades

But as the paper notes barring accident or revolution The UK is set to have a man Rather than a woman on the throne deep into the 21st century, perhaps even into the 22nd. A bunch of dudes will be sitting atop the British throne, David. What was the LA Times' strained pun headline? Man. Men.

What does a monarch do when they're on the throne? No, it's raining men. It's raining men. That's great. Man. Didn't we have that in another context? I don't know, but I appreciate it. I seem to remember singing part of that hit song to you somewhere along the line.

He is David Shoemaker. I'm Brian Curtis. Production Magic by Devin Manzi. We are back Monday with more lukewarm takes about the media. See you then, David. See you later, Brian.