Throwbacks with Matt Leinart & Jerry Ferrara - Alex Rodriguez On Shohei Ohtani, the World Series, Working with Jeter and Papi and New Doc

Episode Date: October 23, 2025

World Series champion Alex Rodriguez joins to talk the Dodgers and Blue Jays clashing for this year’s World Series, Shohei Ohtani’s all-time status, the camaraderie he has with his MLB on Fox crew Derek Jeter and David Ortiz. Plus, A-Rod discusses his new HBO documentary Alex vs. ARod as well as his HBO debut, a cameo on Jerry’s Entourage. He also rants on his YouTube series on hitting, being a girl dad and even picks his top 3 Yankees he never played with, plus so much more.   Matt and Jerry kick the show off by celebrating the start of the NBA season and Matt tells his Shohei Ohtani story. Plus Annie Agar joins for another round of Twisted Tea Trivia and a look at who might be the worst team in the NFL this year.   New episodes of Throwbacks drop every Thursday. Make sure you’re subscribed on YouTube and following on all podcast platforms. Also, make sure you’re locked in on social @ThrowbacksShow on all platforms for highlight moments, bonus content, and to engage with the guys & the Throwbacks community. (http://throwbacksshow.com/)      A big thank you to our sponsors:    Wendy’s Wake up with Wendy’s breakfast https://www.wendys.com/breakfast  Twisted Tea Grab a Refreshing Twisted Tea Today.  https://www.twistedtea.com/locations  DoorDash Win weekly with DoorDash Streaks! Order every Saturday, save up to $250 during College Football Season. Terms Apply.    NHTSA  When the stop-arm is out, lives are on the line. Stop Means Stop https://www.nhtsa.gov/road-safety/school-bus-safety?utm_source=sinclair&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=schoolbus2025&utm_content=fnr_custom#the-topic-stop-for-school-buses    Zip Recruiter  Try FOR FREE at http://Ziprecruiter.com/Throwbacks  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How invested are you with the team and stuff? Man, it's kind of sick. I'm embarrassed to say. I usually watch the games three times, which is, again, it comp is exactly the same sick person that I was in baseball. Welcome to another episode of Throwbacks, everybody. I'm giddy today. Real giddy.

Before we get into why, don't forget, follow us on all social media platforms at Throwback Show. Go to the YouTube, hit the subscribe button. We know you guys are afraid to hit subscribe sometimes.

It's free. Don't worry about it. Throwback show. Hit the subscribe button. Maddie Ice. Matt Niner. What's up? Of all the things

you have done to make throwbacks great. And you've done a lot of things. I've said, that a lot. You've done a lot of things. So of you, so of you.

No, but like, you know, you do a lot of things to make this show great. Thank you. You have facilitated a guest today that I couldn't sleep last night knowing we were having this guy come on. I'm going to leave the floor to you to tell everybody who. I would say the most nervous I'd ever seen you on throwbacks was getting Justin Thomas by far. That was pretty nerve-wracking. Well, this one, I know you're Yankees guy. and I know he is one of your favorite

baseball players of all time one your favorite Yankees of all time we have Alex Rodriguez in a bomb from Arod that was the call he used to say we have A-Rod on this episode and it is fantastic I'm gonna leave it at that

everybody has this is talking about you know he's got a dot coming out that he talks about a little bit he talks about the MLB show on Fox he talks about being the father and some of the stuff he's learned. It is incredible, and we appreciate him coming on, throwbacks. It's the most nervous I've been. And I have had the pleasure of seeing the HBO documentary, Alex versus Arod already.

We talk about it in the interview as well. I encourage everybody, Yankee fan, non-Yanky fan, baseball fan, non-baseball fan. Check out the documentary because it's more of a human study more than anything. It's really, really good. And yeah, man, he nerded out about a baseball swing. Like, what's not to love? So that's coming up. Can't wait for people to listen. That's coming up in a minute. I'll try to contain myself till then. But we do also have some other fun stuff, Mad. I mean, basketball is upon us. I know. This is like, this is the happiest I've seen you in a long time. Because your giants, I know last, I know last week, you're not going to bring it up. But there's, there's excitement around the giants. And now we got the Knicks back on and NBA's bag. This is like, this is the best version of Jerry that I get throughout the year is, is fall.

Would you have believed me when we started throwbacks a year ago, year plus ago, if I would have said, going in to 2025 football, baseball, basketball, all of it, the hope, the great hope for New York City sports will be the New York Knicks. If you would have told me I was a crazy person, it's either going to be the Yankees, maybe the Jets get hot, the Mets have like a billion dollar payroll at Juan Soto. It wouldn't have been necessarily the Knicks, although they were in good shape. but now sad that town's missed the game already I'm just ready for it because it's a good palette cleanse I love football football's unbelievable I need a change of pace man I take football losses so hard the next day at least with basketball it's like you lose

alright there's a game tomorrow next game no it's it's a great time of the year man your Dodgers in the world series I mean you're gonna go back to back on us yeah I mean I think we're unbeatable I'm planning on going to game 3 next week. You're going to go to game three. I'm going to go to game three. My brother and I are going to take my pop. We're going to take my pop probably.

You never know how many more you get with, we don't know how many more we'll get with my dad. We also don't know how many more World Series attempts will get. I know they're loaded and I get that, but sports are tough. So we are going to plan on taking them to game three. I might even, I might even see A-Rod there. I know that the Fox guys are going to be there.

But, yeah. Do you cross paths with A-Rod and Jeter and Ortiz a lot or not, not really. I used to, when, when, when, when I was in studio right before Big Noon and Arod came on and this was before Jeter, so this was Frank Thomas, it was Frank and Pete Rose was there and Arod came in. It was kind of his first couple years

and Big Poppy was a part of it. We would sit on, in this part of the year in October. We would sit in a green room in Fox and it would be the college football guys. It would be me, Wonstad, Rob, and Robert Smith because that was our crew then and we would be in the same room with those guys and it was like and there's awesome there's 15 TVs going on in the middle the big one that's on in the middle and I would be talking college football with big hurt Pete would be telling a story poppy would be playing like mess around he was like the jokester like he's how you would see on

TV just great a rod is there taking notes like it was like and you know it was just like a kid in a start for me because I'm a baseball nut at heart like I love baseball so yeah we used to cross pass that's where I got to know Alex a little bit and man he's he is grown into one of the best on TV and um yeah man what I mean what a show dude so has otani climbed your list not of goats like we all know he's a goat in his own right but just one of your favorite dodgers not best but like favorite to watch like oh I have to watch no tani at that has he climbed to oh yeah top of the mountain he he's he's just just, how would I compare, like, Jordan, I was obviously younger, maybe Kobe, right? Kobe was

like, I'm a Lakers guy and Kobe was my favorite player. But any chance they were on TV, like, oh, I got to watch Kobe, right? I got to watch him play this game. Shohay, to me, is he's must see TV. Like, I don't, well, even when he strikes out, like, I don't care, man, I got to see him. And I tell this, I'm going to tell this funny story real quick. I put this on my Instagram. I don't know if remember this. I caught Reggie Bush's first pitch at a Dodger game last year. Yes. And it was

a whole surprise and all this stuff with Reg. And I'm down, I'm downstairs in the cages, right, behind the dugout. And I'm in full uniform, dude, full Dodger uniform, full catcher's gear. And I'm sitting there in the hallway, and I'm like, I'm like five minutes before first pitch. And I look to my left and down the hallways come in Shohay. I'm by himself. And I'm like,

I told my boy, I'm like, holy Dude, I should play it. I had this video. We could, we should play it. I had this video. He comes up to me. And he had no clue who I was, zero clue. He's like, who, who who's the guy? Who's this lefty guy? He just comes up to me. Shakes my hand, like, nods and smiles. Like, hey, you know, nice to meet you. And then just goes, goes up into the dugout. It was like, holy. That was show here. Tani. Just shook me. taller than you. We're about to say. I'm pretty tall. I think I'm probably a little taller. He's just thick. He's just a big dude. Yeah, so he's like a solid six four. He's like, no, he's easily six four. Because I'm like a solid six five. He's six four, two 40. Like he's got to be, he was big.

And I was like, and I looked at my guy, I'm like, dude, that was pretty cool. Like that was awesome. So yeah, he is. It's just, it's must-see TV, man. I mean, that's like, yeah. He's done so much already. And we forget a year ago, you and I were barking at each other because it was Yankees Dodgers. He was hurt in that World Series and still had some hits.

He didn't win MVP. obviously, but he was not healthy. He didn't remember he wasn't pitching in the World Series last year. He has a real opportunity to rewrite the books. And he's already, has done that, but we really will have to rewrite some books if he does what he can do.

I think if he hits well, and obviously we know the game that just happened, and I don't know if he'll ever get to do that again, but if he pitches well and he hits well, whether he's MVP or not, because I see the doubters out there. He, in my opinion, will go down already as the greatest baseball player we've ever seen. And the greatest talent that this sport has ever seen by far.

I agree. Well, if you want more Otani baseball talk, stay tuned. Because coming up right now, an A-Bomb from A-Rod. Only New Yorkers will get that. Alex Rodriguez joining us. That's the famous radio call John Sterling. Every time he'd home, he was, Hey, bomb from A-Rod, it became a thing.

This week on throwbacks, we have an actual goat, the legend. This man played 22 season, the MLB, accumulating almost 700 home runs, 14-time all-star. I hope I'm getting all these numbers right, because this is crazy. Ten silver sluggers,

a couple golden gloves, world championship. He's a World Series champion. He's a girl dad of two. He is a business leader, and now the governor of the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Lynx, the man who has been cemented

in the baseball memories of America Alex Rodriguez. Well, man, I need to travel with you, but you're like my age. You might feel good. I'm your hype man. And you forgot Entourage actor for like 30 seconds with my man Jerry. That's what I was going to say.

You know, we're so excited for the HBO doc, you know, Alex versus Aeron. But that is not your first appearance on HBO. Your first appearance on HBO is Entourage. What do you even remember? remember from that shoot, because that must have been wild for you, because you were in season, if I recall. How atrocious of an actor I am.

No. So, it was fun, though. We had a blast. So I remember really quickly, we had approached Tashara about wanting to get you guys on the show. And the word that came back from Tashara and you was, we're not doing that until we win a ring. Then you guys won the ring. I was at the Regis Philbin show. You guys were there celebrating your ring.

and I looked at to Cher, I'm like, it's time, right? It's like, yeah, maybe. We'll see what happens. I'm like, and it ended up happening, which was huge for us with Autaraj. We've always been, like, indebted to you guys. I mean, to shoot at Yankee Stadium with Alex Rodriguez was unbelievable for us. So thank you, buddy. That was such a, you're welcome.

And that was such a cool moment. I mean, first of all, coming off winning a title in New York, there's nothing like it. And then you guys had these show for so many years. I mean, you basically were pioneers in the world of that everyone feels like you have a show. now but back then that was the show well speaking to shows too you're on my favorite show right now because you guys are absolutely killing it with the MLB show especially now obviously the playoffs are going you got four sports Emmys you have more Emmys than entourage ever produced so congrats how is that how has this playoff run been for you guys and now we're coming to the big day

friday's first pitch world series like jerry this is like the coolest time of the year for me I honestly, like, I put everything in my life besides, you know, my, my loved ones on pause for the entire month of October because it takes so much out of us because we're in it every day. And, but, you know, fans like you and Matt that may not watch every single day of every day, you guys tune in for October. And it gives an opportunity to talk about the game that we love so much and really have a little fun. I think you get a little bit of hopefully some good information and some good entertainment. And I think the world needs a little bit more laugh, especially before they go to bed at night. And, you know, to be reunited back with two great friends

with Derek and Big Poppy and Kevin Berker. I mean, I just think the four of us work really, really well. And I think we're getting better as we go. I want to dive into the show, Woodmore, because I've gotten to know, obviously, you guys with Fox and KB's the best. And just briefly on this matchup of, and you've talked about Otani.

And it's pretty rare that we're seeing someone like him. you are considered one of the greatest baseball players in my mind and probably millions of people's minds throughout the world from your perspective on what he's been able to do and what he continues to do. I don't want to ask you, is he the greatest baseball player of all time? But how would you describe what he's been able to do? You know, Matt, in many ways, you hear the term, you know,

if Jerry does a great job or, man, you throw five touchdowns, someone may say that's a Ruthian feat, right? Going back to Babe Ruth, you know, over 100 years ago. I think this young man is getting to the point where it's like, is this an Otanian feat, right? And really the definition goes above and beyond any sport, it transcends sports. But in many ways, the best player I've ever seen in my life

by a long shot is Barry Bonds. I mean, he could just do everything on the field, hardest work or smartest. I mean, the guy was just a freak. Yep. And the best pitcher ever saw was Roger Clemens, right? Seven Side Young, just a complete warrior and played for, you know, 25 years. Otani is a combination of both.

And that's the highest compliment I can give. I've never seen anyone like that in my lifetime. And I don't think in our lifetime we'll ever see anything like that again. It's really phenomenal, especially what we're seeing. So when you're prepping for the World Series, one thing, and we'll talk about the doc too, which I saw and I loved and I'm not going to spoil too. much of it because it's coming soon. But you really got the feel of the fact that you are such a baseball historian and a student of the game and how even like the stories in the doc about how

like some guy like Jeter, I think was like, no, we'll talk baseball after the game. And I was like, what? What do we talk about then? I got to imagine you're approaching prepping for even, you know, the broadcast show the same way, right? Like are you looking at Dodgers, Blue Jays almost approaching like if you were playing? Yeah. And I remember. looking at it like three-dimensional right one is the architect of the team and like what is what are the thoughts of why they put this team together right are they a big market team or is it more like david versus goliath brewers versus the you know big bad you know dodgers and and how can a team that's spending 150 million dollars be the team that spending 500 and kind of explaining that

Then I'm talking about it from a, you know, I always say the three Ss, right? It's superstars strategy storylines. And think about from a manager's point of view, like what are his positions? Because I want to really break it down for the audience at home saying what are the ramifications if you take a picture out in the third inning? How does that affect the seventh or eighth inning? And in a seven game series, you're playing a team seven times in ten days. That never happens in the course of a six-month season.

So again, you have to be able to really play chess, not checkers. And then from a player's perspective, what are they thinking, you know, who's hot, who's not, and obviously all the X's and O's. But I love to watch Jerry. So it's not like I have to do something that like, oh, my God, you're twisting my arm. I got to watch baseball. Like, I love watching baseball. I think I remember, Alex, when you first started TV.

And again, I'm a lot younger and I've been a fan of yours. I was a baseball player growing up. And seeing you from early on. And, you know, we have Bardia. We have all this. We have a lot of crossover producers, Jerry, in our world at Fox Sports. So, like, we're just like one big, intimate family, and everybody loves sports. And I remember, actually, we were in the green, the avocado room a couple times together and just sitting there.

And from there to now, like, to watch you, it's been really incredible. The knowledge, I think one of my favorite clips is you and Pete Rose, the late Pete Rose, just talking, like, hitting, just talking baseball. Where do you think personally you have grown that? the most on like on TV and stuff because it is hard it's different right it's a different world than just shooting the shit with your boys and talking baseball where do you think because I think you've become the best on TV talking baseball where have you grown the most thank you thank you Matt you made me for very old when you said you're a lot younger than me but you're right because I'm more than him too yeah no I think look and I think just to double click on what you said Matt

which I agree 100% working at Fox I mean it's a public company but it's ran by like like a family. And one of the things they do so well is, like, is probably when you were back at USC, right? Like, I feel like we're in Fox University and Fox Sports University. And what I mean by that is whether you play basketball, football, baseball, we're all wear the same jersey. We're just kind of in different sports. And that's what's so cool about Fox. You know, for me, this has been a very hard transition. I remember, like, life is a set of transition. Like, I went from shortstop to third base. I went from being a baseball player to a businessman. I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would ever, ever, ever be on TV broadcasting. I just thought that wasn't for me.

But I've worked really hard at it because what's challenging about television and also fun is you have to be concise with your point. Like some people have great points, but if it takes you seven and a half minutes, it's just not going to work. Or maybe more podcast is a better platform. but live television you may have 15 seconds to make a really important point and then how do you articulate your words not only to explain it well but to make it digestible for the viewer and make it fun like I'm always thinking about it from the prism of like you know my girls are older now but like when my daughters were in third grade and fifth grade can they understand me can't because in October you know just like the big games you have on Saturdays right as you get to the end

the season, the audience is much wider and they may not be as knowledgeable, right? So you've got to make sure you don't lose them. And sometimes I find that too many people through too many numbers at people. And I'll ask my mom or my daughter, I'm like, yeah, I just turned the channel off that. I was, you put him in to sleep. But if you tell me a story, I'm going to dig in, right? So that's how I've tried to work on it. I got a long ways to go. Long-winded answer to say Barty's a big key. He's the kind of puppet master that makes, you know, Bardia Chiray is our, you know, main producer with Kaplan, and we have a wonderful team. And the continuity of it, you know, Kevin and I have been together now for 11 years.

Yeah. That's crazy. 11 years. Wow. Did you lock the front door? Check. Close the garage door? Yep.

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Conditions apply So I'm lucky in the sense where I got to see the documentary Alex versus A rod a little early Maybe it was the HBO help too But knowing you were coming on I'm not going to spoil anything I encourage everyone to watch it But the first couple of things I thought of that, first of all, it's almost, I thought, you know, here's a guy who doesn't need to do this.

Like, if you didn't want to do it, you for sure don't have to, but you did. How long did it take you to getting used to, all right, I'm going to tell my story with a camera on me. Did it happen right away or did you have to kind of warm up to it once you started that process of making the documentary? Yeah, that's a good question, Jerry. You know, it took me 15 years. and I think 15 years because I don't think emotion I was ready to be so raw

and what you saw I'll give you a little glimpse to your viewers and listeners on the documentary I think there's a story about a flawed man that happened to play baseball

and therapy saved his life and Dr. David is a figure that if you see the documentary you'll understand that in many ways a part of me died when I got suspended and it cost me the Hall of Fame which kind of really sucks but I have no one to blame but myself but in many ways it saved my life because I was able to work on the tools rewire the brain and make me I believe a better person to be a better father a better friend a better owner and just a better you know just dude you know you know one thing too

and I think we saw a little bit this when like the last dance with MJ but But, you know, I thought I knew everything about your career, right? But obviously, I don't know you all that well as a person. And first of all, totally forgot you were from Washington Heights. Like, as a dired Yankee fan, I'm like, that's right. Arod. Alex is from Washington Heights, man. We could claim you.

You're a New York dude. Yeah, for sure. But the other thing that I always find is a fan interesting. And again, I'm not going to spoil one of the main plot points. But all I'll say is you had a series in Minnesota where you just went off. Now, you had stuff going on behind the scenes that none of us fans know and I'm not going to say what it is today

go watch the doc, but that's what for me is so cool as a fan. We never know what's going on in your personal lives when you're going and playing in front of the whole world. I thought it was really cool for you to share that. Yeah, and you know, Jerry,

remember most of my career wasn't in the social media era. Right. So then you become a victim or just a bystander in your own story because everybody's telling it for you. whether it's the New York Post, the New York Times, or whoever's writing about you. And we didn't have the tools to not necessarily fire back, but, you know, to control our narrative or our message.

Right. Because you needed a reporter. And then if it was Sports Illustrated, it will come out every Thursday. And it's just a different world we live in today. So part of my mission or kind of my goal with this documentary is to finally be able to tell my own story with my own words, with my own truth. and to be able to share that. And if young, I'm thinking about like if a young Alex Rodriguez is watching this at the age of 15, hopefully those youngsters can learn from my dumb mistakes and can hopefully avoid some of those mistakes.

I mean, I think when everyone sees this, they're going to appreciate the vulnerability and just the authenticity coming from you. And there's just, there's always been a disconnect sometimes, especially in that era, because I was right, I was pre-social media, but just between the fan, and the athlete. What do you, the last one for me on the doc, Alex, is what do you hope people take away from it when they watch it? You know, the great Mike Francesa,

who's now has become a friend and is one of the great voices of New York, one of the great voices of sports radio around the world, Mike and the Mad Dog was an institution. And he had a great line where he said, you know, Alex is a Shakespearean figure, one of the best blah blah blah players of all time but he's also a very flawed individual

and I think this is about a flawed individual that happened to play baseball and made his brightest and biggest mistakes in the great platform and spotlight of New York City and that was difficult but it's still a human being behind that right you can take the Hall of Fame away you can take whatever you can take all the shots

I still take great pride that I've been able to learn from those mistakes I feel like I'm a really incredible father. I have a great relationship with my girls. And part of that is because my father left me at the age of 10. It's not because I'm this great guy or whatever. It's because when he left me, I remember my dad left at the age of 10. I saw my mom collect food stamps at age of 12.

And I remember going down to one knee and praying. I said, two prayers. Please let me make enough money to take care of mom because I know she's going through a hard time of a single mother. two jobs, food stamps trying to raise her three kids. And then second, if I ever have a great opportunity to be a father, I'm going to be the best father I can be, just because I felt like my situation was pretty shitty at that time.

And that's been exactly what's happened, right? So it doesn't, your worst moments for me doesn't define you. You get an opportunity to grow from them. So something else I noticed, obviously I'm a huge basketball fan. There is a sequence in the dock where we get, A little close up of the Alex, the jumper. You got a jumper. Obviously, everyone wants to talk to you about baseball, right?

And I get it. But, like, basketball is truly one of my passions. And I could see it's one of yours. That jumper looks wet, my man. What was the basketball game? Like, you know, I saw there was, like, some footage of you and Jeter back in the day messing around. What was the hoops game like? I love hoops.

Like, by the way, I don't know anybody that doesn't like hoops. Like, right? And, like, I just think, like, I love sports. I mean, Matt, Jared. I know we all share that in common. Sports is a great connector of people, and that's pretty awesome. But I do think that the best seat in the house of any sports is on the floor for your favorite basketball team.

I mean, there's nothing like it. It's really cool. And, you know, it's funny because, Matt, I know that you really, and Jerry, you like youth sports as well. I think one of the great mistakes that young people do today is they go too narrow and deep too quickly with one sport. And I was a quarterback, I was a point guard, and I was a shortstop. And I quite honestly learned more kind of great lessons, virtues, and all of that by the other sports

that was able to cross over and play baseball. And it was a great asset to me to be able to play that many sports. So basketball was just a tall point guard, shot was okay, but can dribble and pass pretty well. is that is that you know you started um you should ask jerry about his shot in our shooting competition i i look to him last year but it's okay i will and you you know you started the youtube series on the baseball and hitting all that which i think is great and it's probably naturally your way of kind of giving back and teaching is is that why you did it just because you sports now are like it's it's just it's crazy right you're talking about the one sport and specializing in one and

sometimes high school coaches not allowing kids to play multiple sports what kind of went behind this for you and starting the YouTube stuff? Yeah, I mean, that's one of the great gifts that we have in today's world in 2025 that we can actually, just like we're doing, you know, I'm at my house, you guys are wherever you're at and we could just, you know, chop it up over 30, 45 minutes. So the ability to reach a lot of people with very little effort, I think is pretty cool. But I was finding in my experience that no matter what meeting or what venue or what charity, I was at, like somebody like Jerry, you would pop up and say, hey, can I ask you one question?

I have a son and he's, you know, eight years old and, you know, he's thinking about an uppercut. And I was getting this like hundreds of times like everywhere it went over and over and over again. And then someone sort of saying, can you do anything on YouTube and just put some stuff out? And I just did one or two. And then people started coming up to me. I said, oh my God, we're using this with your son. I was hitting batting practice just like Jerry did. So I just said, you know, why not? I mean, there's a good way for me to you know, give back and share some thoughts and at least put some good information out there because I do think there's a lot of crazy stuff that's being taught right now for the wrong

reasons. You know what's funny too. And I love that you use golf references. Like I don't, don't hit this like a pitching way. I actually use it for golf. I'm like, wait, because you say in one of them, no, uppercuts for a golf swing. So I remind myself, don't do a baseball swing on the golf course to do a golf swing. I mean, all the kids in my son's like coach pitch team watch. One of the kids, this kid Sam was literally like, when you heard, I told someone, I bragged. I'm like, oh, we're having Alex Rodriguez on. He's like, what does he mean when he's talking about slowing the heartbeat down in big moments and staying calm? And I'm like, I think it's really cool that a nine-year-old kid wants to know about that as opposed to just like, you know, leveling out your swing. So it's

hitting all for all these young kids. I can tell you that, at least over here. It's really hitting. That's really cool. What is, what is X, what, I don't even want to, I don't even know why I want to ask you this, but I always see, like, the, like, what is that, what does that mean? Like, when they try to do this and they come up, like, is it the, you know what I'm talking about? Yeah. Like, I don't know if the listeners aren't going to understand what I'm trying to say, but the, what is that?

Like, why do they do that now? Was being taught today's launch angle, right? And, uh, it, it's such a tough thing to do. Like, I'm a learner that if, when I play golf, I'd rather have someone, like, give me one good tip and then leave me alone. But if you're going to try to give me, like, you're going to try to give me, like, like a formality, like, I don't play enough for, I'm never going to be scratched. So don't give me, like, fancy lessons. Like, I just don't function that way. So I'm the kind of guy,

if I say, Jerry, I want you to jump high. Instead of, like, giving you the scientific method behind how you jump high, I'm going to throw your basketball and say, try to dunk the basketball. And as a result, you're going to jump as high as you can. And that's just always been my way of kind of teaching and kind of find some hacks along the way. But it's just simple math, right? If you, Matt, if you're hitting and you, and you miss a hundred fastballs at the belt, how many of those do you think you're going to swing under or over out of a hundred? At the belt? Under or over? I'd say under probably, right? Yeah, but how many? Would you say, like, what percentage? Uh, 70%? Great. That's a great answer. The answer's 100%.

Right? So, so think about that. So if you're going to miss a ball, 100%, and I'm kind of, of making, for your listeners, like, not saying what I'm doing, but I'm basically saying if you're swinging 100% under the ball, why would you ever teach a kid to go more under, right? You have to teach the opposite. If you swing in under, you have to have a top posture and swing above the ball and try to swing down on it. And you see this little, what do you call this right here? This little, like your knuckle. Yeah, this knuckle. All you want to do is clip it down. And if you clip it down like that, that's all it takes. and the ball's gone.

And no one does better than in Shoah El-Tani, because he's so tall. And then you get all the nerds that get all mad, and you say, no, it's really uppercut. Yeah, but that's feel versus real. Yeah. But you can't honestly, like, try to go under because then you're going to be whack, right?

Like, it's hard. I'm not doing a great job explaining it, but the point is to stay on top of the ball. Stay on top of the ball. Who for you? Because you didn't have YouTube when you were, a kid coming up. I remember I had like one Fred McGriff VCR tape on like the art of some baseball video. You know, what were or who or what did you turn to to get your coaching when you were

nine, 10, 11 years old. You didn't have all these assets waiting for you. You didn't have Alex Rodriguez with a YouTube channel helping you. I was just a mad scientist when it came like to studying, right? I would just watch every game. You know, back in the day we had Mel Allen like Game of the week, this week in baseball, or we had the game of the week with Bob Costors, Vince Scully, and NBC. We had Monday night baseball. Like, any time I had an opportunity to watch it,

I would just watch. And then as I started getting older, I started asking a lot of questions and watching. Because I think the greatest way you can learn is through imitation, right? I think great athletes can imitate. They can copy and paste. And no one has their own original ideas.

Let's be honest, everyone copy and paste from a lot of people. But as I get into talking like Barry Bonds and Mayor Ramirez and Albert Bell and a lot of my great coaches, Luke Pinella, the number one theme is stay tall and stay on top of the ball because that's the strongest position you can. And in golf, you don't want to scoop the ball.

You want to hit the golf first. Like, I'm a bad golfer. I have my divvets are behind the ball. Same. When you play with great golfers, their divvits in front of the ball, right? And the problem is, if someone's learned academically

how to be a great hitter, it's not the same as like Barry Bonds or Manner Ramirez talking to you. It's actually been there 15, 20,000 times that bat at the big league level. So I don't know how much analytics comes into it for you. Obviously, you like numbers. You're great with numbers.

I keep getting sucked in by this one Instagram account that will go back and show like 90s baseball lineups. And you'll see like the 97 Indians, everyone's batting 300. Obviously the Yankee lineups. And then you cut to today and, you know, it's like, oh, he's batting 245. You had a really solid year. How much do you lean on numbers, analytics? when you're doing the MLB show

and when you're doing your YouTube coaching show. I think analytics is an incredible, incredibly important part of the game. And I love analytics. It also is my job to take some of those analytics and challenge them, right? There's analytics and then sometimes there's just logic.

If a guy's dominating and he's thrown a no hitter in the fourth inning, why in the world would you take that guy out? at some point you got the big plan we all need a plan but they say you know we make plan god laughs and at the end of the day you have to trust your eyes you have to still give yourself some freedom to watch the game and say this guy's dominating this guy looks like an athlete like in the zone um so those things are very important and then you know we all love home runs but at what cost if matt is going to hit you know 30 home runs but he's going to hit 150 and strike out

250 times, I would say to Matt, Matt, do me a favor. Hit 17 home runs, hit me 280 and, you know, strike out 100 times, right? Because I can't win with guys striking out 180, 190 times. Because in October, when pitching gets even better, those numbers are going to jump more and more. You won't even be able to put the ball in play. So it's all a balance, Jerry, to say analytics are important, but the human element is. And when you have the analytics, department and then you have like a guy like Theo Epstein that understands baseball and you put those together then you get what the Dodgers are doing right now they're basically dominating the world of baseball so hoops season is tipping off pretty much as we record this i'm super excited for

it i know you are i got first of all are you going to be at timber wolves road games because I'm planning on November 5th, MSG. I will be in the building. By hell or high water, I'm going to be there. Do you see yourself hitting up road games or you're going to be more of a home game kind of guy? So I probably do about a little bit more than half the games. And then I do about 20 games on the road, like New York, L.A., Miami.

And then I'll meet the team if I'm in business somewhere. Like I may fly into San Antonio or wherever. I try to plan my business schedule and my, obligations around kind of our catch wemby in san antonio that's a good stop stuff like that and i'll be at msg by the way i hope you guys get to come to the premiere which is going to be uh that week i can send you both an invite yeah that'd be great um in the lines of basketball i think it's really cool how much obviously you're giving back to baseball and just just the pure knowledge that you just gave us right now was like oh my gosh my mind is blown i can't wait to tell my five and a half year old how about swinging

I imagine you're approaching basketball and obviously being the owner of the T-Wolves and just for how much you love the basketball is now that we finally realize are you investing the same amount of time, right? Like you watch film? Like how invested are you with the team and stuff? Man, it's kind of sick.

I'm embarrassed to say. Don't be embarrassed, say it. I'll say it. We love it. I'm so embarrassed to say this, but I usually watch the games three times. So if I'm there, which is, again,

a cop is exactly the same sick person that I was in baseball. Like my ex-wife, Cynthia, would say, dude, you just went 0-4. Are you a glutton for punishment? You're going to watch this crap again? And back in 0-5-4,

when I first got to New York, you had to literally watch it. It wasn't like you had the iPad where you can just fast forward to your VAT. You had to sit there for like... So I'll watch the game and then I get home and watch the game again.

And then in the morning, I'll watch it one more time. And then I hear some podcasts about the game And what I think is great, and I've talked to Magic Johnson about this, who's one of my great mentors and great friends, is that, you know, when we talk, he's asking him about the Dodgers and I'm asking him about the Timberwolves. And the fact that we're not, you know, former basketball players or former baseball players, I think helps because there's something kind of innocent about being a novice

and you wanted to learn and not get in the way. So then it allows my partner Mark and I to just kind of macro, you know, hire the best people in the world and really get. out of their way. Set the culture, set the budgets, and then get out of the way. Have you had any of the players reach out more in a sense of, you know, played in a lot of big games, you've been a part of and are a part of a lot of big businesses? I mean, that time will come at some point, you know, is that available? I'm sure it's available to some of these guys, right? Yeah, this is my fifth year with the teams, both the Timberls and the Links.

and I've had number of every year, just like this, I meet with all our players, either in person or Zoom. You know, players today are so much smarter than when I play. They have so many more tools. They have so much more ambition. They don't want to be just great players. They want to be great business people. They want to be great families.

They want to be, you know, family people. They want to be great dressers. They want to be in your business, producing. They want to have podcasts. So their vessel is quite big. and it's great because when they come in they have their three things

they want me to talk to them about I never give any financial advice or anything I just don't have a big picture some of the things you should be thinking about and some of the things maybe you could be avoiding Alex a couple last things before we let you go we appreciate the time

I know you have two daughters and I believe one is Natasha is in college now is she in Michigan yeah she's a junior Wolverine oh boy which is great I have a nine month old baby girl and I have three boys. Best girl dad advice you could give me

or something that you've learned along the way. Well, I'm the wrong person. I've been giving the advice about a lot of things. But I would say, Matt, like I have a junior in college and my little one, Ella, is a senior in high school and wants to go to North Carolina next year. So I would say the thing that's worked best for me is we have this rule at breakfast, lunch, and dinner,

no phones and electronics. one conversation and really kind of being in the moment with them and really kind of being a girl dad where you're almost like nerdy about it like if your daughter's talking about like her favorite

lipstick like you really have to care like right I've watched more damn YouTube musical theater stuff that I have no idea what I'm watching that way when I go visit her in college and I actually go watch her in the musical theater I kind of have an idea

of what I'm watching, but I don't think it's working, but I'm working really hard at it. Oh, I love that. But I think really being engaged in their lives, right, and like making their thoughts more important. And this is honestly something that I worked in therapy a lot, right? Because I was this kid that's going to like the moon, right? And like just so focused. And I was like Rambo, like a one-trick pony, baseball, baseball, baseball. And I created all these blind spots.

And, you know, my self-awareness went to zero and my ego grew. And it wasn't like a crazy. I mean, I've known you guys forever. been a really nice guy and a gentleman, but the tools I needed to refine them. And that's also really helped me as a father. Oh, that's awesome, dude. Thank you for that. Okay, it's time now for our fresh take of the week presented by Wendy's. Wake up with a Wendy's breakfast. I got a question for Alex Rodriguez. It's my hard-hitting question of the day. Here we go. So, Alex, I want you to name your favorite three Yankees of all time that you have not played with. That's the

kicker. You cannot have played with that player. Oh, hey, I've never been asked this question. Well, that's what I just thought, you know, because I know you tell me my favorite entourage guy, well, I love Kevin Connolly, so I'd pick him, but he's also like my best friend. So Reggie Jackson, for sure, and I'm not sure, I can't go Babe Ruth because I'm old, but Matt, I'm not that old, man. You're not.

I'm going to go Reggie, and of course, the three home runs in 77 against the Dodger was pretty iconic. A little bit like Shohei hitting the four You know, last week He was one I would go with Probably Ron Guidry

Because he was Yeah Louisiana He's such a great guy And big game pitcher And he had like balls of steel Oh yeah And then one is like One of my all-time classes

That I wish I would have played with him And I love this guy so much He's a true gentleman And a fun guy David Cohn. I mean, five-time world champion, but just a great dude, guy you want to have a beer with, so smart, gets all parts of the game,

was head of the union, a real kind of a pioneer in the world of baseball. I appreciate you answering that. That was my hard-hitting question. That was a hard-hitting question. Alex versus A-Rod on HBO, obviously MLB on Fox,

World Series is with us. Also, the deal, which is an awesome podcast. And I think you just had Jeter on recently was your latest episode. Alex, I can't thank you enough for doing this. We know you got a lot going on. Good luck to your wolves except for November 5th in New York against the next. You got it. Well, come give me a hug and be great to see you then.

Thanks, I'll see you at Fox, Maddie. We'll see you soon, buddy. Appreciate you, man. Be good, guys. Thank you. Annie Agar joining the show, courtesy of twisted tea. Grab a refreshing twisted tea today. Annie, first of all, the hoodie.

Whoa. That's fine. Thank you, guys. I love it. I don't think I've worn it on the show yet, but there's one logo that's not on it, and it's the Dallas Cowboys. And I swear it's because Jerry probably didn't get the 1%. What a bold, like the Raiders go on the front.

The Raiders are the same? Who decided that? Yeah, the design is kind of... Yeah, a lot of NFC South? Where's that from? I don't know. So I have a jacket, too, that I wore to Super Bowl. My mom got that for me off, like, Etsy or something, because somebody makes these.

But this one, I don't remember where I found it. And I wear it all the time. It's like my favorite thing ever. Thank you. I like that. I appreciate it. Wow. We're going to get some Twisted Tee.

We should get Matt one, a college one, you know. I'll wear it. We're going to get to some Twisted T trivia in a second. I want to run through the scores. Matt, you're up five to two in the trivia games as weeks. 18 total questions so far. I have 13 total questions right. But you went four and one last week, Matt.

Yeah, last week was an absolutely. ass-kicking. Almost a sweep. To make his combat. Before we start, Annie, real quickly, being that the Raiders are the front part of that awesome hoodie you're wearing. Worst situation right now,

if you had to choose Raiders or Jets, who do you not want to be? That's a tough one. That's almost impossible to answer. It's a bad one. I don't, I mean that, I feel like in

in terms of worst situation, I'd probably say the Raiders just because the Jets, like this is so expected for them. But when Pete came in, they're not thinking rebuild. They're thinking, like, win now. Like, he brought Gina with him for the specific reasoning of making this, not the Raiders that had Derek Carr, not the Raiders that had Antonio Pierce. And coming from, like, the two worst coaches that they hate, Josh Me Daniels, Antonio Pierce, to now Pete Carroll, who they're hating on probably even more. I've seen people say this is, like, the worst Raiders head coach. And they

had some bad head coaches. So in terms of, like, worst situation now for the fans, I would probably say the Raiders. I mean, first of all, the Raiders roster is terrible, which we've talked about. And they're not using JetT. Why are they not using as to Jeff? I mean, I don't know about you know who I don't want to be? You know who I don't want to be? When the owner calls out your starting quarterback, I don't know if I want to be a part of that team. Former starting quarterback. And you were you were a fan of the Russ lap back on Sean Payton. I didn't love it. I didn't love it. I thought it was hilarious. It didn't land. Just because. for me. I just think the drama is so funny, but. Jerry, why didn't it land for you? Do you have a personal No. No. I mean, Russ, you know, awesome cameo in the entourage movie.

He was fantastic. I just didn't look at it like some, I would have appreciated clapping back when he was on the Broncos. I was going to say, okay, question for you, do you guys see, would he say that to Sean Payton's face? Like, if they were in a room together, would Russ say anything like that in person? I think Russ would just big time

and then probably not even pay attention to it. He wasn't even in the room. That's what I can just see him behind his phone. Like, oh, I'm going to, this is going to be a great tweet. I love, I love drama. I mean, and I think Sean is great. It's just like, it is unnecessary. You know, it's an unnecessary shot to take.

It's like everyone's a professional. But it does give us something to talk about. And I just, and I like that Russ clap back because Russ doesn't do that. Russ is always, you know, he's always kind of taking the high road to his career. He has had a great career. But, yeah. I know, it was so, I had a double check. It wasn't like a fake account under Russ's name.

All right. You know what? I like it. I like it a little. Jerry's on board. Love it. All right. Let's, uh, I gave the scores.

Same format. We're going to do some just straight questions for the audio listeners out there. And then we're going to go into some NFL player pictures, no helmet, no uniform for the YouTube audience out there. Matt, let's go. All right. Has Jerry got a picture right, by the way, yet? Because I feel like Matt's got, you got, okay, sorry. That wasn't it, that wasn't a roast or a shot either.

Just trying. Matt was like throwing to some, one of the guys when he was like in high school. Like, I don't know how that's fair to me. Let's start putting random actors up there. I bet you I get him on the pictures. I'm pretty well versed in entertainment too, though. You are, you are. All right, question number one, gentlemen.

Who is the current leader in standard PBR fantasy football points this season? Current leader. Hooka Nakua. Nope. That was so stupid. Well, if you weren't injured... Is it the Gibbs? Nope.

No, that's a great guy. Yes. Okay, we're back for normal. Standard? Standard PPR fantasy football points this season. Who's number one? It kind of surprised me. Well, it's got to be a quarterback.

That's not going to help it all. Think of like there's somebody that's literally carrying their team right now. No, no. Baker? Nope. That's a good guess. Go ahead, Matt. You can sneak one in there.

Jonathan Taylor No, but you're closer Whoa How these are all wrong Oh, Dak Nope, no Matt was closer with Jonathan Taylor Think along those lines

Well, who's the number one running back CMAC Yep Yeah Yeah, because it's literally him in fantasy How did they go out of that? Yeah, because it's literally him And like his friends

So that counts as a win If we're counting some of yours From last week Yeah, you're right You're right God that's so bad Okay, question number two. Who holds the record for the most rushing yards in a single NFL game?

You want to go first? I have a guess. Go. Terrell Davis? Nope. Derek Henry. No, that's a good one, though. Most rushing yards in a single NFL game.

This is more like all-time running back. Is it fairly in the last 20 years or is it older? Yes, the last 20 years, yep. I would say, this isn't going to be right, Adrian Peterson. Yes, AP, AP. You shouldn't get it if you're right before you say this is probably not it. No, well, that's why I was thinking, but that's why I asked for last in 20. Good one. Okay.

That was good. That's good. Okay, number three. And this is in reference to Stafford through five touchdowns on Sunday, in case you guys didn't say. The record for most passing touchdowns in a single game is seven. Eight players have done this. Who was the most recent? Peyton? No.

No. He did throw, he's on the list, though, right? Yeah, probably. He's on the list. Just not most recent. Seven. Damn.

Most recently. I remember this happening if that helps. Drew Brees. Yes. Yep, Drew Brees in 2015. I knew that. God, Jerry, how kicking your ass, bro.

I said Peyton, man. I said somebody on the list, at least. Unfortunately, we don't award points for that. Okay. Now on to the pictures. Who is this first? NFL player. Kyler Murray.

Yep. Wow. This is a little nod to the World Series, by the way. Throwing you off with the A's jersey there. It's just, I knew it. He just said it faster. Yeah.

That was an easy one. Okay. Next one. James Winston. Oh, by a second. Really? Matt had it by a second. Are you serious?

Of course I did. I beat you. That's because his internet's faster than mine. You heard it quicker. That's definitely not true. If you had the other camera, you know, you never know. By the way, these are all, for the audio audience,

these are all of their baseball pay. It was Tyler in A's jersey. It's James and the Florida State Seminoles baseball jersey. And those have to pretty low. Like, it's hard to see their, hard to see their faces. It's the look. It's the look on James's face. You're like, oh, that's James Winston.

Oh, three to one. Did Matt sweet? Oh, no, Jerry got one. Sorry, sorry. Annie, I feel like you're on Matt's team now. I like working against me as well. So I'm. I know, I'm so sorry.

seven and two in the last two this is like not even fun dude in Jerry's defense he did start off pretty hot though you got like the first couple trivias I think Jerry you're gonna collapse like the giants in the four I was just gonna say as the great as the great P. Carroll used to tell us you can't win the game in the first quarter

you can't win the game in the second quarter you can't win the game in the third quarter but you can win the game in the fourth quarter until now someone needs to tell him that in Vegas shout out the Twisted Tea for the trivia. Annie, by the way, the videos coming from you, I feel like you're getting real, like, you're almost like SNL joke writing at this point. Like,

thank you so much. I forget, I had a few like, oh, moments on some of the jokes. It was awesome. Thank you so much. McAfee and Otisinko shared it this, shared it this week. So that was really. Yeah. Yeah, that was, I mean, I've met Pat, I'm sure you guys have to, I've met him like once or twice and, and he's always on the go and stuff. And he'll he'll say he watches my videos and I'm like, oh, that's really cool. Never knowing if he actually has the time to do that. And so for him to share was just so cool.

Awesome. But this week was fun. No one doesn't like you. The digs were out there. You got a lot of content to pull from and it's going to be another great week. Again, thank you to Twisted Tea. I got to catch up to Matt. Thank you, Annie Agar.

We'll see you next week. Thank you guys. Bye. Bye. All right, Maddie. That's the show. Big, big thank you to Annie Agar and Twisted Tea. Bigger thank you to Alex Rodriguez.

Again, don't forget Alex versus Aeron. And big thank you to Matt Leinert, folks, for securing Alex Rodriguez to join us on the show, buddy. I just, you'll always have a spot in my heart for just that. Listen, man, I'm a team player. I got to do whatever it takes to make throwback successful. You did it, at least for one day for me. And my mom will be listening.

It was awesome. And thank you to everyone behind the scenes, too. It was a heck of a day. We'll see you next week. Let's go. Thank you.