Over your left shoulder is that a rag doll oh this that’s my my friend I talked to this this person that listens to me does it does it ever talk back don’t talk back right say hi that’s the best kind isn’t it know my grandkids came up for Easter I didn’t even know
There actually she looks good what’s her nameer oh okay coming coming to see you Esther will and eser so Jay what’s going on try out for trouble Raj you know me yeah when uh when does the team go on the road at the end of the week who they got coming
Up Cincinnati anded in Braves right Ean yeah it should be six wins right there I hope so so what you cooking today what’s up what’s happening hi Mo hey guys what’s going girlfriend you saw eser Yes Esther okay eser I was telling R person that listen to me give us a few
More minutes here folks we have some more media joining us okay is this a uh is this gonna be a question answer type deal or what Jay yes sir they’ll ask you questions and you hopefully get some good answers and and and when are you gonna
Say you GNA you gonna join in ask you questions can we can can can we can mooki and Doc and I ask you questions no I don’t think I’m topical though I don’t think so you’re don’t sell your self you’re very topical my knee hurts anyway I can’t do
Anything yeah what is that a keg in the back K me tap yeah what is that a tap in the back it’s a it’s a blender I can smoothies now to get my useful figure yeah okay but the thank you everyone for uh joining us
Today um on the zoom today we have uh our Dwight Gooden who we will honor on Sunday April 14th Roger McDow and mooki Wilson um once again we remind our viewers and uh and and write readers that on tickets are still available for the Dwight Gooden number retirement ceremony on
Sunday April 14th and with that I’d like to turn it over to the VP of alumni relations and Club historian the one and only Jay Horowitz thank you we appreciate hey before we get to the normal questions I want to let Dwight know this this called being sponsored by
Ron of Japan in Chicago doc not about Dwight the pitcher not Dwight I want to talk about Dwight the eater yes so mookie and R give you best meal you had with Doc and Doc what’s your favorite Roger Japan Meal start off hey guys yeah me m and
Raj we all been there man it’s a favorite spot of ours my favorite meal is the Shogun Shogun is menu pretty much you get the chicken strip appetizer with the soup and salad you get the lobster the steak the shrimp the best that’s right that’s appetiz yes but the thing is
Russ show he’s get two show guns M what watch what’s your favorite memory with Doc well you know what to follow up with Doc and I don’t know if everybody heard but uh when doc was talking about Rusty R Rusty get two one to eat there and one to take back the
Hotel hey you know what we used we used to we used to just enjoy eating it didn’t matter what it was the cheeseburgers were probably our best and you know what when uh at Shay they had some pretty good cheeseburgers upstairs and we send the kids up the clubhouse
Guys up get cheeseburgers and we sit in the front room and and have cheeseburgers uh and then it was funny because coming down the guy have he’d be in the elevator he had about 20 cheeseburgers and next thing you know he’s coming in the clubhouse they never
Figure out how we could eat Che 20 cheeseburgers and go ahead and kick somebody’s butt that night how about you Muk oh man uh man we had so many good memories and I tell you what uh it was a joy um to watch Doc eat I’m telling you right
Now I’m surprised you remembered everything on the menu too busy I go there every chance Chicago oh oh man I can’t wait to get back there but I I’ve never seen a young man eats so much and and so fast you know but um I I I don’t know how you survived man
I’ll be honest with you I don’t know how you surviv but uh Roger right we we enjoyed um everything and I think gold goldon R Jaan was like it was our event you know we go to Chicago we had wait to get Chicago you know to get to go around
Japan um I don’t know if it’s any that probably the only restaurant that’s the only one is there one other that’s the only one remember two in Chicago and one in Hawaii okay all right well we W Hawaii funny you should know that that’s what I was
Told oh you were told that yeah I was told that I don’t know why don’t return back the normal question you there great with that we’d like to uh open it up for some questions if you have a question for anyone just please use the raise your hand feature at the
Bottom of the zoom and our first question comes from Bill Ladson congratulations oops you can hear me Bill how’s it going we can see you Bill all [Laughter] right congratulations doc um thank you buddy my first question to you is has it hit you yet that your number is retired
And I have another question after that you know how you doing will um it’s starting out um Monday I was at the stadium with Jay we did a walkr and that’s when it walked on the field that’s when it started to hit me and then I’m group texting with a lot of the
86 teammates starting to hit me now um a couple months ago it hadn’t seemed real yet it was kind of surreal now it’s starting to hit as we getting closer um my family and some my grand kids came up for Easter they going to be here for
The cemon as well so I’m starting to feel a little bit now and something I’m definitely look Dwight what was it about the fans because no matter what you did good or bad they loved you no matter what why do you think the fans loved you and uh you
Always talk about them I always talk about them because like you just said no matter what happened off the field many times they could have turned their back and went a different way and I would completely understood but always gave me the support even when I was down um even
When I didn’t believe in myself they able to lift me up I think part of just me being honest with the fans when I made my mistakes I admitted to it and just try to reach out and do the best I can um I’m not perfect I’m never gonna
Be perfect but hopefully I’ve learned my lessons um I always Tred to be honest with them I always try to connect with the fans and they played a huge part of my career um excitement they gave me at Shay stadium and just sometimes even grocery store just come up and saying hi
To me means a lot and you try to connect with the fans and at the end of the day we all human with just different jobs and that’s the where I went about it the next question is from Anthony Reber hi doc hi guys uh the question for
All of you um the 1985 season just one of the best ever that doc had what was it like Muki and Roger playing behind him and Doc um what was it like going through that season at the age of 20 well well for me um obviously those
Guys play a big part of that they kept me lose they kept they allowed me to be myself and having Gary Carter behind the plate as having those guys having R come in set up for jie they played a big part because I knew I can go a good seven
Then Roger and come in and close it mookie there obviously to keep me loose we had a lot of fun on the road went to eat as you mentioned earlier they played a b part of that and for me once the season got going I knew it was bigger
Than just um a game when I would start it was more media atten all the games were sold out and having Gary Carter catching me kind of forced me to accept the challenge and that brought the best out of me having those guys there we had
A lose team everybody lose and that play a big part as well go ahead move well the one thing I I will say um um from day one um playing behind duck I had front row seat man I could see everything I mean I saw it all and
Sometimes I got uh I was out the daydreaming a lot of time wondering what this guy what this kid was going to do next because um every day we like was it was an event it was more than a ball game you just Wai for him to do
Something special and he knew it was going to happen doesn’t matter when it was going to happen and it it became normal which is kind of crazy you know some guys have you know they strike out 10 guys you know they had a great game
You know but that was normal all for him so no big deal it was more about the way he went about doing his work and that was so impressive and me I was just like um I’ll be honest with you doc I lost count I lost count many days I many they
Were I just watching you know what were I’m looking for straw how many oh man it it was just so much fun it was great go ahead Ro yeah you know what like mooki said you know obviously we had a pretty good team we had pretty good starting staff but every
Time doc pitch it it was an event um and much like mooki said you know you look up there in K corner and I’m I’m pretty sure they may have had it forer but uh every time these they brought 27ks because because they said it today might
Be the day and so you know we’re s we sit in a bullpen and we’re sitting on that little bench out there overlooks the right field wall and we’re looking up at the K corner and it’s like you know what we need a backward K so we can
So we can count them because they would blend together from that distance and so we needed a backward k um to see that but you know I mean I think I think Doc’s um the love that New York had for Doc and has continued to grow is because
Every day he went out there and gave what he had at the utmost um he competed like nobody else that I ever seen go out on a mound and compete and he was a winner and he was a guy that had a lot of grit he had a lot of determination
And you know there’s a couple words in in the in the baseball business called want to and he had want to and uh and like mooki said you never knew what might happen and it might even happen with the bat because doc was a really
Really good hitter um but in 1985 I I can really vividly remember that sitting in the bullpen every day every fifth day the doc started we felt we had the day off and you know it’s it it was you know doc was Doc talked earlier about you
Know he pitched seven Innings and then let me in Jesse come in and Pitch the E and Ninth they ain’t happening doc I think doc had 16 complete games that year you know and and and we were Overjoyed that sitting down the bullpen because we could just sit back and relax
And enjoy the show just like the other 55 or 60,000 in shape the next question is from Bruce Beck hey Doc congratulations thank you Bruce you know what did it mean to you in general to represent the Mets you ended up pitching 16 seasons in the majors but but what about those moments
Those years uh those special times with the New York Mets it was very special pitching with the Mets and when you when you get drafted by a team and when you finally make it to the majors and you have little success early in your career you feel like you build that team your
Entire career um unfortunately didn’t happen and I understood why um in 95 well 94 after 94 SE the mess want the cut ways which I understood but my thing was always want to make it right with the fans I didn’t want to go out on that note
Without at least spending more time in front of the fans and let them know that I’m okay I want to apologize to the fans for all the mistakes and my addiction off the field to make things right and you know everything’s timing it’s not always the time we want but everything
Is timing and what I mean by that is I tried to come back to the met several times as I join the Yankees play with Cleveland play with Tamp in Houston it didn’t happen I try to reti as a met the time went right because I contined to
Get in trouble after that uh by the grace of God I hadn’t I’ve been good for the last four years that’s a long time for me um and hopefully now I got it hopefully now I get it you know so what I mean by that is now with the
Opportunity coming April 14th I look at it as a celebration for me not only with the fans but my teammates I still call them my teammates because when you win a ryal series with some guys they’re not former teammates they continue to be your teammates and we still like family
A lot of this and so I think now I get the opportunity to thank the fans and let them know that you know every time I took the field I gave it all I had unfortunately off the field I had some struggles um but to let the fans
Know what they meant to me I can say that now now I’m given an opportunity to do that and this all I ever really wanted and now that comes here so it’s kind of not necessarily put closure to my career because that’s been over but with the fans you know I always be
Connected you don’t put closure but it’s is a way of me let them know I’m very proud of the support they gave me off the field not only on the field is a deal and so um I can’t wait to just be there and let them know how I really
Felt and Doc when that number goes up fans will know it’s you forever but when you look at that number who does it represent besides yourself who else is part of that Journey that enabled the Mets to put that number up in that Stadium oh man great great great
Question um I think pretty much everybody I play with throughout my career but most of the guys in 86 you know 84 85 86 those are my great years and that couldn’t have happened without the guys that was on the team not just the way they play behind me scoring runs
You know pitching great Innings but the Brotherhood that we had the time we spent on the plane time we spent on the road um conversations we’ve had you know um plays a big part of that and that I mean that from my heart so I have to
Give a lot of thanks to my teammates um that I played with throughout my career but especially the 84 85 86 group and the fans um and I want the fans to know and I’m not just saying this but when the numbers revealed up there I want them to feel a
Part of that so when the fans bring their kids grandkids what have you to the ballpark I want them to point that nor and say I played a part of that because they did play a part of that um because that don’t happen without those guys as
Well the next question is from Peter body hey guys uh thanks for doing this uh my first question mooki for you in 84 in spring training when this 19-year-old kid shows up um you know what what did you think and and uh and about obviously him forcing his way you know onto the
Team with with Davey that that string well first about it’s not Kato just like every other prospect that they say it’s going to be change it was be the Savior you know okay well wa see going to have we had a lot of them there
Was a lot of people who they had high hopes for and it turned out to be mediocre you know just to be good ball players good people good ball players um but from from day one um I’m standing out there in Huger field um you had the
Yet that was a place that’s a beautiful play by the way hug field but [Laughter] anyway I’m standing in the field and I’m I’m just watching yeah he had a good fast ball and he he had a curve ball that you know you can’t see from out
There too well but the most impressive thing was his presence on the m i mean the stood up there like he’s been out there for 10 15 years already and I’m saying myself watch this little cocky sucker who you think he is with you with over that car CH and never
Happen I’m just being honest I’m just being I wasn’t wishing the B thing happen but I wanted to knock him down n to that’s all you know but it was it was just an impressive thing from day one I’ve never seen anybody walk on the mile that young and took control and demanded
The attention and to me that’s the most impressive thing um even the day I look at a person how they the presence on the field not whether they win lose get hit strike guys out but that mound presence I know it’s overused term Roger that M
Presence but it is so it is so vital man got to you gotta control area and he did that and I was so impressed very impressed and and Doc for you um you know what was your mindset going into that going into that spring that first
Year um and you know how you know how much did you have to kind of Lobby David to get on the team that year a lot you know the thing was was um I met David 1982 I was in kingport my first year David was a Rober instructor and the day
That he came I was throwing on the side and Davy came over watched me throw and he challenged me for what Reon like let me see throw one down in the way to writing let me see he bik or a curveball let me he um get me over cerbo two
Strike everything he said that day I was on so I got to know daveid a little bit then the next year I was in lbur and um in 83 and Dav is the triaa manager and at the end of that season I get called up tripa
D you know won the um Tri Road Series I pitched well for him there and after that he said wherever he managed I would be on his team so I was thinking wow at least I’ll be in Triple A you know and then George bber resigned that
Year and David got the job and I saw David back then we had instruction league in St Petersburg at the Ping complex and dve was there I said Dave remember what you told me right he go oh I don’t remember you be there I have in spring so I got invited to spring
Training as a non roster player and my first reaction when I was there just playing with these guys that I pretended to be on TV like two years ago with me and my nephew Gary in the bike yard and now here I am on the field with the same
Guys and competing against these guys and and by me being from Tampa 30 minutes from St Pete I probably was at the beginning more excited about telling my friends who was on my team who I was facing today and so things like that um once the game started I got into games
And after every game the media would say hey they say you probably going to double a or triaa because of your age and then me like a kid I would running Davey’s office said Davey hey remember what you told me right I’m D say let him talk to everybody you
Gonna make the team and I really didn’t get the offici answer till the last day I spring training when he told me I made the team and once he told me I made the team to be honest with you at that time I was happy I made the team then you get
The DS you don’t know if you’re ready or not um concerns but one of the greatest moments was telling my dad that I made a team and saying my dad you know tear up a little bit that was one of the greatest moments of making a team but I
Had I had doubts I had my doubts when I first made the team because you just didn’t know at that time was you ready or not and if I could just ask you one and if I could just ask you one about the current team doc um you know is it hard
To believe that it’s been 38 years since the since the 86 championship and um you know what do you think of the direction of of the team I know they’re off to a slow start but what do you what do you think of the direction of the team under
Steve Cohen I think it does 38 years wow this is a long time but you know I do have great grandkids now which is hard to believe as well but yeah I have a 20y old grandson and just imagine on Father’s Day having a 20 year old grandson Happy Father’s I mean
I don’t know but uh you know it seem like long it goes fast it is hard to believe because I thought in 2015 they had a good team had some great pitching I thought they had a good shot obviously uh 2000 it was there um the direction
The team’s going now I think they have some good baseball people they’re just running I think they have a shot even though they off to a slow start but it’s okay if this would happen you know say June July wouldn’t be a bigger deal but since the beginning of the season I
Think A lot’s been made of it but they still you know have a lot of Talent on the team and the pitching just have to stay healthy obviously and you know we’ll see what happens at the end thank you the next question comes from Tim
Britain hey Doc kind of going off one of those questions from Peter you know you said you had some doubts going into that 84 season how how long did it take you to uh to overcome those doubts and realize that that you did belong at the major league level uh honestly probably
Not to all sub bre um remember my first start in Houston I got the win I with five innings and my dad said Son what do you think I say well I think should win a lot of games I should be okay the next
St we go to Chicago I get knocked out in the third inning you know my dad ask me the same question how do you feel what do you think now I said well I don’t know if I’m ready so there’s a lot of you know good games soci so games but
Once I got to the allstar Break made the allstar team and I remember having a conversation with Nolan Ryan and that probably gave him a r of confidence without him knowing it he said to me that he look forward to every fifth day when I’m pitching he’s not pitching or
They’re not playing where he can watch me Pitch he you have a great career you have great stuff and hearing that from coming from my idol noan and I gave him my RO of confidence and as I was going around I had veteran teammates um Mike
Torres played a big part of mentoring me as well um my confidence started growing and growing so I was say me at least to get to the All-Star Game and have success in allar game where I really felt like I belong and then for for Roger and mooki
You know did you guys have an understanding in 84 for mookie and 85 for both of you just how ridiculous it was that that doc was doing this did you have a sense of just how one of a kind that those seasons were for him defer to my
Senor yeah oh yeah right on top of that doc I didn’t play with bayot by the way [Laughter] okay didn’t nothing yeah I you know it’s um you know you don’t know and cuz you know I I’ve had this thing about not not putting too much stock in spring
Training because you know different thing different reason why guys do well spring training um it was like wait and see okay he’s impressed me now let’s see what’s going to happen when that you know when that crit goes up and um you know he he may not have felt it until
Allstar break but um we all knew but you know we we knew he belonged you know uh you know from day one and and I I think that he’s probably been a little mod saying he he didn’t realize it until Allstar break doc I’m telling to your
Face right now boy you know you’re lying right there you know [Laughter] you to be a little all no but um it it was it it took him a while and I understand what he’s saying because you know I think all of us have that points of Doubt when you first
Getting there and we hadn’t been able to work through those good day bad days yet we haven’t being able to do that as a young guy so I understood it so I appreciate you saying that but um we knew do belonged you know um from I wouldn’t say Allstar break but I say
After the third start that’s when I knew that this this kid’s real well I didn’t I didn’t get to play with Doc in 84 um because he he was already gone but I I I never played with Doc in the minor leagues other than instructionally League um and I remember
He was talking about pacing complex and first day of uh instruction League we were all waiting to see what kind of car would DACA drive up in you know being the number one pick and we were all excited and and and I and I look back and I
Think about it and it and it was excitement it wasn’t it wasn’t a any type of animosity about you know hey this guy was a number one pick and you know and no it was it was actual excitement to get to see doc um and then
Get to play with him and be on the same team be a teammate and uh you know obviously like mookie said you know as a young player you always have doubts but in 84 885 86 and mooki mooki was the guy that was was there when it wasn’t good
And and he got to see and you got to see you know guys that came in and made different positions better and made team better and collectively you put those guys together and it becomes a really really good ball club and then you got this young superstar that goes out there
Every fifth day and represents not only the team but the organization and and the fans and the people that pay to come see him play and he gives them a show um he gave us a show by by winning ball games and I think I I just think that
The total um collection of people that were around at that time and it was a good timing for everybody and so you know it was it was it was a special time and it’s a time that I think us as teammates and as doc said you know we
We’re still teammates um even though we don’t put a uniform on but we went through we went through something together and we’re teammates and we continue to be that way 38 years later sir next question is from Bill lad yes um Dwight in uh 1984 you were 19
Years old and that year you pitched uh 218 Innings the next year you were 20 you pitched 276 and two-thirds Innings and my question to you is at that age how were you able to do it and now today I mean no young pitcher is doing that
Today how are you able to do it and how do you feel about pitching today uh I think with me I was very fortunate U my dad had a lot of baseball knowledge and one regret I have is not asking my dad would he get his knowledge from
Before he passed away he taught me about mechanics at a very young age um we’ll go to the ballpark and work on mechanics without the ball without a glove of bat any of that and it wasn’t fun but as I got older I’m just still they thought mechanics were very important pitching
And when I first came up in 84 85 pitches when we take them out we was F and was trained and our mindset was to go nine in at least get the ball to the middle guy in the closer that was our mindset the pitches we built up that way
To do it I think unfortunately now the game has changed um a lot I don’t really blame the pitchers I blame the system way teams are at the analytics where guys go 100 pitches which it is a difference between 100 pitches in three Innings 100 pitches in seven Innings but
Now these guys 100 pitches they out they don’t want to face line the third time around and you got more injuries now just my opinion I think it’s based on velocity now spin rate the breaking ball posive vocation reading B speed mechanics they’re not really teaching mechanics anymore like you take glavin
Tom glavin or Greg Maddox hey if they was in high school college he probably wouldn’t even look at these guys because they went throw in 97 998 looking for the guys with the big arms but again I don’t think they’re teachings like they did when I was coming up so it’s
Different now and day i p a lot of innings but I’ve done it over if I had a choice yes because I was just train that way I want to go deep into game the next question is from Mark Roseman thanks Ethan I have a question
For Roger and two for Doc so Roger um Doc’s competitiveness is so well known but uh you got to see it from the other side 1990 uh bench clear against the Phillies what do you remember about that game and for Doc you guys mentioned um you know the restaurant in Chicago but
There was also another ritual in Chicago for the rookies I want to know if you had to take partake of that and you also mentioned your dad um know speaking to you you mentioned watching games with him and him telling you how pitchers set certain guys up what do you think that
Day is going to mean to you you know thinking about your dad as your number goes up thanks guys um you you know when I first got the call from Steve k um that is going try my number first name I thought about my dad
I want to call my dad obviously my dad’s no longer here but I said you know what it’s opportunity I can share this with my kids and my grandkids because my grandkids never got to see me play so obvious my dad played a big part of it
But I’m probably more excited that my grandkids who don’t know nothing about me as a baseball player they only know me as grandpa or Granddad they have to get a fi on what it was like when I played um understand where I played that even though it’s City Field instead of
Shay uh see how the fans reactions so I’m very excited about that um I don’t know if I’ll get emotion or not probably will I mean a lot of times my emotion is fed off to the fans reactions my teammates stuff like that I’m okay if that happens I’m just grateful that my
Kids gonna be there my grandkids could be there and we all have a great relationship um so I’m definitely looking forward to that um second part of your question I got lost you said I’m sorry they do for you it was about the other ritual that you
Guys had for rookies when they came into Chicago well Chicago thing M prob talk about that I don’t I don’t remember that I don’t think they did any rookie tra on me I did a rookie prank on myself um I remember in Houston tell you how naive I
Was um I go to the hotel bar I’m just trying to fit in with everybody I’m like what are you guys drinking so like Iced Teas so I’m taking regular Iced Teas um I say well I tell a bunch of bring another round I get the next round I’m
Thinking regular you know IC te’s so kind of find out it was Long Island IC te’s bill when bill came out my meal bunny so I be at the Ballpark for the next two days you know um that wasn’t fun so I basically pranked myself I
Guess but um I don’t remember the team doing any pranks for rookies or whatever it was fun you know we had a good time we had a bunch of good guys and the fight with the Phillies uh well I remember I remember Rog and Jeff and their best quote was
When Roger said he felt like our team was on his side jumping on Jeff as well both teams probably probably was true you know back then I don’t know but um I had one with the police with blackes hit me but I was wrong for that because I hit
Two of the guys and I knew it was gonna happen you hear a lot of chirping from The Dugout pomes hit me hit me in the L I just charged him out the real reason to go ahead and let you guys in what really happened was I wasn’t pitching
Well that day and I wanted out of that game so Baden would not take me [Laughter] out you gotta get me out that’s really next question is from Evan parin why the what are some intangibles the 86 team had which puts you guys over the edge uh whether that be attitude
Effort great team chemistry and do you see any of these in the Mets team today I think the difference now um M coach he probably better than I can but the thing I see personally when I’m at the games and I’m not taking shots to nobody
Anything like that but we had a very close team what I mean by that was if some team screwed up you’re just gonna hear about on the plane or the bus or in the club house we’re just going to get on the guys vetan guys gonna let us know
About it and it say the club we kept anything in the clubhouse if somebody had a event charity event I know Gary cars had Parts at his house the whole team would be there now I don’t think the team everything is different I think not just the Mets but
In baseball in general and I saw a little bit at the end when I was playing guys are not as close off the field like now you know one guy with his wife one guy with his trainer two guys are going to the movies when we went on the road
You know 25 man roster to say Chicago check in guys with call the girlfriend call wife and then at least 19 was Me by downstairs Lobby we go out to eat together then we go hang out together I know the game’s different now but I
Think that’s a part of it just got to be close because you spend more time with your teammates than you do with the family you got two months in spring training six months during the season that’s a lot of time together so hopefully you build that chemistry and I
Think that plays a big part I mean it’s kind of cheesy to say people probably get out of hearing that but I think that plays a big part chemistry the next question is from Dan par doc I was wondering if there was any hitters throughout your career that you
Would absolutely dread when they’d come up to the plate and on the other side you mentioned Tom glavin before but I didn’t know if there was any other pitchers that you may have wanted to emulate when you were playing and try to take a page out of their
Book so Chile Davis gave me the most trouble um was with the GI I was with the mess I could not get this guy out and back then you could throw inside the guys not to hurt him or hit him but try to intimidate him it didn’t work with
Chile um I couldn’t get chile chase the high fast B with two strikes if I made a good pitch he will fight it off I made a mistake he would make me Fay and 98 99 he was with the Yankees I was with Cleveland same thing I could not get
This guy out he just had my number uh he just wor me out and um the thing I think what made Chile so tough was he mentioned like he had the confidence where I threw inside he wasn’t afraid but thing is when you face the hitters
Before Chile try to make sure you get those guys out but nobody’s on base when Chile came up I think that played a big part of it no doubt about it um and the second part of the question was what I’m just losing right now you mentioned about the toughest
Hitter that Dre coming up in the second part oh the pitch that tough yeah the toughest pitch you had to face the toughest someone you want to be like well I would say not NE but Nolan Ryan was my guy um through a little Le because my teammates compared me to
Nolan with the high L kick and so I tried to emulate that a lot and Bob Gibson was ay guy just his M presence you know you try to keep that and we had a pitching coach in Min is John C who taugh me about pitching inside and if
You knock a guy down you throw inside as you get in the ball back you steer at the guy’s eyes if the hitter looks down you got him I mean you intimidate him and this mostly a mid game and the only guy that could get looked down I
Remember I placed Andre Dawson once and went high and tight on him and I’m staring at him to get the ball back he’s staring back at me and so I look down time I was intimidated on the M but I never told that but was is a nice guy
He just has that look that intimidation look on his face all the time he don’t mean unb that’s just the way he went about it next question is from Adis Cena uh hey uh doc first of all congratulations uh this is for you and I
Can open up for the uh uh for Buie and Roger as well um you touched on it a little bit with the fans um and your grandkids as well uh so many of the people that are going to be there uh to for your event um or people who uh never
Saw you play um and many of them will have you know doc jerseys number 16 they have Dow jerseys and jerseys of you know Gary Carter um what’s the most gratifying and satisfying part of seeing the next Generations or two generations past yours um be a part of this ceremony
And um also um how like how would you describe your interactions with you know younger fans talking about the 806s so DOC for you and then for mukin Rogers as well the uh interactions with younger fans who never saw you play but saw your documentaries have your jerseys uh about
The 86 te I’m excited about it because um trying to get the excitment back into the game especially kids like I would say the black the Inner City Community getting them more involved back in the game um we’re losing that a little bit and I think that comes from I know major leag
B Bas caught a lot of heat about that I think us as players that play it’s our responsibility to spend your time back there because these young kids they want to touch you they want to ask you questions I mean the donations are nice but I think the more we spend time with
These kids it helps and I think having my grandkids there and young fans who never seen me play now um it’d be good that they can see and their parents or the grandparents who got to see me play and share the baseball knowledge with
Them as my dad did with me as a kid coming up and I think very important and I know I enjoy with the fans what they meant a lot of times it’s not really baseball conversations it’s just conversation in general about health or addiction or mental health what have you
And the one thing I say with our team that we didn’t get the credit for was the baseball knowledge we had on our team I mean our team loves [ __ ] baseball a lot of baseball knowledge on that team I think that played a big part of it and having my teammates there with
Me to share this moment it’s for all of us I’m just getting there jersey retired but this represents all of us and the final question comes from Jack first of all Doc congratulations so you know once you see your number 16 plaque unveiled at your ceremony you’re going to look around it
You’re going to see it next to you know Mae stangle Hodes Siver kman Hernandez Patza obviously the universal retirement of Jackie Robinson so what kind of honor is that not only for yourself just to have your number retired but to be amongst those names just as a part of
This Elite Fraternity in in Mets history it’s it means a lot um course the highest honor you can get from a team um and to be up there with like Keith who I play with um darl who’s coming later in the year we all play with and it’s just
That’ll be three guys from 86 but it represents the entire team um and half my name up there and my number up there something that no matter what that can never be taken away from you but so many people played a big part of that to make
That happen it wasn’t just me to do that um having Jay horest downlo of media keep the you know all the pressure off me as a young age as I was going through those times having great teammates to spending time with on the road played a
Big part of that as well obviously what they did on the field played a huge part at then having my kids there and my grandkids there who didn’t get to see me play get to watch that and kind of get a little understanding on what I did for a
Living um this could be a great day and that’s why I always say I look at that day of the celebration everybody who’s been there from day one and also the younger generation thank you very much to Jay Dwight mooki and Roger for sharing your memories um once again we’re really
Looking forward to Sunday April 14th and as a as a final reminder tickets are still available um and we look forward to seeing everyone on that day thank you very much gentle thanks guys appreciate it right thank you guys see you guys see you April 14th bro all right by guys
Yeah I’ll be there
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