Yankees: Jim Leyritz answers some questions about the ’96 team and his career

The Evolution of Baseball

MG:
Who is your favorite player to watch now?
JL:
When he is healthy, I love watching Aaron Judge. I love this McNeil kid and then of course in California where I live, I get to watch Mike Trout play, and that is pretty special.

MG:
Who was the toughest pitcher to catch?
JL:
Tim Wakefield had one of the best knuckleballs ever and he was pretty hard to catch. And then I caught, Joe Niekro when he was with the Yankees and he was pretty nasty too.

MG:
There is talk about the National League incorporating the DH. What do you say about that?
JL:
I think there should be a DH for both leagues. Even in the high school ranks the travel ball and things like that, they have what they call ‘pitcher only’. So these kids are not even swinging a bat if they are pitching, and this starts when they are in their teenage years- and if you’re going to do that throughout the teenage years, I think you have to incorporate it throughout college, and into the minor leagues also.

MG:
I think additionally, you see players that just can’t field and they make a joke of their position, for example, Bryce Harper was one of their worst fielding outfielders last year. He signed a mega contract with the Phillies, he’ll be 38 when the contract’s up. Do you imagine a 38 year old Bryce Harper playing right field?
JL:
Right, exactly.

MG:
The game has changed since you played. What do you miss most about the way it was played back then? Was it the hustle? Was it pitchers going deep into games?
JL:
I liked it when the pitchers had no pitch count. What I really liked is that the hitter couldn’t dig in because most pitchers establish that the home plate was theirs.

MG:
This year we had the Tim Anderson, bat flips, suspensions, etc. What are your takes on the quote on quote ‘let the kids play’ movement?
JL:
I’m not totally against the bat flip as far as when it’s meaningful and it’s a game changer. I think the bat flip, again there’s a certain amount of respect that we have to have for the other players and for the game’s class. What really set all this off was when Jose Bautista did it. He also took some time to enjoy the home run that he hit. That’s when you do it, because that was a huge moment. There has to be a balance between respect and fun.