I first met Dusty Baker during the 1977 World Series. Reggie Jackson had just told Dusty about how George Steinbrenner found me in the streets of the Bronx.
From that point on I would have a very respectful relationship with Dusty. He was as cool as they came. The one advice that he always had for me was that I had to be very careful in the baseball world. He told me that it was important to understand that I had to make a consorted effort to survive in the world of baseball because it could and would be a cruel world.
With each passing decade, he always had great wisdom to pass along.
At one point he told me that he had really followed what I was doing through the years and said that I was one of the greatest survivors ever in the game.
In the documentary from executive producer Chazz Palminteri (BATBOY) Dusty expands on his survival comments about my career.
When it comes to John Henry Hart Jr. you are talking about one of the classiest men ever to run a Major League Baseball organization.
I first met John when he was managing in the Dominican Republic. At that time he was told about me from his mentor, super scout Tom Giordano. He went out of his way to make me feel comfortable there even though I was working for the Yankees.
A decade later he was signing Doc Gooden to a contract with the Cleveland Indians and knowing that George Steinbrenner had an unusually close relationship with Gooden asked the Yankees boss if he could have me help the Indians with Gooden’s drug addiction aftercare program. John and Tom Giordano actually welcomed the Boss for a meeting in Winterhaven Florida.
John flew me and Gooden to Cleveland so that we could sit with him at a Cleveland Cavaliers basketball game.
John was very honest and respectful. He understood the magnitude of my relationship with the Yankees owner and my true love of the Bronx Bombers. He said that he was ok with me having an allegiance to both teams.
John even parked me in the team’s psychology department and had me work with the distinguished sports psychologist Charlie Maher and I would get to work with most of the players on the team, especially all of the major Latin stars that were there at the time. Players like Roberto and Sandy Alomar who I used to babysit when their father played on the Yankees in the 70s and of course Manny Ramirez and Bartolo Colon.
I was actually given the title of Psychology assistant.
One of my favorite moments was when we got into the playoffs against the RedSox. Team superstar Jim Thome came up to me after batting practice and asked me how he should approach Pedro Martinez. I responded by saying… why would you ask me? Jim said because you have been around some of the greatest clutch players ever at the Yankees. At that moment I said meet me in my office (which was located in the front of the clubhouse ) I needed 15 minutes to make two calls. One to George Steinbrenner to ask him if he was ok with me putting Reggie Jackson on the phone with Thome so that Reggie could school him like only Reggie could. The Boss said hey that’s between the Indians and the Red Sox and I have heard nothing but great things about that Thome kid. Naturally, the other call was to Reggie.
Mr. October was more than willing to help Thome because he too had heard nothing but great things about him.
Like clockwork Thome came in and sat down, I handed him the phone, and to his amazement, he was talking to Mr. October, arguably the greatest post-season performer of all time.
They talked for probably 30 minutes and Thome left my office with an extremely positive look in his face. Like a Martin Scorsese movie, the Indians would beat the Red Sox and Thome would hit a homer off of the great Pedro Martinez. You can look it up.
After the game when I saw John Hart to congratulate him he told me that Thome told him what happened.
John complimented me by saying that I was a big reason for that team’s success. I took it lightly and John stopped me in my tracks and said… Ray listen to me, you were a big reason! Whether he really meant it or not, it was a very special moment for me! Something that I have never forgotten because in baseball little people don’t usually get compliments like that. In my Yankee World it was always great to hear it from the Boss and Billy Martin however to hear it from the very classy John Hart will always hold a very special moment in my heart.
