EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: TODD ZEILE

I'm a Yankee fan. I love the team, I love the YES Network gang, Kimberly Jones, Jack Curry, Ken Singleton and the like, and I love the Stadium. But I also love baseball. Before I was a Yankee fan, I was a baseball fan and today, I consider myself a student of the game, constantly researching players and records. It's real fun to me.One guy's career that I've followed is Todd Zeile. Mr. Zeile played for the Cardinals, the Mets, and even the Yankees among several others. Not only was he a stand up guy, giving Bleeding Yankee Blue an interview, he also gave us some pretty interesting and surprising answers to our questions. It was a pleasure to talk with Todd Zeile, and we're are pleased to release Bleeding Yankee Blue interview with him for all of you. Enjoy!
BYB: You started your baseball career as a catcher with the Cardinals. At the time, Joe Torre was the manager and it’s been reported that he thought you were a true talent and wanted you more utilized so he suggested you play first or third base. First off, is this true, and secondly, describe your relationship with Joe Torre then and now?

Todd Zeile: I was a catcher from 8 years old and moved in my second year in the big leagues. Joe did have some influence on the decision, but the organization wanted to let Terry Pendleton walk and figured they could keep my bat in the lineup for more games and fill two positions with me at third and Tom Pagnozzi behind the plate. I wasn't happy at the time, and Joe and I butted heads about it, but it's hard to argue after 2000 more games in the infield. Joe taught me more about how to play the game than anyone else in my professional career, and I consider him a very close friend today.BYB: You were with the Mets in 2000 with Al Leiter. Tell me about the World Series that year and what is was like playing at Yankee Stadium against your cross town rivals?

Todd Zeile: The 2000 Subway Series was the highlight of my career and eternally linked me to the city that is like home to me. I always loved playing at Yankee Stadium. There is nothing like the energy of that World Series, on that stage, with that city relishing every moment. Obviously, I wish the results were different, but the series was much closer and more hard fought than a 5 game series would represent. We had chances to win every game, and I'm proud to have played in it and played well!

BYB: You came to the Yankees in 2003, what was it like to be reunited with Torre and explain the feel of the clubhouse?

Todd Zeile: I came to the Yankees in 2003 specifically out of my relationship with Joe, and looked forward to a great experience. Unfortunately, Nick Johnson got hurt before spring training, negating a trade that was supposed to happen. That would have given me an opportunity for 450 plus at bats if it did happen. Instead, I fell into a platoon role with my good buddy Robin Ventura, and never really adapted to a limited playing schedule. I think it hurt both Robin and myself since neither of us had ever played on a part time basis.

BYB: Who did you latch onto with the 2003 team and why?

Todd Zeile: Robin Ventura and I were already close from our time with the Mets, but I became friends and am still friends with a few of the other guys. Jason Giambi's awesome. Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte helped me hone in on my golf skills on the road. The team was filled with classy guys and great players.

BYB: You were released in August 2003 by the Yankees and it’s been reported that you weren’t happy about how the Yankees handled it. Was it just a heat of the moment thing or are you still annoyed by it?
Todd Zeile: I wasn't upset about the way it was handled, I was actually appreciative to be given an opportunity to go somewhere to play every day. I pleaded with Joe to let me go...Robin had been traded and Aaron Boone was playing third at the time. I got a chance to go to Montreal and had a great month plus with a hungry team fighting for a playoff spot.

BYB: If you had to name 1 player in Major League baseball that you admired as a kid, who would it be and why?
Todd Zeile: That's tough...I was a Dodger fan, so I watched them as a kid, and admired Steve Garvey, and emulated his hitting approach. However, I was also a catcher, and Johnny Bench was the best, so I was a little conflicted.

BYB: How about during your career, what player did you have a close relationship with and why?

Todd Zeile: I have a few good friends, but Robin Ventura was my closest player relationship for many reasons....the World Series, 9/11, our families.
BYB: A lot of people don’t know this but you’re married to another famous athlete, Olympic Gold Medalist Julianne McNamara. She was the first American Gymnast to receive a perfect 10.0 Right? How did you 2 meet?

Todd Zeile: Very true....we met at UCLA in my junior year. She had to retire soon after we met in order to try and maintain a relationship with a traveling minor league ballplayer. Her sacrifice and understanding of what it takes to compete at the highest level enabled me to sustain a career, especially with the many strains that 11 teams in 16 years can create.

BYB: Describe what made you decide to go Hollywood. You started a production company called Green Diamond Entertainment. Tell me about how it all came together?

Todd Zeile: Stupidity mixed with Vanity...Kidding! But it has not been an easy ride. I grew up in LA and with my MLB experience, am one degree separated from everybody...including many people that have been very successful in Hollywood. Unfortunately, it took some time, and I paid for an "education", but I have moved on from some early relationships and have some fun projects on the horizon.

BYB: Do you have a project you’d like to promote, maybe a website so people can keep up with what you’re doing these days? Are you on Twitter or Facebook?

Todd Zeile: I am not on Facebook and not a Twitter guy. I know, I'm a dinosaur, but I keep in touch with the people I want to, and know that if I started with social media, I will never stop looking at a computer screen. My 4 kids deserve to have my full attention, especially since they've had to share me with a very demanding profession for such a long time. Having said that, I may have to join the 21st Century soon, as I have been working on some interesting projects with the king of social media - Charlie Sheen. We just shot his Roast for Comedy Central, which will air tonight, 9/19 at 10 pm. It is epic...and will be a huge success. If you watch, you might see a familiar name scroll through the end credits as Co-Executive Producer.

Todd Zeile is the coolest guy out there. I hope everyone enjoyed the interview and just like Scott Brosius, Chuck Knoblauch, Kimberly Jones, Roy White and the other great interviews we've done, Todd is also now part of the Bleeding Yankee Blue family... always welcome. Thanks so much Todd, we appreciate it.

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REMEMBERING 9-11: CASEY'S TAKE

On September 10^th I was on my way home with no children and my wife was on a business trip. I just picked up my tickets for what was to be just another game on September 11^th. It was raining hard and I realized that Roger Clemens who was supposed pitch has his start moved to the 11th. I just got lucky. The next day at Yankee Stadium I was going to see history. Roger Clemens was going for his 20^th win. I called my dad with the news. After all, this was the guy that got me interested in the Yankees and he was going with me to the game. I was psyched knowing very well the stadium was going to be electric. I couldn’t wait.

Coming into the city on September 11th, I was listening to Howard Stern. Who didn’t back then. As the bus was coming up to the turn toward the Weehawken field, we slowed down considerably. It was now a crawl. There was smoke coming from one of the towers and I just figured it was an office fire. Many of us did in fact, it was really the first time I remember having a conversation with patrons on the bus. As we made the turn and headed down toward the next bend, the second plane hit the second tower. My bus became a mutiny as no one wanted the driver to enter the tunnel. To be honest, my mind is still blank 10 years later. I do not remember anything but screaming and 1 woman with her hands on her cheeks in shock and tears filling up in her eyes. It was like slow motion. I still remember her face, yet, I couldn’t pick anyone else out of a lineup to this day of all the people on that bus.

I don’t remember being in the tunnel, I don’t even remember walking through the city, I just remember entering my job. The day was long and I was in shock. A very close friend of mine who was an EMT, a true hero in my eyes and he didn’t go to work that day, he went to the towers, to save people. Brave and heroic doesn’t begin to describe this guy enough and to this day, he still amazes me.

Needless to say September 11^th was difficult for me and has been for years. I’ve never really every talked about it publicly, until now. As horrific as it was and when the world went in slow motion for the next 4 or 5 days, I didn’t want anything, except to be with my wife who had to travel by bus across the country to get home, and baseball.

Baseball was always an escape for me, and as a kid, I would throw a tennis ball against a wall and catch it in my Ron Guidry Wilson glove for hours. I watched baseball all the time and when I watched the Yankees, I’d line my baseball cards up in the order of the lineup. The point is, it was my happy place and as the world was crumbling around us all, I wanted baseball back. Everything else hurt way too much.

Seeing ceremony after ceremony was necessary but difficult and years later, I am still very anxious around September. Everyone lost someone that day and that image of the planes hitting the towers is something that I refuse to look at 10 years later on television or in pictures. Why should I, I replay it in my mind around this time every year. It follows me where ever I go.

When baseball resumed, I was happy again. I never went to see Roger Clemens win his 20^th game, in fact, I held onto that ticket, because I couldn’t bare to part with it. The Yankees made it to the World Series that year as we all know and it was so clear to me, that the Yankees were going to win the World Series. Yes, Luis Gonzalez crushed New York City’s dreams that night in November and it was like a second punch to my stomach, but it was life. Life has challenges and life isn’t always fair. America was attacked and we lost the World Series, but to me, it was about loving thy neighbor at that moment. It really wasn’t about loss in that World Series, it was about love. I realized right then the life goes on, we need to pick up and keep going for the people who died on 9-11 and for everyone who lost someone that day. The Yankees had great moments and we almost won it, but the Diamondbacks were New Yorkers in that series, they just wanted to play a good game, a good World Series, but in my mind, they weren’t winning it just for themselves, they were winning it for all of us. It was a sign, we were in this together, baseball brought us all back together. We needed to now move forward.

For me, it took a long time, but it’s true, while we have to move on, we can’t and won’t ever forget that day. It brought us all closer. My wife and I decided that kids needed to happen, moving forward needed to happen…life needed to happen again. It’s been 10 years since those attacks, I’ve grown and realized just how good I have it. It’s been a long trip, and every day gets better, but in the end, you look at your family and friends and realize there’s new hope.

Look, America is the greatest place in the world, we are the strongest and best nation ever, we overcame a tragedy together. My advice... keep 9-11 in your mind always and use it to become stronger in your life in your love and in your heart.

-- Casey

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REMEMBERING 9-11: NEVER FORGET

On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, I was having coffee and watching the morning news before I went to work. My daughter has just begun the first grade in a brand new school, and I was watching the weather. It was a beautiful, clear, bright, warm day. My husband commented that we should play “hookie” and go into New York City for the day, maybe catch the Yankee game that night. We joked about it- that sort of thing only worked for Ferris Bueller. I packed my daughter up, grabbed my travel mug of coffee, and headed off to drop her off to school before I went to work.

There was no music on the radio; the announcers were talking about some awful tragedy but I couldn’t really make out what they were referring to. My cell phone rang. It was my husband, saying that an airplane had crashed into one of the Twin Towers in Manhattan. Initially he thought it was a small, private aircraft- by now the radio was reporting that it was a commercial jet, and using words such as “terrorism” and “attack”. My initial reaction was that there was some morbid joke happening, such as Orwell’s “War of the Worlds”, until my husband yelled out on the other end of the phone. He was watching the news and saw the second plane hit the second tower. I parked my car and ran into work. By now, word had spread about the downed plane in Pennsylvania, and the Pentagon.

I worked at a State Office at the time, and walked in to stunned faces, confusion, and chaos. The rest of the day was surreal; like being wide awake in a nightmare, unable to remember the dream itself. Dead quiet. Fear. Confusion. Waiting…

Being a Yankee fan, it was my assumption that there would be no baseball that evening, but there was a part of me that wished it were possible. The distraction of watching America’s favorite pastime would have been a relief. Instead, I sat on my front porch, looked up into the otherwise empty sky, and watched military helicopters as they deployed to New York. Not knowing if it was over, it was a long, petrifying night.

The days that followed were tense, full of fear, and horror as I stayed glued to the television set to watch the recovery efforts, cry for the dead and missing and their families, and pray that someday, America would once again return to normal. I knew it my heart, though, that things would never be the same again.

As time went on, little by little, the media finally began to talk about these things. Resuming activities on Wall Street, sports, and many other things that makes America tick. There was footage of Derek Jeter, Chuck Knoblauch, Scott Brosius and Roger Clemens among others helping the effort by doing some charity work and personal appearances. Finally, some hope was slowly coming back, and a return to some sense of normalcy seemed to be on the horizon.

As baseball resumed, a sense of relief was felt by everyone. Only it wasn’t because people cared more about the standings or who was going to the World Series that year. People wanted-and perhaps needed- to show the rest of the world that America will not, and can be broken by this.

The sentiment across the entire country was “We’re all New Yorkers” now, and baseball fans took this to heart. Even in the heart of “enemy territory” at away games, opposing teams paid tribute to New York, the Yankees and the Mets, fans applauded instead of jeered, and, for a brief moment in time, baseball fans all across America were no longer divided by loyalty to teams, but were united by the sense that we were all in this together, and baseball was the glue that helped rebuild our hearts and minds and bring some sense of comfort, relief, and healthy distraction to our lives again.

There’s a beautiful quote that, to me, summarizes the whole experience for America during those days:

“I can be changed by what happens to me; but I refused to be reduced by it”- Maya Angelou

On this 10th Anniversary of the attacks on America, please take a moment to reflect, remember, and offer support to those who survived but still suffer from that awful day. “Never Forget”.

--Christy Lee, BYB Staff Writer



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WHY I NEED TO MEET SUZYN WALDMAN

It’s a selfish conquest, but important to me none the less. Yes, it’s true, when I finally complete my mission, I’ll get laughed at, picked on and mocked but I don’t care what anyone says… I have the need to meet Suzyn Waldman. Why? Because believe it or not, she is part of Yankees history.

Waldman has been with the Yankees in the booth with John Sterling since 2005 and to be honest, I never thought much of it. But one thing you need to say about Suzyn Waldman, she’s a staple in the Yankee family and has been for years. She’s been doing sports broadcasting for 20 years, and without her around Yankee Stadium, we may never have ever seen Yogi Berra again. What? Wait… you don’t know what I’m talking about? Let me explain.

Yogi Berra, no doubt was one of the greatest Yankees ever, numerous championships and a Hall of Famer. After Yogi Berra and George Steinbrenner had their falling out in 1985 when Yogi was fired as the Yankees Manager, Yogi was pissed because it wasn’t Steinbrenner himself but the GM who gave Berra the message. Berra swore he’d never step foot in Yankee Stadium again, and didn’t for a long long time.

As the story goes, in 1999, Suzyn Waldman was able to get both George and Yogi together for a "sit down". Some real Tony Soprano stuff. The "sit down" was a huge success and Yogi came back on a huge day at Yankee Stadium honoring Yogi. They did it right, Don Larsen threw out the first pitch to Yogi and in Yankee style; David Cone followed that day pitching his perfect game. Bottom line, that chain of events would have never happened without Suzyn Waldman.

Now, you know my feeling about John Sterling and Suzyn together in the both. It’s manageable in my mind but I’ve never loved the duo. Yes, by now, the 2 of them in the booth is a good team, and many of us grow accustomed to them being there, but, let’s not gloss over it. The moment Roger Clemens was in "George’s box" was the day I said loudly, “I have to meet Suzyn Waldman.” No one in any other lifetime could be that excited about Roger Clemens coming back to the Yankees, including Roger Clemens… except of course for Suzyn Waldman. Yes, her excitement was ridiculous, but it was the passion I loved.

Look, she may not be the greatest color commentator in sports, you may not like her, but you need to respect her. Suzyn Waldman has opened doors and mended friendships that no one even knows about. Do you think it would be easy for our favorite Yankees chick Kimberly Jones to just get a job with the Yankees? Suzyn Waldman’s presence before Kim certainly helped. That’s no slap against Kim Jones, she feels the love and she's incredible at what she does. My point is, Suzyn Waldman is a veteran woman in broadcasting and because of her acceptance, more people opened their eyes, more gave other women a chance. You have to love that.

So yes, it’s true, in a sport driven by men; one woman broke through to take a stand and do her job to the best of her ability and helped with a little Yankee history along the way.

Again, you may not care for her style, you may not love her in the booth, but there is no doubt, you need to respect the job she does because… bottom line… no one does it like Suzyn… Goodness gracious… no one.

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