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Go to Shopify.com/MLB podcast to take your retail business to the next level today. Shopify.com/MLB podcast. This episode is brought to you by our good friends at NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV. I'm sure by now you've all got back into your Sunday routines, but they could be even better. With NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV, you get the most live NFL games all in one place every game, every Sunday, and you can even watch up to four different games at once with MultiView, one of my favorite inventions of this decade. It's exactly what you need to catch all the action. Make your Sundays more magical, and also, YouTube TV is great. I got it this year. It's awesome. Sign up now at youtube.com/BS device and content restrictions apply. Local and national games on YouTube TV, NFL Sunday Ticket for out-of-market games, excludes digital only games. The following podcast is #boneaproof. It's time for another edition of the Brett Boom podcast. Whoever made you almost with the blows, Lu sent me down three times, too, so I know what you're talking about. It's your host, MLB All-Star. Brett Boom. Bottom line is, you will become a successful major league hitter by hitting pitchers' mistakes. As he sits down with his sports entertainment friends from around the world, you are not going to be a successful major league hitter if you hit pitchers' pitch. This isn't just any form of Jock's podcast. The change outcome, you got to change the income. You got to change what goes in, and that changes what goes out. Often duplicated, but never replicated, just like his back flip. Okay, now the party starts. The responsibility starts now. Now, in its fourth year, this is the one and only, Brett Boom podcast. Welcome to the Brett Boom podcast. I'm Brett Boom, and today on the program, I'm joined by the long-time Yankee broadcaster. It's spent a lot more time with my little brother than I do, and she's been calling Yankee Game for years, and she's making her debut today on the Brett Boom podcast. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Susan Waldman. Susan, I appreciate you coming on the show. Thank you. You know what? This is really the first time I ever talked to you, because when you played, I got to tell you the truth. I was really scared of you, and I never, because you always looked like every time I came in, particularly in Seattle, I was friends with Junior, and I was friends with Edgar. You always looked like you were going to yell at me if I asked a question. You were one of those guys, you were always yelling at somebody, so I just never went over and talked to you. You know, it's funny, because that was premeditated. I'm really not. I'm not mean, but I loved having that. You know who told me the same thing, and we become really good friends over the years, Sweeney Merti. And Sweeney told me the same thing. He said, "Boney, when I used to come in from Seattle and just be a Yankee Stadium, because I was kind of new, and I was a new reporter, and you just had that look like you were going to. You weren't going to be nice to me." I said, "Well, I was probably going to test you, and see if I liked you." And then you'd know if I liked it. If I yelled at you, I really liked it. Well, but didn't you like a lot of people in that clubhouse, because you were yelling a lot. I did. You know, I look back on those days, and it was such a schtick. My teammates expected me to be this big bravado, and have this big, and I played it to a tee. And I'll admit, sometimes when the winner hit, it was like, "All right, I can stop playing that role for a while and just be a normal person." But yeah, we had a lot of fun with it. You know, one of the things that I told your brother when he did the first savages in the box tirade, remember, I walked in and I talked to him every day. He has to deal with me every single day and do a four or five minute interview. And the night after he went nuts, I said, "Well, is that really you, or did you just channel your brother?" And that's when I told him that story that I just was always afraid of you, because when you'd come in the Yankee stadium, or we'd go to Seattle, the only reason you're in the visitor's clubhouse after the game is if they lost. And so you do your work, and then you'd go to the other side, and that was in the kingdom back then, when I first met you, and you always looked, you were either yelling at somebody, or you were about to yell at somebody. And Aaron laughed when I said that, and he said, "When you ever talk to him, and you will, ask him that if you're the same person. So how alike are you and your brother?" We are polar opposites. That's what I thought. You know, we get along really good. We always have. I mean, he's always been my little brother, you know, and I've always kind of kept him in the full mic. My buddy's used to love when Aaron was a little kid. My buddy's used to love Aaron coming along with us, and you know, as the brother, you're like, "All right, come on. For this, you know, we're going out and we're going to go hang out with some girls today. Aaron's eight. I'm 12." I'm like, "I can't take you for this." But other than that, it was like for all the things we did in the neighborhood, and you know, whether we're going to play street hockey, or we're going to play wiffleballer, or whatever we did, my buddies would be like, "Hey, is Aaron coming along?" I'd say, "Well, if you want me to bring him, I'll bring him." The thing about it was, and if the game got too physical for him, if the kids were just too big and too old for whatever we were doing, Aaron would sit on the sidelines, and he would announce the game. Like, we're having a street football game, and if it got too quick for him or the guys were too big, Aaron would just sit on the side, you know, he'd prop up a chair, and he'd do the play-by-play whoever the Philly announcer was at the time for that sport for the seventh. He would imitate him, right? He would imitate, and my buddies love to this day, they love him, and they remember a little Aaron. They don't remember Aaron the big Yankee skipper. They remember a little Aaron tagging along in Medford, New Jersey. So if I call him little Aaron today, it's okay. Well, you could call him Arnie. All his buddies call him Arnie. All my friends call him Arnie. We call him in the family Arnie, and now kind of when I go around and do shows, I'll refer to him sometimes. Now, he's Uncle Arnie because Uncle to my kids, so you know, it's like my dad's become gramps over the years how we all do. My mom is Grammy, and yeah, so that's what, but to put answer your question, we're kind of, we're pretty like-minded. I mean, he's a little more progressive than me on the baseball side. I'm starting to engage and learn the new ways with the data points and all the things that are modern now in baseball. But as far as baseball, we love to debate, we love to take topics and he'll always take one side. I take the other, kind of like my dad does, he always like to fight. But at the end of the day, we're pretty like-minded baseball-wise, and now kind of we align life-wise, and families, and how we interact with our kids, and how we live our life. We're pretty similar, but as far as the personalities, when we were on the baseball field, Aaron was kind of the quiet guy. And you worked that. Right, and I laugh now because he's the guy that gets thrown out of the games all the time. Well, but I think he's channeling you. And by the way, I told your dad, when he was at Angel Stadium, I said, "I probably the only other person except for you who actually saw your father play." And I remember your grandfather playing, because I grew up in Boston, and at the end of the year, he played in Boston. And then he became this great scout for the Red Sox and beloved in Boston for the people that he found. Your grandfather. Yeah. Grandpa was a big part of my life, and time to time, I think back of our time together. I miss him a lot, but he was a piece of work. But I'll tell you, Susan, you know what, talk about as we're getting a little bit older, my dad is turning into my grandpa. So all the grandpa that Ray had, where the family, my mom would go out, quit being Ray. Now my mom walks around and says, "That is Ray. She's married to Ray now." So it's just how we kind of progress. Aaron's probably more like my dad. And I was kind of the one that you talk about in the clubhouse. I was spoken kind of bravado. Now I laugh, though, because Aaron's getting thrown at all these games, and he's known as that guy. Well, he's channeling you. Right. Everybody thinks everybody thinks I was the bad guy. Now who's the bad guy now? I never used to get thrown out against. Your personality. I never saw this personality. Yeah. Yeah. I was really good friends with Junior. And I loved Edgar. As a matter of fact, my last interview with Edgar, the year he retired, I started a cry. And he said, "Why are you crying?" I said, "Because I'm never going to see you again." And he was so beloved. That group. I loved that group that you played on in Seattle. Yeah. And Edgar still to this day. I know. One of my best friends and awesome, awesome guy. Okay. I want to get into it a little bit. The New York Yankees. And now that I have to do this, I have to be as unbiased as I can when, you know, when I'm on the fan doing an interview, I got to be as unbiased as I can to take off that brother hat and be analytical. And for the most part, I can do it. I'm always, you know, I'm always pulling for Aaron and pulling for you guys, which is tough for me because during my playing days, you broke my heart a lot of times. But I look at this team and I honestly, at the beginning of the season, I said, you know, I've watched this team for the last four or five years pretty closely. And the problem is, is they find a way not to stay on the field. And I said, "That's their biggest problem is they've got a lot of talent, but they're banged up all the time. They're always seem to be missing two weeks here, two weeks there." I saw at the beginning of the season, Garrett Cole go down. And I thought to myself, "There's no way that this pitching staff's going to be able to hold up without Garrett Cole." I was vastly wrong. They've been tremendous. Rodan's been the guy that you thought you were getting a couple of years ago with that big deal. Nestor's done a great job. Mark Schmidt, who now is out, has really matured for me as a pitcher. And I think Marcus Strowman's gone, been inserted in the middle of that rotation, and done just a wonderful job. Giancarlo Stanton has been healthy and hitting home runs again. And then if Judge and Soto just stay healthy, you're getting to watch them on a daily basis. They're perennial MVP candidates. So your thoughts, what is the difference between 223 and what you're watching on a daily basis now? Well, to go to your point about the pitching staff, I think you're right about the pitching staff did a magnificent job with Garrett not there, but they're paying for it now. And you can see it, and Garrett to me is coming back at the right time. Strowman and Nestor, et cetera, Louise Hill, they may be overachieved a little bit there, and the bullpen was used too much because nobody on this team goes more than five innings. And when you've got a bullpen that has to be used all the time, as you know, you start to pay for it. You're seeing it now. Marcus Strowman is exactly what I thought he was going to be, and he should have been here years ago when he first was traded from Toronto. He will give you almost the same game every single time. He will keep you in the game, and he will go deep in the games, but Garrett Cole coming back now is perfect because now your ace is back. And as you know, there's something when an ace walks out in the field, everything changes. And I think the lack of strength in the bullpen, you know, what Bill Parcels always used to say, that versatility and deep and other parts are great until you have to use them. And when you're not that deep in the bullpen, I think things start to float and you're seeing that now. Marcus Strowman is one, Carlos Redon is healthy, and that's what he wasn't last time. His back hurt, and he had all kinds of problems. And now you're seeing the Carlos Redon that you got in San Francisco for a couple of years. The bullpen needs a lot of help, and you can see people are going to be coming and going for a while. And it would help a lot if people in this rotation got more than four or five innings every single time out. You don't expect Garrett to do it for a while, but he will. And I think overachieving is probably a really good word for that. If you want to be honest about it, and I have to be honest too, it's been terrific. And you know what else? Now it's time for the offense to pick up, because this starting rotation in bullpen was number one ERA in the league for a very long time. And now they're starting to get tired. And sometimes to me, it means, OK, it's your turn to pick it up. We've got to get the fielding a little further together and also get a little more consistency in the hitting. And I don't mean just home runs. You mentioned Sean Carlos Stanton. He is a better hitter, I think, Brett. And I'm sure if you've watched it, you've seen, he's lining liners all over the field in all directions. And then he has as your brother calls it that unicorn swing, that when he hits it and it goes out, there are times I can't even see the ball. I have no idea where it is gone. It goes out so fast. And Aaron calls it the unicorn swing. And it is. But I went over to Stanton about a month ago, and I said, so it's this easy. The difference between you and last year and the years before is that you're healthy and you're going to stay healthy and you've got your bottom underneath you. And he said, yeah, it's that simple. And they've kept him healthy and they've kept him really strong and it's really paid off. You know, I've got a theory and I won't stay too long in this topic, but tell me if you think there's any credibility to it. My time is in the game, played a long time. And I think this can be true. Not always, but you bring a young Juan Soto over from the San Diego Padres. Obviously, he's been a huge success so far in the Bronx. But he brings an energy, he's 25 years old, and the one thing Juan Soto's always done, I know it didn't go the way he wanted to in San Diego a year ago, but the one thing Juan Soto brings to the table is he posts, he plays every day. And the fact that you got this young star kid probably going to get a huge contract at the end of this season, he comes to the ballpark and he posts every day. I think that rubs up on the other players. I'm not saying that's the reason everybody stayed relatively healthy. But I'll tell you, you got a young star coming to the yard every day and you got an older guard like a Giancarlo Stanton going, man, this kid's coming to the ball. He plays every day. I'm not going to let him show me up. I'm going to stay healthy. I think there's something to it. It might, you know, I'm not going to sit here and get hokey on you. But I think there's something to it. I think he's been a great influence from a, from a, the young man's perspective, being that young superstar. You're. I think, I think you're right. And there's more to one soda than that. I think you're absolutely right. But one sort of does something that I haven't seen around here in a long time, a couple of things. One, I call every at bat of his, a three act play. I mean, the way he goes like this to the pitcher and like this to the pitcher, he terrorizes pitchers. He gets them so tired out with his, they're not antics. He's getting himself set. And when he doesn't straight, swing at a pitch, it's not a strike. And he's right all the time. And that has rubbed off on this team. I remember years and years ago, when Wade Boggs walked in the door, Don Mattingly said to me a couple of months later, he said, if you noticed in two months, we have gone from being last in walks to being first in walks. And that's one soda. And that's exactly the same thing. And I contend that that is absolutely true, that this guy is out there with so much energy and he's very popular with his teammates. He absolutely is and they love that. And I think that rubs off and the way he goes about his at bats rubs off on the rest of the team. I watch Anthony Volpe watch him. I watch Judge watch him. I watch them all watch him what he does by the time they're finished with Juan Soto and they get to Aaron Judge, it's not an accident that he's starting to hit home runs again, because they're so exhausted. I see the looks on pictures faces when they're done with, even if he doesn't get a hit, they're so exhausted in spending energy trying to get this guy out that the outcomes judge, up comes Verduvo and up comes Stanton and it's a whole other ballgame, he's rubbing off on other players is palpable. You can see it and it makes you smile every time you watch him because he's got this energy and I think it really has rubbed off on other people. I think you're right. At Blue Nile dot com, you can find endless ways to make your moment sparkle from classic and timeless jewelry gifts to creating the custom engagement ring of her dreams, all at prices you won't find at a traditional jeweler. And right now, you can save up to 40% on fine jewelry and 25% on engagement ring settings. During the Blue Nile anniversary sale, going on now, go to Blue Nile dot com to shop the Blue Nile anniversary sale and save up to 40% that's Blue Nile dot com. 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Yeah, I look at that American League and from my perspective sitting here, I see two elite teams in the American League. I see some good teams, but then there's the two elite that would be, for me, the Yankees and the team you were just playing, the Baltimore Orioles. I watched that series and you being there on the ground. It feels to me that rivalry that they've had with Tampa Bay for the last four or five years. Tampa Bay is kind of down on their luck this year. For the first time in a long time, they're probably not going to be a postseason team, but it seemed like the Orioles have kind of taken over that rivalry and guys get hit all the time. People are always going to break it down. That's just part of it. That's the way we are as players. It's like, oh, he didn't mean to hit him or he didn't mean to hit him. At a certain point, the sentiment in the dugout is, I don't care if he meant to hit him. We don't care. We don't play that game. We get to a point where it's an eye for an eye and it's unspoken and it's not something that really is discussed. It's just kind of handled in whatever way it's handled. In my day, it was, if I'd get drilled and it kind of went, the bullpen guys would be sitting down there and a bullpen talking about it and it could be a week later. Somebody get drilled. I'd get a turn to me at second base and kind of a wink from a pitcher like, oh, yeah, that was for two weeks ago. It's nothing that's really discussed, but I just watched this series, man. That Baltimore Orioles team is a young, talented ball club. And I think as far as the American league goes, I think it's in the two elite teams in that league are both in the American league. And that's the Yankees in the Baltimore. It's going to be fun to watch that division. It is and Baltimore, they're going to have some pitching problems and because they're starting to have this kind of wiped out right now except for horrible birds. I want to take you up on what you said about hitting because I, I've Ruth, you and I've seen it forever. And I remember my favorite, Roger Clemens, if you hit my center fielder, I'm going to hit your center fielder. It really wasn't I for an I. If you hit my center fielder, I'm hitting your, however, there are places to do it two nights ago, when Victor Gonzalez came in and hit Gunnar Henderson and put him on base. If he hadn't, Gunnar scored, if he hadn't done that, you know, or go with it. No, yet you do. If he hadn't done that, the game would have been tied when the Yankees made their comeback. So that drives me crazy. Sometimes I think, okay, your testosterone got the best of you there because we've got a game to win. And this is the team that is chasing you and it's now ahead of you. And that, you know, there are smart times to do it. And maybe what you said, maybe when the team went to Baltimore before the All-Star break is the time to do it. Not when you're trying to score runs and your bullpen is kind of a mess at the moment. So that, I have two ways of thinking of that because you used to, you guys used to take care of it yourselves without the umpire of this one and that one. But there's going to be a smart way to do it. And as soon as he hit him, I said, oh, this is not the time to do that because that run scored and that made a big difference in that game. No, you're 100% right because I was all about, you know, if I had a teammate that felt like he was wrong, that felt like he was drilled on purpose, and he was, and I had several teammates that would have a problem with certain things. I said, listen, if you got a problem with it, we'll take care of it. But right now is not the time or the place and you're 100% right, Susan. At the end of the day, I'm all for, believe me, once that national anthem ends, I've got the back of 25 guys and I'll do anything for you. But there's a time and a place for it and the first, your first job as a player on that field is to win the game at all costs. You win the game and if getting some retribution on someone puts that in jeopardy, that is not the time to do it. The time might be next spring training in a B game. We'll get you. But you never put the risk of winning or losing a game at the hands of making your point and I'm 100% with you. And I think most players are with you. You win the game at all costs. So we'll take care of it when we take care of it. Like I said, it could be next spring training when nobody knows what's going on and there's always a back story. And here's the perfect for you, after the 1986 World Series at the Met's Beat the Red Sox, Al Nipper, who was on the mound when Darryl Strawberry hit a home run in game seven, spring training next year, Nipper comes out and he drills Darryl Strawberry just for that. But it's a year later and it's in wherever they were playing back then in Winterhaven or whatever. And that's, you know, there's times to do it just so that you don't forget, but you're right, not them. I always laugh because I hear commentators go, I don't know why he hit him and I always say, there's a back story. And we always don't know the back story, but that pitcher and that hitter, they know why. They know why whatever happened happened. It's a game inside the game. It's interesting. Man, you've been a part of that New York sport scene for a long time. Why is New York so different? Boy, I think it's, there aren't anything in the Northeast is different. I think that Boston is different. I think that Philly is different and I think that New York is different. And it's just, there's a feeling about sports here. It's part of your life. And of course, everything in New York, you grow up New York, everything has to be bigger and better and first. And winning and losing, I think life in New York is about winning and losing. And absolutely everything. People come to New York because they want to make it. If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere. And I think there's a lot of truth to that. I mean, I came to New York a long, long time ago to be in theater. There's only one Broadway. It's in New York. There's only one New York Yankees. They are in New York and, you know, there's a, there's something about winning and just the whole palpable aggression. You have to be aggressive to live here. You have to be passionate to live here and succeed here. And I think that that's part of it. And it's really, not that you win or win all the time, because nobody does. But I just think it's that energy. There's an energy here. Sometimes it's good. Sometimes it's not so good. But there's an energy here that I have found that is very life giving. And it really is a tremendous, you know, it's like breathing it. You can walk down the city and, you know, where else in the, in the world, can you walk out at three o'clock in the morning and there's life going on everywhere. And I think it's a, it's a city that, you know, they talk about the city that never sleeps. But there's an attitude that I think you have to have to live and succeed here. It's like when I started, well, you can't go in here, well, what do you mean I can't? Well, why not? I know as much as you do. Well, you're a girl. Yeah. So what? So give me another reason. And I just think that you don't have that in other other places. And I didn't grow up here. I grew up in Boston. And it's very, very different. And New York is a special kind of energy that you either like or you don't. And it's not for it. It's not for everybody. It really isn't. And I've seen a lot of free agents come here and go, oh my goodness. And they, a lot of people know whether they can or they cannot play here. And I think it's, it's a certain kind of person that actually can. And by the way, who can play here is Juan Soto. I mean, he just embraces, I've never seen anything like that. And he goes out to the, the right field stands and there's Dominican flags and he's waving to people. He's talking to people. And once I saw him turn around to see if anyone was looking, took a ball from a little child who was standing there and signed it, the Golden Game, get back to him. Everything was fine. It's a, it's an energy that I think you find no place else on Earth except New York. Not, not for everybody. Not always good, but it's there. I'll tell you what, for my, for my time and, and I mentioned, you know, half-kittingly, and, and I'm really not kidding. I've had my heart broken at that old, at the, at the old stadium. And you know, with the, with the braids in 99 and with the mariners in 2001. But I'll tell you, there's nothing like going to Yankee Stadium. I always used to see it on, you know, see it on the schedule. Oh, we're going in two weeks. I can't wait. Because you're right. There's an energy there. I come out of my hotel and I'm walking down the street to get a coffee. And I've got some Yahoo from across the street screaming at me that he's going to kick my ass tonight. But, but it makes you smile. It wasn't a threat. It was kind of, no, that's just how they are with their Yankees and to quite the other side of the coin as well. If I'd kick your butt that particular night, the Yankee fans were very respectful of it and would give you your credit. But I'll tell you what, you go 0 for 4 and the Yankees beat you. You're going to hear about it. I knew that. But if I beat you, I'm going to, I'm going to hear about it the other way and, and that's why I loved going to New York because it was intense fans that love their, their city and would defend it to the end. But for some reason, when I went to Yankee Stadium, they did it in a classy way and I, you can't replace that energy. I never heard it. They did it in a classy way. I loved it. I loved it. I loved it. When Jeff Nelson got here, I had to explain to him because he blew a game and they booed him. And he got really upset. And I said, you have to understand they're not booing you. They're booing what you did. And tomorrow you come back and they'll cheer you. And that is exactly what it is. You know, Yankee fans, I always joke with, with people. Buck Showalter once said, they play 162 one game seasons. And every, just think about that. Every single game is life or death. And then, okay, they come back tomorrow. And that's what New Yorkers do. And you have to realize that it's not personal and you can't take it personally. It's hard to do. But as soon as Nelson and anybody who walks in this door, listen, Tino Martinez, when he replaced Don Mattingly, he was booed until he had a Yankee moment. He hit a home run in Baltimore and he won a game. And then they stopped booing forever and then Tino became Tino. But you have to have your little Yankee moment if you're a Yankee and you come here and everybody has one. Jason Giambi had his, Alex Rodriguez had his, everybody has them. Unless you're a home grown Yankee, then you don't get booed for a while. And it's that life or death and everything counts. And always remember that it's 162 one game seasons. And Buck's show ultra said that and he knew that and I think that's really true. Yeah. Awesome. Recently, John Sterling stepped down the long time. I can hear it right now, Yankees win and I'm just pissed and I'm going to shut up John as a player. I heard it enough with the Yankees win, but he was a long time. He got his partners for so long. How different is it for you now coming to work and not having John sitting next to you? Well, it's really different. And by the way, we were, this was our 20th year together when he just figured he just couldn't do it anymore. And I've actually known him since 1987 when I started on WFAN, I was an update person. I might have, might have been the one you were one of the, you were one of the first voices ever. I was. If not the first voice ever. And I was an update person, they hired me because I have a big mouth and they thought I was going to, you'll be sarcastic with the afternoon hosts. Well, the afternoon hosts that they hired had a heart attack and couldn't come. So they had all these guest hosts. And during the all-star break, one of them was John Sterling, who was doing Atlanta Braves games then. And this guy came in and that's when I met him in 1987. And he stood up for four hours with his hand cupped and talked into a microphone. And I said, what an interesting man this must be. And he really was John Sterling. And I know that people pick on the home run calls and, you know, his idiosyncrasies. John, John Sterling at, for most of his, almost all of his career was good at play-by-play guy. Never missed a thing and was really, really good, but he is a showman. And I think that's really old school. You don't get that anymore. You don't get the Harry Carries and you don't get the Vince Colleagues and you don't get those, the Ernie Harwells and Jack Buck. You just don't get those people anymore. And John was one of them. And he is unique and he was an original. And being an original is like the best thing I can ever say about anybody because no one can ever do that. And I know the style has changed and I understand the games are different. I really understand that. But for generations, and I mean generations of Yankee fans, he is and always will be the voice of the New York Yankees. I'll tell you, Brett, we'd go to dinner in places. And if John said in there, well, Susan and I are going to Prime Ridge and there'd be a line standing outside to see John Sterling walk into the restaurant. I mean, it was just the most incredible thing I've ever seen and that never stopped till the day he walked out the door. And every day I hear it, we miss John, we miss John. And by the way, he's happy as a little lark and when you're going to be 86, you get a chance to live the rest of your life the way you want to. So I'm really happy for him. I was blessed to be with him because he was the one that went to George Dinebrenner when George was thinking of putting a woman in the booth 20 years ago, until last year there's still just me. That's a long, long time ago, and my first radio game was 1992. So if you ask me how far we've come, we haven't come a long way because 1992 was my first game. And then television and finally the full time, it was John that said to George, oh, go ahead. I don't want to be in the booth, it'll be great, it's no York, we can do anything. And he absolutely did, it'll be great. And it actually was pretty great. Ryan Reynolds here for, I guess, my hundredth mint commercial. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Honestly, when I started this, I thought I'd only have to do like four of these. I mean, it's unlimited to premium wireless for $15 and what power there's still people paying two or three times that much. I'm sorry, I shouldn't be victim blaming here. Give it a try at midmobile.com/save whenever you're ready. $45 up from payment equivalent to $15 per month, new customers on first three month plan only, taxes and fees extra, speeds lower above 40 gigabytes of city details. When it comes to towing, seeing is believing. 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Follow and listen to baseball isn't boring presented by Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. No, and it is cool. You guys became, I mean, kind of, and especially in the East Coast, it's like it was John Sterling and you were known just as, oh, it's Susan. It's Susan. John and Susan. Yeah. Right. And it wasn't, you know, if you, I don't know, it's hard to say, if you're on the West Coast and you're in California and people said, you know, there was somebody in the booth and they just called him Joe. It's like, we don't, but in New York when anything around sports or the Yankees, and they say, Susan, I know right away, oh, Susan Waldman, and they don't call you Susan Waldman. Oh, Susan. No. You know, Susan, you're the only person in sports just known by Susan, like Madonna, like Madonna, only just a common name. It's Susan. It's pretty cool. That's pretty cool. You know, it's pretty cool about that. And I think, Brett, it's radio. And I think there is a connection between radio. I'll bet you, you know, who your first broadcast was, who was the first voice you ever heard on the radio? I'll bet you know who it is. People don't know what television was, but they all know their first radio announcers. And I think it's the connection radio because it's an emotional connection, not because you can't see it. So you're depending on them to be your eyes and ears and be, you know, gee, be, you know, see it the way you see it. And I think it's radio, but you know, somewhere between get that smart ass bitch off the air and prime dive. And now it's changed. It's taken a long time, but yeah, it's a lot different now. And it is just Susan. Yeah, I think it's because I changed the spelling of my name. When you're interacting with fans, when you're meeting fans out in the city, what do they want to talk to you about? Mostly about the team. Number two, now it's John, is John OK? And this is what I mean about radio. Everybody wants to know if John is OK. And that's a connection that people have with their radio announcers. If it's a young woman, they want to know, will you listen to my tapes? They don't call them tapes anymore, but I always say yes. And mostly now, and now that you're making me think about, that's an interesting question. So much about John, and do you miss John? And where did he get his call of Robbie Canoe, don't you know, et cetera? But a lot of young women want to know where they can send me stuff, and can you critique my tapes? So I want to do this, and I think that's very important. Talk about Aaron a little bit. I gave you my Aaron as a little brother stories. Aaron Boone is a Yankee skipper. I don't know him, is that? He is absolutely perfect for this job, and I'll tell you why. And we talk about analytics and all of that. This is not an easy place to manage, and I'm not talking about X's and O's. Because when your brother was at ESPN, and he'd come on a Sunday night and sit in the booth for a little while, and we would talk before he went and did his vocal exercises so that he could be okay in the air. He had what I thought at the time were kind of off the wall ideas of what could happen, and this is before I even bothered looking at analytics. But he is that person. That he is a Boone, so he comes from that stock. And Brian Cashman was smart enough to see the combination of new school ideas, which I think he really believes in, and that old school ballplayer mentality, because that's who he is, and that's who you are, and that's who your family is, and that's what he brings. However, New York is a different place. It's a different place. Your brother has to deal with 25 reporters twice a day, twice a day, answering all questions. He never changes. He is always honest, we think he's honest, but very up. I would kid him and say, "What kind of Pollyanna answer are you going to have today?" And he'd say, "No, no, no, this is what's going to happen," and it usually does. Because he is who he is, there isn't a player in that room that does not adore him. He is strict away from cameras, microphones, me, everybody. When he has to be, I am sure. But he is unwavering support. I can tell on his face when he's angry, because his jaw goes a little bit, just a tiny little bit, it'll move, and I said, "Oh, boy, someone's going to get taught to today." But he'll never show it. He is perfect for this particular team at this particular time. I don't think that could have gotten a better guy. You mentioned growing up in the Boston area, Newtown, Newton, Massachusetts. You get a lot of what's, how is that with your family members? Being a pinstripe. That's a big deal. No, no, no. I moved here like over 50 years ago. Oh, okay. You know what? Ted Williams is gone. I used to reach out and touch Ted Williams, Carl Fisk isn't coming back. I will tell you, when I first took this job, when I first met Bucky Dent, I really didn't know whether to shake his hand or like punch him in the stomach. The first time I was in Yankee Stadium, and that was that place, that was the old stadium, it really was hard for me for a minute, but you know, professional. I was a professional, so that's what I did. And now this team is, you know, this team, they are my support system. They have been, I've been there for almost 40 years and it's, you know, tremendous. We all end up where we're supposed to be in life, don't we? We do. I got a couple more and I'll let you go. Before your Yankee career, you mentioned that you were a stage performer. I was. You were in musicals, do you miss it, and are there similarities between performing on stage and performing in the booth? Yes. Yes, I miss it every day. The similarities I always say that what I do now is the greatest part I've ever had. I was on Broadway for over 15 years. I did nightclubs, I did all those kinds of things, it's performing. And one of the reasons I went into this, I think that actors and ball players of any sport are the same person. The same thing that put a bat in Brett Boone's hand and go out in front of millions of people on television, whatever, every day is the same thing that made Susan Waldman get up on a stage or sing the National Anthem at the World Series in front of millions of people. It's the same person, different stage. Everyone can sing, not everyone can make a living at it. Everyone can play baseball, not everyone can make a living at it. I think it's the same person. And when I got into this business, I wanted people to see that. I wanted people to know it's not just whether you failed or whether you didn't. What happened? What did you see? What didn't you pick up on? What kind of fear do you have as an athlete? It's the same fear that a performer on stage has. That's why they're all friends. That's why actors and athletes are all friends, and seriously, that's exactly what I tried to do. All right, you've got a bunch of all you Yankees do. You've got a bunch of World Series rings. Would you trade one of your World Series rings for a Tony? Oh, God, yes. I'd trade all of them for a Tony. Really? Because I didn't play. I just announced it. I mean, I wasn't on the field. Oh, yeah. My time just passed. But you know what, like I say, you end up where you're supposed to end up. This is where I was supposed to be. To be serious for a second, on Broadway, I was really good. I wasn't barbers dry sand. Here I'm making a difference. I've made a difference in little girls' lives, generations are out there, little girls that are out there that wrote to me when they were six, and they're out there. I ended up where I was supposed to end up, and I'm really grateful for that. If I could go back, yeah, I would. You'll take the Tony. And I'll take one of the rings because you took a couple for me. No. Not me personally. No, not you. Those Yankees, those mean Yankees. Well, Susan, this has been a pleasure. You're a pioneer in the booth and what you do, and this was a lot of fun catching up today. Keep it going. I'll have my eye on you guys. I wish you all the best this year. Thank you. I wish Aaron Boone the best in a sly little way. I want him to do well. He's a good kid, and I'm really proud of him. I'm really proud of him, the job he's done through the good times and through the bad times. Hopefully, there's more good on the way. For those of you watching the Brett Boone Podcast now, we have our own YouTube channel. Check it out. For those of you who listened to the Brett Boone Podcast on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your app, until next time. Keep it here. Susan, thank you. - Thank you, Brad. - You're welcome. - Bye bye. (dramatic music)
