Yankees legend Dave Winfield breaks down NEW MEMOIR 'Touching All The Bases' + talks George Steinbrenner battles, inspiring Derek Jeter & tells CLASSIC Bob Gibson story

Joe and Jada

Fat Joe and Jadakiss host baseball legend Dave Winfield to discuss the release of his new memoir, 'Touching All The Bases.' The conversation

Key takeaways

• Dave Winfield was a rare multi-sport phenom drafted in baseball (Orioles), basketball (NBA/ABA Hawks and Utah Stars), and football (Minnesota Vikings).
• Winfield details the intense pressure and contract disputes he faced while playing for George Steinbrenner with the New York Yankees.

Main topics

• Dave Winfield Memoir
• New York Yankees History

Notable quotes

It's not just about touching in baseball. It's about business. It's about sports. It's about family.

Conclusion

The episode provides an inspiring look at a legendary career defined b

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) Didn't catch the latest Roland Martin unfiltered podcast? Here's what you missed. People wake up Speaker 4 (0:05) and go, oh damn, wait a minute, hold up. They changed all of that? Yes, it's real. This is a wholesale attack. It is targeting black people in every federal agency. It's raw. White folks have never allowed that reckoning to last more than a decade. Catch Roland Martin's daily Speaker 2 (0:20) commentary on the Black Information Speaker 4 (0:22) Network. Speaker 1 (0:23) And download Roland Martin Unfiltered on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever Speaker 4 (0:28) you get your podcasts. Speaker 5 (0:29) Next time I came up, though, we're down by two. Two men on. He got that same two strikes. Do me the slider. And I went down and got it. You ever play golf? I hit a two iron out of the stadium. And I was going around the Speaker 2 (0:43) base. Speaker 5 (0:44) And then I walked across home plate and pointed to him. I said, I'm here too. And I get to the dugout and the guy said, are you crazy? Bob Gibson. Bob Gibson. I'm here too. I got up the next time. First tour right at my head. But Speaker 3 (1:02) I was Speaker 5 (1:02) too quick. Speaker 2 (1:16) Yo, what up, y'all? This is Joe Crack the Don. You know who it is, your boy Jada. You know what it is. Joe and Jada show every show legendary, every show iconic. The biggest. What we doing to y'all is not even right at this point. It's not right Speaker 3 (1:32) at this point, right? It's sad. Landslide records. Speaker 2 (1:35) It's getting sad. It's getting worse and worse. Today, Speaker 3 (1:38) that's like when you Speaker 2 (1:39) come up there, Speaker 3 (1:39) you want to tell you all about it. All right, Speaker 2 (1:43) all Speaker 3 (1:43) right. Speaker 2 (1:45) Every show legendary. Every show iconic. And today's guest is the epitome. Speaker 2 (1:54) It's an understatement. There's not enough flowers to give. But we need to hand it all in. Check it out. When you think of today's guest, you think of all-time greatness. a Hall of Famer, a World Series champion, a Yankees legend. and one of the most complete athletes this game has ever seen. This is a man who could do it all. Power, speed, defense, intelligence, leadership, and longevity. He was a 12-time, you hear me? 12-time All-Star who finished his career with more than 3,100 hits, 465 home runs, and over 1,800 RBIs. He played 22 years in the big leagues. He starred for the Padres, Yankees, Angels, Blue Jays, Twins. In the Indy. and help the Toronto Blue Jays win a World Series. But this isn't just a baseball story. He was drafted in baseball, basketball, and football. Speaker 2 (3:16) You hit. Speaker 3 (3:18) Baseball, basketball, and football? Are you hearing Speaker 2 (3:21) what he did? He was drafted in baseball, basketball, and football. A true multi-sport phenom before that was even a conversation. And now he's telling the whole story in his memoir, Touching All Bases. Ladies and gentlemen, animals, insects, aliens, people of all nationalities, ethnic backgrounds. Speaker 3 (3:48) We Speaker 2 (3:48) got the Hall of Famer. Speaker 3 (3:49) Dave Speaker 2 (3:50) Whitfield and the Bills. Speaker 5 (3:55) My brothers. Woo! Wow. Legendary. That's Speaker 2 (4:02) the Speaker 5 (4:02) introduction, you know. I'm glad you appreciate the intro. I forget some of these things, you know. But I've had an incredible life, and I'm glad to be here sharing it with you guys today. You know, like I said, this book that I just finished, 30 plus years in the making, but I just waited to the right time, and now it drops today. across the country. Touching all the bases. Touching all the bases. Yeah, and when I talk about it, it's not just about touching in baseball. It's about business. It's about sports. It's about family. It's about community, service to others, things like that. So I hit on a lot of things. And of course, someone will say, hey, wasn't George Steinbrenner the guy that owned the team? Yeah, I touch on him too. I'm going to take you behind. I take everybody. Behind the curtain. Pull that curtain back and I'll put you in the room. Speaker 3 (4:57) Yankee fans, let's go. Speaker 5 (4:59) Baseball fans, let's go. Touching all the bases. Decisions were made. Speaker 3 (5:03) Now, I got to say something. Yeah. I grew up so poor in the Bronx and the projects. I grew up maybe like five blocks away from Yankee Stadium. And every night, the stadium would light the sky. That's how we knew we had a Speaker 2 (5:18) game. Speaker 3 (5:19) And the only way I got to get... in Yankee Stadium was through the Dave Winfield Foundation. Y'all would give us tickets in the community center. And man, that changed my life. I would have never went to Yankee Stadium or seen the inside of the stadium. And so one time I seen you, it was a Michael Jordan party on All-Star Weekend or something. I don't know where it was. It was in Houston or L.A. And I dove on him. You was driving a Mercedes and I dove on your car when I saw you. I can't believe you ain't remember this. And I was like, Dave Winfield. Dave. Oh, my God. You used to send me to the, man, you so special to me. And we had Dale Strawberry there. Any baseball player I ever run into, I'd be like, yo, man, Dave Winfield, man. Because I don't know if you know how big that was. Just giving us a ticket to sit in Yankee Stadium. It was the biggest deal for us. It was like. It's two worlds. You know, when you played, the South Bronx looked like Vietnam outside those walls. It was rough. Speaker 3 (6:28) Really rough. Buildings, mattresses. Really rough when you was playing in that stadium. But then we get in the stadium and it's like botanical. They got green grass in the Bronx? Speaker 5 (6:41) Right. Speaker 3 (6:41) Like, what is this? Speaker 5 (6:42) Right. Man, Speaker 3 (6:43) but you're a special guy, man. You changed my life, man. And that's why I like giving back to the community so much because of experiences I have with you and how you changed my life. We're giving us tickets and all that. Speaker 5 (6:56) No, I appreciate it. You know, I grew up in the Midwest. People wonder where. I grew up in Minnesota. Speaker 2 (7:04) But I was there before Speaker 5 (7:05) Prince, before Jimmy Jam, and Speaker 2 (7:08) all the Speaker 5 (7:08) people like that. We were there 100 plus years, my family. And, you know, I just enjoy sports. I got good at it. But when I first made it as a professional athlete, and we didn't make a lot of money back then in the beginning. I'll tell you more during the program how all that's evolved. But you didn't get rich playing the sports. But I always knew that I was on the shoulders of other people that came before me. And I appreciated that. So the first thing I did, we started a scholarship. We made $15,000 as rookies. But I took $1,000 and had my friends and family. we put together a scholarship for minority student-athletes called the Winfield Awards. And it started small and it eventually got bigger. And now this year, 50 years later, we had our 50th anniversary and we sent over 500 kids to college across the country. Speaker 5 (8:07) Yeah. Yeah, and I'm proud of that. I'm proud of the numbers that I put up, the home runs, RBIs, championships, and all the Hall of Fame and all that. But if I just did all this and didn't, no one else benefited, no more, no doors were open, no, where their mind, no minds were open, where they thought that maybe I can do this too, then it's kind of. it's not as worthwhile as having done for others. And I got to tell you a story. I got my daughter here who really kind of set this up. They were born when, you know, right when I was finishing playing. So they didn't see how all the people would congregate around me. And so I brought her. We went to a Yankee old-timers game. She was young. And all the people pulling on me, I got her. There's a picture of that. She's Speaker 3 (9:02) in my arms. She look at all these people pulling shit. Daddy, why are all these people pulling on you? You know what I mean? You my daddy. My daughter thinks I'm washed up. I'm over the hill. Give it up. This, this, that. Same thing. The other night she came to the Bryson Tiller party. Madison Square Garden. He had a concert. He invited me as a special guest. I tore the paint off the roof. The place went so crazy. And when they started going crazy, I said, yo, Isaiah. I shouted out on stage like, you think your dad is washed up? Because she ain't coming to no Fat Joe show. Only time she came to Fat Joe show, I was performing with Travis Scott. He was right after me. I think y'all came out with me, the locks, in MetLife Stadium or something. And she was like, Speaker 5 (9:56) yo, Speaker 3 (9:56) dad, please get off the stage. Travis Scott can rock. Like, please. But it felt good to go back and she finally see you in your form. Speaker 5 (10:06) She Speaker 3 (10:06) was little. She Speaker 2 (10:07) was thinking like, get off my daddy. This is my daddy. Oh, yeah. And Speaker 5 (10:10) then when they finished school, they finished college, and they got her twin brother that had jobs here in New York. And so I just told him, because we were walking down the street many times in New York. Bus drivers pull over. Hey, Dave! Hands on the wheel. But she was, I said, now you better act right. Do the right thing. Because everybody knows. Everybody knows, Dave. Everybody Speaker 3 (10:32) knows. Dave, let me tell you something. Well, before we started, kids called his dad. His dad was like, Big Dave, Speaker 5 (10:40) we're Speaker 3 (10:41) going to do what we got to do to promote this book. Because everybody loves you here. I appreciate it. And you are such a historical figure. to New York, right? And, like, we just look at you as like a superhero. And so that's how we look at Dave Winfield. I don't know if Dave Winfield knows. We look at Dave Winfield like a superhero. Now, you Speaker 5 (11:04) know, I was going to ask you. That was a question. I come here. A lot of guys come from other teams or other parts of the country. And you're saying, yeah, yeah, yeah. But what is it? I'm honest. What is it about that made... People kind of connect with me. I was always such a boy. All Speaker 2 (11:24) I know is once I was able to learn old enough to know about sports and know what baseball was, baseball was the first sport they ever put me in, my parents. But my pops, and rest in peace to my Uncle Phil. A, B, and N. Big Dave, he's screaming, I'm telling you, you got to watch it. He was already a superhero to me when I was just learning about baseball. Speaker 3 (11:52) See, I'm older than him, Dave. Okay. Speaker 2 (11:54) I liked you Speaker 3 (11:59) better in a Padres uniform than the Yankees when I used to play cards. So you remember you buy them cards and they give you a chewing gum. Speaker 5 (12:07) Right, right. Speaker 3 (12:08) And then the way you do it is you play cards and whoever matches the color, I don't remember, it was too long ago, you take the cards. So it was like... gambling, but with playing cards. And you had that Padres uniform. The Speaker 5 (12:22) yellow and brown. The yellow and Speaker 3 (12:23) brown, boy, that's it. Speaker 2 (12:25) What? Speaker 2 (12:29) Those are throwbacks, too. Now Speaker 3 (12:31) I could have had a dollar, right? Like, them baseball cards, Speaker 5 (12:35) they Speaker 3 (12:35) worth so much now. Hold Speaker 5 (12:37) on to them. You never go broke, man. Man, I lost those a long time ago. Speaker 3 (12:42) I lost those a long time ago. They used to play around the time they had the Willie Stardew. Oh, Speaker 5 (12:48) yeah. Oh, yeah. Field up. Yeah. Hank Aaron. I got a chance to play with Willie Mays, Hank Aaron. You got to play with Willie Speaker 3 (13:00) Mays and Hank Aaron? Speaker 5 (13:01) Yeah, yeah, before they retired. What was that Speaker 3 (13:03) like? Speaker 5 (13:05) I'm going to tell you the truth. You know, even though I come in and you're a number one draft pick and I don't go to the minor leagues and all of a sudden I'm playing against. that I had picture on my wall. I tore it out of the magazine. Two people I had on the wall. One was Bob Gibson because he was a pitcher out of St. Louis, the lowest earned run average in the history of baseball. Like every time he pitched, every nine innings, he gave a 1.12 run. You know, these dudes, you know, make 40 million, make with an ERA of 6.2 or whatever. I'm not mad at him, Speaker 2 (13:42) but it Speaker 5 (13:42) was Speaker 2 (13:42) just the time. He Speaker 5 (13:44) was a bad brother, you know, two-sport guy. So I like when I pitched, I was him. And as a hitter, it was Willie McCovey. He and Willie Mays played together. Big left-handed batter. He'd walk up there, step in the batter's box. And, you know, you can see pictures. You see that, you know, their throat like that. But when I got a chance to play against Willie Mays before he retired, he was older and everything. But the first time he hit me a ball in the outfield. You know, I called it like it was nothing, but I said, man, I should put this in my pocket and go home. That's Willie Mays in here. That's how I looked at these guys that came before me. Hank Aaron ended up being one of my best friends in baseball. Loved that man because they went through a lot of stuff for us to be where we were today. So I always revered and respected, you know, those people that came before me. Negro League guys. You know what I mean? When I had a chance to bring honor. You Speaker 3 (14:45) played with them. Well, yeah. Speaker 5 (14:47) I thought that was before your time. It was. But Hank Aaron, he had like a year with like the Indianapolis Clowns. Willie Mays had about a year or something like that. So they were some of the last. So, I mean, they finished in 1950s. Well, when Jackie Robinson crossed the barrier. In 47 or whatever, it started to get away from. the Negro Leagues, but there was guys that played in it for a minute. I just looked at Speaker 2 (15:20) them like they were uncles, Speaker 5 (15:21) grandfathers, friends, and they influenced my life. So I gave back to them, too. That's awesome. Speaker 2 (15:29) Now, before we get more into the memoir, I just got to ask you this. I ain't going to Speaker 3 (15:35) lie, Speaker 2 (15:36) that book is fly. Speaker 3 (15:37) That book is going in my house. No, Speaker 2 (15:40) no, no, that book is going in my house. I want to read it. No matter what. Before we go into the memoir some more, what did it feel like getting drafted? Baseball, basketball, and football. That's crazy. Speaker 3 (15:52) And he was drafted by both ABA and NBA. So four leagues, three sports. What is that? What Speaker 2 (15:59) is that? Speaker 5 (16:00) Yeah, you know, I tell you, young people don't know of an era before social media. You know, people nowadays, they be... you know, trying to accomplish. Dave, you sound like Speaker 3 (16:13) us right now. Like, this is like, you must have been Speaker 2 (16:15) watching this show, Dave. He is on our top of the top. You don't watch. You talk Speaker 3 (16:19) everything you've said so far. That's how we talk about hip hop, the pioneers, people who paved the way to this. That's our whole thing in this show. I got you. But I'm sorry to stop you. The kids don't Speaker 5 (16:30) know Speaker 3 (16:30) nothing before social media. Go ahead, Dave. I'm sorry about Speaker 5 (16:33) that. Nah, so, I mean, I give you a quick context out of high school. I was drafted in baseball, Baltimore Orioles. They wanted me to pitch. And they said, we got $500 for you and a bus ride to Bluefield, West Virginia. I said, no, thank you. I think I'm going to go to college. So I go to Minnesota. Four years later, all of a sudden, you got three more inches. You got about 30 pounds. You know, you get the competition, the world travel. So I was a different person. And so all of a sudden. You know, we win Big Ten championships in both basketball, baseball. And so when I got drafted