Vol. 6: Jim Leyritz

the darkest moments for you? You You know, were there times that you thought you were at your wits in man, it was difficult, and there were times that I had to be strong for the boys during the day, but then I would go out at night in my backyard and I would just break down. Here was this Jim Lair, It's going through this Dui man spotter and then all of a sudden, now add on life beater. People always ask me, would you change anything about your life? And

I said I would not change anything. But that night, Welcome to Charges. I'm your host Rex Chapman. Today on the show, we have someone who's been on the top of the mountain and also made a fatefulness vision that led to a mountain crumbling beneath him, almost completely swallowing him whole. Thankfully, brick by brick, he built his way out from under the rubble and destruction to have a

life of service to on their tragedy. My guest today is a fellow Kentucky Wildcat, though he's most known as one of the most clutch hitters in New York Yankees history, Jim lay Ritz. If you watch baseball in the nineteen nineties, you had to know Jimmy behind the plate and in the batter's box. He wasn't someone who necessarily dominated the stat sheet day to day, but when it was your team in October, you better believe he was a guy

you wanted to see up there. So what happens when you're the literal king of New York and you're playing day's end right off into the sunset? Show up every fall in the Big Apple, have fans by the steak dinners, and you dine out the rest of your day as a hero? Right well, not exactly. In fact, in two thousand seven, a tragedy happened that costs one person their

life and put the rest of gems on trial. The purpose of this podcast us is to give my peers a platform as they bear themselves to the mercy of you, the public. Some stories are cheerier than Others be warned that this episode may be difficult to listen to at times. I'm honored to have here today Jim Layris to tell us his story and talk to us about the journey he has been dedicating his life to making sure his second chance is its lasting legacy. Jim, thanks for joining us.

How are you, my fellow Wildcat brethren. Hey listen. When I heard Rex Chapman wanted to have me on and I'm going to UK alum and as a kid growing up in said Santi, how I loved basketball, was my first love and didn't watch you come in university Kentucky. It's a pleasure to be interviewed by you. Man. That means it really does mean a lot. I know, the older we get it. It sounds better to hear those things from back in the day. So I don't take

it lightly. But I played every sport growing up, baseball, football, I swam um baseball. I couldn't hit. I mean I was scared to get hit right, I was stepping out all the time. But by the time I got to a Kentucky you were a legend. I mean you played for coach Madison, Keith Madison at UK. You know, I hung with some of the baseball players as well after you left, and you were famous before the internet, Man, we didn't have a lot of guys going and playing

in the big leagues from UK at that time. Tell me about the game of baseball. You're a kid in Ohio, doesn't follow, you know, any traditional route to the big leagues. How did you come into the game and what did it mean to you? Yeah, you know, it was a situation I grew up and again, like I said, basketball was my first love. But after my junior year school high school, my dad said, listen, realistically, if you want to be a professional athlete, you have to play baseball.

And it was a tough thing to hear. But at the same time, I was just you know, I was like okay, and um, you know I played with a guy that you know, guy named Barry Larkin. Him and I were teammates. Yeah. So coming from Cincinnati, I grew up a big Red Machine fan. Uh, that was my influence.

Tommy Brennaman was one of my best friends growing up, and I used to go to spring training as a bat boy in the in the seventy four seventy six, the big years of the big red machine, and it was just something that you know what, I remember, Johnny bench Uh one time gave me his catchers but signed it to me. As a whole story behind it. We don't have time for all that, but he signed it to me, and that day I became a catcher. And because of that is the reason I got an opportunity

to play in the Biglicks. Growing up in Kentucky, we didn't have pro sports anywhere around. We had to go to Indianapolis to watch the Pacers, and we had to go to Cincinnati growing up there. I can only imagine that that team Pete Rose, Dave Concepcion and George Foster

and all those guys. I only came to a couple of games, but man it it made such a huge impression on a kid from you know, the country in Kentucky, Jim Layritz was an absolute stud as a young baseball player and was projected as the number two prospect before Hall of Famer Barry Larkin. He had played at a junior college and Origina before transferring to the University of Kentucky,

where he became a stud. Four days before the MLB draft, Jim fractured his foot playing tennis and found himself going undrafted. Talk to me about your journey from college to the big leagues, especially in the late eighties and nineties. What's it like in the minor league farm system? You know, how do you as a catcher show your value? Yeah? See, back in those days, Um, I was never drafted, and so I was playing in a collegiately got in Hayes,

Kansas and they signed me out of there. And it's just really interesting because the only reason I signed with the New York Yankees it was between them and the Kansas City Royals. It is because the Yankees said, we'll pay for you to go back to college and finish your college. And my mother was like, you take that offer, because I want you to finish your you get your degree, which I never did. But I spent four years in the minor leagues. After my first year in the in

the minor leagues, had a great year. Uh, And then all of a sudden, I went to Double A and the Yankees drafted a kid in the first round, a catcher out of Stanford University, and all of a sudden they came to me and said, hey, listen, you're not gonna catch anymore, you're gonna go back and learn how to play the outfield and third base again. And so it was just a continual thing of changes. And I look back at it now, Rex and I go listen, thank god they did, because that versatility is what kept

me around eleven years in the big leagues. You know, at the time, the Yankees stunk, so it was an opportunity to go through the minor leagues fairly quick and get a chance to play at the big league level. And when I first got caught up in you know, the Yankees were horrible. Gene Michael was the GM at the time, and he called me in the office. He said, listen, Mr steinbergers on suspension. It's the only reason I'm giving the minor league guys an opportunity because normally Georgia trade

for the free agent. He didn't bring up the minor league kids. And he goes, I'm gonna give you a chance. If you do good, you're gonna open up the door for a lot of your other teammates. Now I'm going, well, yes, thank you, but okay, now that's not too much pressure, right, And what hell are you At the time, twenty five ish, I was actually twenty six years old. Yeah, so yeah, See back then you had to spend three or four years in the minor leagues before you even got a chance,

uh to get called up. So at twenty six today, it would be I would be old getting called up. Let me ask you, because you come through in the clutch, and that's a big part of your professional career. Were you that guy in baseball basketball growing up? Were you not afraid? Did you have success doing it early as a young kid, because I know I kind of did and it it just bred the success. Did you always

have sort of that clutch thing? And you two things happened to me that at age fourteen, I wanted that pressure. And when number one was my father. And the funny thing about my father, he was a mix between Bobby Knighton and what if I scored twenty points in the game he did, why don't you score thirty? You know I went three for four? Why didn't you go for for four? He was that kind of guy. And then

the other one was Pete Rose. Uh, Pete Rose. At fourteen years so old, I was picking up balls in the batting cage and you know, Pete was hitting and we were picking the balls up for me and Tommy, and I stopped him and I said, Mr Roys, can I ask you a question, how are you so clutch? You know, because at that time he was Mr Clutch, He was you, Mr Hustle and everything else. And you know, I said, He said, well listen, Jimmy. He said, you

see right now spring training. I treat every at bat during this spring training like I do the last game of the World Series. And I said, well, why do you do that? He said, because no matter if I treat every at bat is the most important thing that I will never think about what's going on around me, whether it's the World Series, whether and he said, it takes away the pressure as far as my thinking goes. And I was like, wow, you know, and this is fourteen years old. And from that point on, Rex my

mindset was give me the ball. Give me the ball, whether it was you know, come up in the last inning to hit, or I take the last shot. The other thing my dad taught me was, even though our sport were team sports, there were two moments in one in baseball one in basketball that it wasn't a team sport. It was when you were going into the batter's box, and it was when you were shooting a free throw, and my dad said, you can't blame anybody else if you miss your free throws. And he used to make

me and that was his thing. He shot, like, yeah, exactly. You know, but I think that's really why I really wanted that pressure moment. I love that pressure moment, and I was able to come through because I didn't think of what was going on around me. I was concentrated on the most important thing was that at bat. Awesome. Awesome. What's it like being a major league baseball player? A hundred and sixty two games a year plus the playoffs, especially as a catcher, you know, one of the more

daunting and taxing positions in the game. Well, you know, that's where I kind of had a break because I wasn't the everyday catcher. You know, I caught Andy Pettitt was I was his personal catcher, and you know, there would be one or two other guys a week that I would catch. But I was able to play other

poss asians. So it was able to give me a little bit of a break, a little bit of arrest, but it was I was still able to play in the lineup, which is a huge thing because most catchers, when they don't play, they're not in the lineup, you know, because they can't play other positions. Man, it's got to be a grind though, I mean, no matter what you're you know, if you're relieving all of it, because I mean just the you know, some of the monotony of

the days. You're spending days in different cities, and look, I know, you know, I know, we have the greatest job in the world as a professional athlete, but it's not without its issues. How daunting is it? Just getting up and going every single day, every single day? Yeah,

it was interesting. In my first couple of years in the big leagues, I lived in Florida and my family was from Ohio and they all still live in Cincinnati, and every offseason I'd come home, like when you come into Ohio, I'm like, guys, I've been traveling all year. If you want to come see me, you come to Florida,

which wasn't a bad place to go to. But in the beginning they didn't understand, and then all of a sudden they started to realize, well, you know, you're on the road, and even like no one lives in the spring training town. So you're away thirty days right then, and then you go away for your season, you know, which was I went from Florida to New York. So if I saw my house three months out of the year,

I was lucky, you know. And especially in ninety and when we started winning and going to the playoffs in the World Series. We never got home to the end of October, and so you had November, December, January. In February you were packing back up and going to spring training again. So it was a little bit difficult. And like you said, the mental grind of a hundred and sixty two games in a hundred and eighty days plus spring training, that was more of a grind than anything else.

And everybody always says today, hey, what do you miss about the game? What do you miss? Do you miss playing? And I said, I missed playing, I missed the camaraderie with the guys, I miss seeing the fans. I don't miss the travel ever in the field, back in the track and the room, dancing in the streets in New York right now and it's the County Stadium, all right. Let's fast forward a little bit nineties six World Series Game four, you hit a three run home run to

tie the game, the Yankees winning six games. What do you remember about the parade and how you were treated that summer and then you're traded, you know, being caught up in the nineties when we were losing a hundred games, and you know, we got really close to ninety four. We were going to be in the World Series of ninety four, and then of course the strike hits. Then we get to the point where we finally get down manically to a playoff game. We win the first two

games against Seattle, and then we get swept. You know, it was kind of like and I hit a huge home run that year in the playoffs, but they became a footnote because we didn't win. When we get to ninety six and I come up in the eighth inning against Wallers and I hit the big home run that ties it up and completely shifted the momentum, and then we went on to win that game. On the way Bogs Walk win the series, and the parade rex it

was nuts. It was I remember. I remember the ninety four Rangers winning because I was a huge hockey fan and I dragged out of the ninety four Cup with the Rangers. But I remember the Rangers the Rangers parade in ninety four, and I was like, man, that would be awesome to have one of those for us. And then we get the ninety six We win that and there were four and a half million people at this parade and it was just one of the most awesome days that we ever had, I can imagine. But then

you're traded. I mean that had to be just kind of bitter sweet, right. Well, it was a situation where I wanted to play every day and I at this particular time, you know, Mr Steinbanner of me because I just hit the biggest home run for him, and he already started loving me after ninety five because I hit that one on and so we had a really really

good relationship. And after the ninety six season was over, I was in Tampa working out and I walked into Mr Steinbrenner's office and said, you know, am I gonna play more next year? You know, is there any way that you can find out? Because if I'm not, I would appreciate it if you give me an opportunity to go play somewhere else. He was like, let me talk to Mr Tor and so he knew he was drinking buddies at my agent and uh, so I get a

phone call. That helps. So I get a phone call like four days later from my agent saying did you talk to Steinbrenner And I said, yeah, I just kind of asked him I wanted to play every day, and I said, you know, I was comfortable doing that. And he said, well, he just called me and said if I could make a deal for you, that he'll allow you to go somewhere else to play every day. And he said, I've been on the phone for the last two days and I've got a deal with the Anaheim Angels.

You're gonna get a three year contract, which was my first multi year cont racked and they want you to come there and catch every day. And I was like wow. Now, at the time, Rex, I was working out at the complex in Tampa with the Yankees. So they trade me and I come in the next day and I walked into Mr. Steinbrenner's office with my bag and I said, hey, thank you so much for everything. I appreciate you give me the opportunity to go play somewhere else. And he said, Jimmy,

he said, you will always be a Yankee. He said, why do you have your bag? I said, when I can't work out it anymore. I'm an angel now. He said, you go put that bag back in your locker. You can work out at this field as long as you want, you know, as long as you don't come back and kill us. You know that that type of situation. But

he was just such a great loyal guy. And and like I said, most people didn't know that I actually asked for the trade, and so it actually was a benefit for me to be able to get that opportunity. What did that three years of security? Uh? That three year deal? How gratifying was that for you? Yeah? It was something that even though I had some good years with the Yankees, even you know, I need four. Um, I wasn't getting anything more than a one year contract.

And it was every off season was like what am I gonna do? What am I gonna do? Where am I gonna play? What's gonna happen to have that security? For the Angels to do that, um and give me that three year deal. I didn't really care after that whether or not I got traded seventy five more times. I knew that I had three years, you know, Baseball is different. You know. Baseball is a guaranteed contract, and to have that kind of security, Uh, it meant the world to me. And it meant that I finally had

an opportunity to play every day. There was no better feeling than having that. It's amazing you admitted using infant it means during your career when they were still legal in the league. What was the process behind that? How much did it actually help? Was it for injury recovery performance or was there more to it? How did you become introduced to him? Well, this is where you and

I are kindred spirits. I mean, the bottom line is I have a d h D really really bad, all right, And had they had the medicine and knowing that and fetta means helped a d h D, they probably would have given it to me back then like they do now to the players that abot you know, and I didn't know back then when I took them that that was actually helping me concentrate, That was actually having me focus.

That was the advantage, you know. And again it had nothing to do with given making me stronger, making me better, you know. It was just the ability to focus the and then let my natural abilities come out, and had, like I said, had it been diagnosed back then, it would have been fine. I can't that makes complete sense, um, you know, and I would get bored in baseball, you know, I'd lose concentration for you knew it. I'm just looking at the girls and forgetting what's going on in the

on the field. So that makes complete sense. And that was a situation where, you know, guys were taking a lot of guys were just taking it. Just instead of drinking five cups of coffee, it was maybe safer to

take an infett a mean, you know. And again it was just one of those things that I gave you about a three and a half to four hour lift, just long enough to get through a baseball game, which unless we were playing the Red Sox, uh, but just long enough to get through a game and to be had that concentration for that full three and a half four hours. Looking back, do you think you had any any destructive character traits or vices during your time as

a player that carried over into your retirement. Oh yeah, I mean, you know, I made a lot of personal decisions, you know, relationships, sexual, you know, doing things sexually and uh, there were so many things that. Number one, it was just a smartasport because you were in the major leagues and everything was there. And a kid from Cincinnatio, how growing up, you know, I was not privy to that type of thing. It was you know, you get lost

in it sometimes. And even though I was still having success on the field, and even though I was still doing well, it was one of those situations. Not playing every day, I had a lot of free time, you know. And I was the kind of guy that you know, I embraced New York. I wore a cowboy hat, I had a cowboy boots. I was known as Country Jim, and uh, you know, my first experience in a nightclub in New York was sitting at a table that they got for me because I was Jim Larious of the

New York Yankees, the new rookie sensation. And I'm sitting there with my cowboy at my cowboy boots, and all of a sudden, these three big black bouncers come up to me and go, excuse me, can we ask you a question? Do you mind if our client sits with you? And I'm like sure, yeah, and you know, just it's not my table, but they just put me here all of a sudden, come walking in. This is called the China Club. Back in the day, Eddie Murphy sits down next to me and you talk about complete like I know,

Eddie Murphy. I'm like, oh my god, this is so awesome, this is so great. And then he sits down and he goes. Who would have thought this pairing would have happened, right, But that was my first experience. And then I went to the China Club every Monday night because I was time to go um and it just I really enjoyed the night. I wasn't a drug guy. It wasn't that besides the what I mean, I was a drinker and I like to go out at night and you know, and have a good time and and it really embraced

New York City. And I think that's why a lot of fans liked me, because I was out and about. It wasn't just this standoffish guy. I was part of the community. I did a lot of stuff with the police, but nova associations I did a lot of things with because I was in the city. Uh, it was great

to be part of that. But I also made a lot of bad choices that my father and my mother, uh were like, we didn't bring you up that way, young man, you know, and uh so you know, you pay the price as you get a little bit older and realized we I could have probably done some things different back then while you were playing. Did you ever have any brushes with the law. No? Nothing, And that's

what I said when I first had my accident. After I got done playing and I had the accident, people, you know, most of the guys that I knew were shot there, Like, dude, you've never got a d u I you've never had a drinking problem. I mean, as many nights as I spent in a bar in New York, I never got into a fight. You know. It was one of those such we was gonna fight Jim Layer, it's in the ball, He's gonna do that. Eddie Murphy's not doing that exactly. Yeah, but you know that was

that was the situation. And again, um, when we're younger and we're as we're athletes, we kind of feel invincible. And unfortunately back then there was no cell phones, there was no social media. You know, you weren't gonna get in trouble if you were doing some crazy things, you know, and it was kind of back then, Brex you know, hey, we'll keep it hush hush, don't worry. You know, we're not gonna tell anybody. Don't worry that. It was that

type of thing. So you were more apt to get in a little bit more trouble because there was not as many consequences as there is today. Jim and I were professional athletes in the same era and didn't have to deal with the same public scrutiny that the players today do. I was not a drinker during my career, as I told you. Jim admittedly was. Not only was he a man of the people, but he was the king in the city that never sleeps, and he took advantage a place that has a bar on nearly every corner.

He probably never had to pay for a drink. As a Yankee, some players and people are able to dance through rain drops. Jim felt invincible at the time, but to any outside observer, a clear pattern was a merging. You traveled around the league a bit, you find yourself back in pin stripes in when another World series unbelievable

King of New York again until they trade you again. Uh, we're both pros, but explained to the listeners who aren't pros, or maybe who are, how it feels to be a cog that can sort of easily be replaced on a team, especially as such a clutch player you've been your whole career. Yeah, you know, most of my trades, I was getting traded to a team going to the playoffs. So that was a good thing because then they knew that my postseason history, the great round that we had with the Padres, you know,

and then we get to the World Series. We lose to the Yankees, but we get approval for Petco Park, for the new stadium in San Diego, so you feel like, hey, wow, we accomplished a lot that year, even though we lost the World Series. I mean, I make the joke all the time. People say, what's the difference between playing in New York and San Diego. I said, Well, in San Diego we lost the World Series, but we still had a parade. I got. You lose the World Series in

New York, you don't leave your house for two weeks. Yeah, so that was the big thing. But in ninety nine I got traded back because the Padres, you know, they got rid of everybody. I get traded back to the Yankees. We win the World Series again. We go into the two thousand season. I hit another home run in that World Series, which became the last home run of the century,

and now that's fucking cool. Was yeah, I can't. I had come back to the Yankees that year from a broken hand, and in batting practice, I couldn't hit the ball out in Jeter and knob Block and all those guys were giving me such a hard time because usually batting Pactress was my main thing, and I would home runs with Strawberry. Well, I come back and I can't hit the ball and Jeter and they were making fun of me, and I go, guys, listen, this was back in July. I said, listen, when it counts, I'll hit

a home run. And then, sure enough, my only at bat in that World Series, I pinched it for Strawberry and I hit that home run. I come running around the bases and Jeter is waiting there for me, and he goes, I don't believe it. I'm like, I told you, it's so great. Nothing draw it. Let's feel two thousand comes. I'm in the visiting team's bar in Boston. Was a place called Daisy Buchanan's. It's where we all hung out. Yeah, exactly,

we ran the same circles. But so we were in Daisy Buchanan's, David con and I and we were back behind the bar making drinks and hanging out with the bar to enders, and all of a sudden, Cony looks at me, goes, dude, look, and I'm like what. I look up at the TV and I'm a ticker tape on ESPN. It says Jim Layer It's traded to the Dodgers for Jose Biscayana. I found this out in the bar. Oh my god. Because again, we didn't have cell phones back then. They couldn't call me on my cell and

tell me, hey, we just traded you, right. So Coney looks at me, and I'm with Shane Spencer and his wife and my wife. We're all hanging out, and all of a sudden, they go, what are you gonna do? And I'm like, I'm just gonna keep drinking because I can't change this. Now I'm leaving. So that's when I went to the Dodgers, and then I end up getting hurt with the Dodgers. Uh later in that year, and that was the last time I was at the major

league level. Yeah, well when did you know? Did you know right then that that you needed to hang it up? I mean, what was actually? I went home. Uh, it was a torn rotator and torn labor on my right side, and I went to Dr Andrews. He fixed it all up. Um. I went to spring training in two thousand one with the Mets, and I was gonna try to make their team out of spring training and I end up getting hurt again. But yeah, I think it was March seventeenth.

I got hurt again and they released me. Uh. Then I went home and I found this thing called h g H, and one of the doctors in Florida told me, hey, listen, you want to get healthy quicker, you can take this h g H and you'll recover quicker. It's not a steroid because I couldn't take steroids because I had prostate cancer in my family and steroids would just kill you right away if you took that, And he said, h

g H is much safer. Try this. So for about six weeks I took the h g H. Where the problem was my p s A level started to go through the roof and I had to stop taking that also, but I got healthier and I end up going to UH independent League in the Newark Bears, and I played there for twenty six games. In the San Diego Padre signed me and I went back to play Triple A and UH first game back, I get hit in the hand with the pitch and I break my hand. But

it's crazy sometimes how things happen. When I looked back on it, and you know, I've had a rebirth with christ after everything I've been through, and you know, I look back now and and I'm like, I didn't know at the time that my ex wife was at My wife at the time was having drug problems because I was away trying to play and get my career back, and she was using and the kids were I had a nanny and the housekeeper that thank goodness because they took care of the kids while she was out doing

her thing. But long story short, I come home and it's a mess, and I took her back for a while. She relapsed again. We end up getting divorced. Um, I end up doing more rehab on my shoulder and a two thousand three, the Padres called me up and say, hey, listen, we heard that you're healthy. Do you want to come back and play. We'll offer you a million dollar contract to come back and play. Well. Rex, I had just

gotten a full custody of my three boys. They were two years old, seven years old, and nine years old at the time, and the judge and Florid at my family court judge, I went to him and said, listen, I want to keep custody. I want to take the boys with me to say die go. I'll have a nanny, you know, and they'll be taken care of. And the judge in Florida said, listen, if you go back to play baseball, even though your wife's addicted to drugs and has major issues, those kids will go back to her.

And I just said, that's it, you know what. And I called up Kevin Towers and said, Kevin, thank you for the offer, but I can't leave these boys in a situation like this. And to this day, it's my father's proudest moment. He called me up when I made the choice, and he said, I was happy with the World Series. I was happy with everything you accomplished in your life. But that decision right there is the reason why I raised you the way I did, and you

know what, you'll be rewarded for that decision. And sure enough, I don't regret a day not signing back with the padres Man. It makes me want to cry. I've got goose bumps. Good for you, really. On this podcast, we pride ourselves in shining the light onto darkness, coming straight from the perspective of the person who lived the events you have heard and are about to hear. While the story ahead maybe upsetting for some, it's important for it

to be heard. In Jim's words, the turning point of his life took place at three am on a road in Fort Lauderdale. Two strangers in the night who had decided to get behind the wheel of their vehicles after drinking. One was Jim, the other was a thirty year old mother of two. Only one lost their life. Well, you know, here on charges we enjoyed talking about the good times, but I also got to talk about the bad times too, you know, for the betterment of ourselves in our community

of listeners. If you don't mind, tell me about the night you went out to celebrate your forty fourth birthday. Yeah, it was crazy. It was a situation where, um, you know, I was turning forty four years old. Uh. And at the time, again, I had the kids with me. Uh, the boys and I. We spent all day at the beach together. We uh we hung out. I took him

out to dinner around seven o'clock. And why we were at dinner and my ex wife called me and said, you know, because she was clean at the time and so her and she said, hey, listen, it's your birthday. Do you want to go out with some of your friends. I'll watch the kids tonight, but I have to work at eight o'clock in the morning, so you have to pick them up at seven, you know, unless you're planning

you know whatever. And I said, well, you know what, I'm not planning on going out doing much tonight, you know. And it was a Thursday night. I got the phone. I called one of my friends up and said, hey, listen, what do you guys doing tonight? And it was a girl and her boyfriend and they said, well, we're gonna go to dinner with our parents, but if you want to meet at ten thirty for a drink, you know,

we'll have a drink with you for your birthday. But we have to leave because we're flying out the next morning to the Bahamas for New Year's and of course it was decembery which was my birthday, and I said, okay, so we met out for a drink. And you know, I was so fortunate that I was forty four years old, number one, and that I knew that I had to get up at seven in the morning, that I wasn't going to have a big drinking night. This is gonna be a couple of drinks and just kind of hang

out and you know, celebrate with some friends. And sure enough, you know, we go out and I didn't meet them to almost all in o'clock at night. We had a drink and the night, you know, we went to another bar and we were hanging out and around two thirty they all decided to leave. Well, there was one kid there that was a friend of hers, and he said, can you take me home? I'm not you know, I don't live here. And Robin goes the other the girl that I was with, she goes the other way and

I'm on your way home. Can you take me home? I said, yeah, sure, no problem. He had been drinking, you know, and I was like, listen, I'll take you home. So long story short, I had maybe had two or three drinks the entire night, which was good, you know, over three or a hered. But I'm getting ready to leave the bar and all of a sudden, a Red Sox fan sees me and they say, hey, dude, and I saw my World series I had in my World

series ring out. They're like, hey, we got another one of those, and I said, yeah, you know, I just got done. I was doing the World series for Fox. I was covering the Red Sox and he's like, no way, you were covering him. I'm like, yeah, I go. Kevin Nucleus is from Cincinnati. We hung out together. You know, we had a great time. I love those guys. He's like, well, let's have a drink at a shot, you know, for their victory. And you know, it was almost three o'clock

in the morning. So I'm like, okay, sure, whatever. So I took a drink and I took a shot with him, literally not even a minute and a half, got out, went and got my car and went to go home and take this kid home. Well next literally five minutes later, this accident happens. This woman who had been drinking, she comes through a red light. It's a blind intersection. I catch her back end. You know, she flips. She flips.

She didn't ever see it fell on. She got ejected from the car and the impact from the cement is what caused her death. And it was just a situation. We pulled the car over. I went back to the scene and it was just a surreal moment, uh, seeing someone laying there and she was still alive at the time, and just what's gonna happen? What's going on? You know, why did this happen? That type of situation? And estrangely enough, I had some calmness to me, like, Okay, this is

a huge scenario. What are you gonna do here? And I went back to my car, I picked up my own I called people and I said, hey, listen, I've been an accident. You know, I need somebody to come and so forth. Long story short, They end up giving me a d UI test, which is online everybody can see it. Do you have any injuries? Necktid? Yeah, she hit me, Jewer and glasses contest, take any medications? Listen under Florida while you require and submit to a breakthfest

to determine the alcohol content to your breath. Do you understand? Are you willing to submit to testing. Listen, should you refuse to submit to the the test and requesting Department of Highways the Motor Vehicles for spend your driver's life for period of one year for your first refusal eighteen months. If you're like this has been previously suspended for refusing,

it's to make way breath buttter you're in test. You understand that's so farfasting now where I'm also going to advise you while we're going on video, is um the person the other vehicle had passed away to dive so with you may so be subject to is a blood draw with or without your consent? So are you willing to give me that blood? That? Um, I'm still going to refust that it be done. Um, that it would

be without your consent. That I didn't want to have to fight it together in that we'd cooperate with that at least, even though I understand you're not gonna list them do it. I'm not just wanting to help it. From the moment this happened, did you know your life had changed forever? Well? You know it was weird because I was thinking to myself, Okay, I didn't cause this accident. I know I didn't cause it, you know, and once all the facts come out, I won't be in any trouble.

And then all of a sudden, I had the d u HI cop show up and he gives me the d u I test and then he puts the cups on me, and I'm like, you know, you can see me in the video, go what why? Why are you

trusting me? You know? And that video happened to be the best piece of evidence that the jury had to show that I wasn't It didn't look like And the reason why is because that drink in that shot had not got into my system to affect me, because it takes forty five minutes to an hour for alcohol to get into your system to affect you, and realistically medically, you know, Without getting into all the detail, I was a point four point three at the time of the accident,

and because they got my blood two hours later, it was elevated to a point one too. So long story short, we knew we had all of the facts and everything was in our favor. I was not going to take a plea. I was willing to accept the d u I from day one. Because I was drinking and driving. I admitted that, but the state attorney was running to become a judge, and just like the Duke Lacrosse situation, this state attorney was using my name to try to

boast her career. And again it was one of those situations where I went to my attorney and he came to me after two and a half years of waiting for trial, and said to me, they're throwing all the evidence about the other driver out. The jury is not gonna hear it. You might want to take a plea. And it long story short, it was a ten year plea, five years no license, a tenure approbation, five years no license, felony on my record, all this other stuff that I

didn't do. And I said to my attorney. I went out to California and Pastor Rick Warren said a prayer over me, and in his prayer, the final words he said was give Jimmy the strength to see this to the very end. And David, my attorney's name was David. I said, I will wait and see this to the end because I believe that the Lord has taken care of me here. And we waited seventeen days of a trial.

The jury took less than thirty minutes to throw the d u I. Man sat a trial out and they said, even though it was proven that I was a point zero four at the time of the accident and that was under the d u I, that because I admitted to having a drink in a shot, that they had to give me a d u I, you know, just for the sake of it. Because the case was covered on TV by you know, in session TV Court TV. So they were like, we can't tell the public it's okay to do a drinking a shot and get in

your car. So I ended up getting a d u I. And it was a tough three years. As tough as it was on me, this is the other family was dealing with the death of a mother of you know, two children from two different families, but dealing with you know what was going to be the finality there. We were dealing with we couldn't move on with our life either. And my three boys didn't have a stable mother that was assuring them that, hey, daddy's gonna be okay. Daddy's

gonna be okay. She was telling them, oh, you better enjoy the time with your father. He's gonna be away forever. And it was just a horrible situation for everybody, and certain things that we go through, the pains that we go through, you know what, it's painful to talk about, but you if you don't share that pain with other people to maybe help them get through what they're going through. You know, you went through some of your things to it. If we don't share that pain, then we're not doing

it for the right reasons. We're not. We can't get over what happened to us if we don't share that with other people and maybe help their pain. And that's what we need to continue to do. And that's what my podcast Catching Heat is all about. It's all about athletes that have success, but they've maybe fallen off the case and then come back, whether it was a different career or whether it was giving back to charities or foundations in their new life. That's what it's all about.

And that's exactly what you're doing also, And like I said, it's a fellow alum that brings us together. But everything that we've gone through, the pain of having the getting the highs of the highs of being a professional athlete, but hitting some lows because of situations, our situations, but being able to bounce back from that, knowing that we have the strength to do that. That's why you and I are sitting here today, and we're able to help maybe other people with some of the pain that we've

been through no remembered. Nearly three years since the tragic night of the crash, a jury handed down their decision on the case against Jim lay Ritz. Jim's blood alcohol level was point zero four, which is below the legal limit, at the moment of the accident. Three hours later, when the blood was drawn, his blood alcohol level was point one four. Testimony around the central accusation of the case, that he ran a red light before colliding with the

other vehicle, was inconclusive. A jury acquitted Jim of DUI manslaughter. If charged, he would have faced up to fifteen years in prison. He was convicted of misdemeanor d u I instead, which carries a maximum of six months. Earlier that year, Jim had already settled a wrongful death suit in the same case, agreeing to pay three d and fifty thousand dollars in insurance and personal funds. Whoever was to blame.

A young woman lost her life here that time between your accident and your event short trial was like two and a half years. What were the darkest moments for you? You know, were there times that you just you thought you were at your width in I mean, I'm only asking because you know you're probably somebody out there struggling

like this. Having three kids aged two, seven, and nine was a savior for me, besides reading the book The Purpose Driven Life and realizing sometimes we go through tough situations that make us stronger, uh, and there's a purpose for it. Um. But those three kids, you know, and not having a stable mother, someone who I could say, well, if I go through my stuff, at least they have a stable mom to take care of them and they'll be okay. They weren't gonna be okay if I wasn't.

And it was a situation that I knew that even though I shouldn't have been drinking and driving, that was a mistake I made that all the other stuff that I was being you know, accused of and and claimed on that I needed to be strong and beat those accusations. You know, I went through a domestic violence situation and during that time with my ex wife who falsely accused me, and I proved that in court eventually, but the damage

was already done. You know, the damage was done because here was this Jim light Ritz going through this d UI manslaughter, trunk murderer, and then all of a sudden, now add on wife beater. That's probably the twelve days I sat in jail because I was having my rebirth with God. I was trusting in the Lord. I was trusting that he had me, and then all of a sudden, this thing with my ex wife happens, and I'm sitting in jail, going God, you know that I didn't see her,

I didn't touch her, I didn't do this. Why am I going through this? And why why is this happening to me? And it was interesting Rex. I was handed a Bible in jail, which most of the time that's what they give you. It's either you can read, and I was. I was reading in Psalms, and it spoke to me that says, remember this is temporary. This is not a permanent situation. And at the time I had a brother in law who was going through lou Garreg's disease.

In his situation was permanent, it wasn't gonna get better. And it really gave me the strength to say Okay, I'm gonna fight this. I'm going to prove to my the court, to the public that I didn't even see my wife, that I did I didn't touch her, that she's kind of sick, and that she's making this stuff

because she's trying to get back at me. And it took a while, but man, it was difficult, and there were times that I had to be strong for the boys during the day, but then I would go out at night in my backyard and I would just break down. I would cry, I would pray, I would just say, you know, God, you know, just give me. And it was it was hard. You know, you're sentencing Jim, which

was probation and a fine. You said in part that you were going to commit your life to changing lives and making a difference so this woman's death would not be in vain. Why did you say that? Just because, I mean, it was a situation where I knew, even though she was at fault, I was guilty of drinking and driving two I was doing the wrong too, and being in the wrong. Sometimes you want to take a negative and turn that into a positive. And unfortunately she

did pass away. She wasn't gonna have an opportunity to make right what she did wrong that night, And I felt like it was my obligation because Number One, God gave me that platform from being that professional athlete, gave me that platform to be able to have the opportunity even though it's gonna be difficult because I was the pride in the beginning, But I felt like I owed an obligation to her to be able to change and make sure maybe our children, maybe her children, and maybe

the people around us made better decisions when it came to drinking and driving, when it came to wearing a seatbelt, because those are the things that caused all of the heartbreak that night, and how easily they could have been avoided had both of us made different decisions. And that's the most important thing. That we try to make sure

that other people are learning and listening. And if one person puts a seatboat on, if one person doesn't take a drink and drive, then I feel like, you know what, They've got my point and I've done something positive out of something that was so tragic and so negative. Beautiful. Uh, when you look back at your career as a baseball player, in your life since that tragic day on your forty four birthday. What sticks with you the most? Jim. Yeah.

People always ask me would you change anything about your life? And I said, I would not change anything but that night, that one night, because it's unfortunate that she lost her life. And at the same time, that night is what's brought me to where I am. And again, something so tragic, something that was so difficult to get through um has made me into the person I am today. And I

would not change anything but her death. When you're involved in something like that, you never lose that night, you never get rid of it, but you learn how to cope with it, and you learn that you can take that pain, You can take that situation and help other people not make the same mistakes or get draw strength from what you went through. And if you don't take that opportunity, you know, shame on you. What are you doing today with your life, man, charitable work and podcast

catching heat with Jim Layer. It's as you mentioned earlier, Just give me a brief look at what you're doing now. Yeah, I know. I do title insurance is my main business. I would do commercial and residential title out here in California and New York, but I've been part of a charity in New York called Pink Tie for the last six years that raises money in for different charities and foundations.

I always work with a L S Foundations because of my brother in law Uh and then, of course uh Stork Media came to me just about six months ago and said, hey, we're starting a new podcast. We want to have a sports person to a podcast. What would you like to do because we want you to do the podcast. And I said, okay, I'll do a sports related or celebrity related podcast, but it's not gonna be

a daily thing. I want to do once a week, and I want to do a story on guys who have been through some hard times, or guys that have used their platform, from their playing days, from their music days, from whatever that might be, to turn around and do something else that is positive and doing something for other people. And I want to I want to do more stories

on that, because there's enough negativity in this world. I don't think there's enough people doing the positive things being able to show, Hey, did you know that Darryl Strawberry, besides being an addict and being kicked out of baseball, has now changed his life and become a pastor and is preaching the gospel and bringing people to God that he's opening up rehab centers all around the United States.

The New York Post, the Daily News, the mainstream media doesn't really care about you once you've left the lionelight. But you know what, the things that he's doing now is so much more important than any home run or any World Series or anything that you did on a basketball court. The things that you're doing now are so much more important and should be highlighted because you are out there helping people, changing lives. And that's the biggest

gift that God can give all of us. And something I say on this pod all the time is you're never as bad as your worst moment if you learn from it work to improve yourself. You seem like that exact model, the exact model of that mantra. Man, what do you want people to remember about you? And what do you want people to learn from you and your journey? I think the most important thing is I never settled for the less than the truth. You know, um, I

never gave up. I was never drafted, but yet I was able to turn it into a big league career. Have a moment that every kid would dream about in the World Series, a couple of them, you know. And but I also that was my baseball legacy, and I always talked about it in my speaking engagement. I wanted to also leave a life legacy for my kids, for other people. And you know what, this situation I went through,

it really made me reboot my entire life. And we always said the same thing, Rex, as a professional athlete, it's only one third of our life. We've got two thirds that we live afterwards that we don't think about when we're playing. But man, when you have a setback, when you have something like that happened, you know, Pastor, my pastor always says, you know your setback is setting you up for your best comeback. Well, that's kind of

how I looked at this situation. Was my comeback was even greater from a personal legacy, to be able to leave my children. That says God is your center point, that God is your is your savior, that you can get through all things with his strength and with his thing. And you know what, it's not gonna all be good. You're still gonna have problems, You're still gonna go through heartaches. But you know what, if you keep God as your

center point, you'll be able to get through them. And as long as you have a breath, you can help other people. Jim Brother, thank you so much. I can't thank you enough for doing this really and you let me know if I can ever do anything for you. I appreciate day man. Thank you for having me. And like I said, it's great to catch up with the uk A line You're too buddy charges Selling no Runnians with the law charges set least send the tennis and ball as a charge is the celebrity gank forlorums and

charges we came along with from Living Lawless Charges. Selling no Runnians with the law charges super least send the tennis and ball as charges. The celebrity gank Forums Charge we came along with from Living Lawless Charge Charges is created by Portlay and Control Media. It's produced by DV Podcasts in association with I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the i Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts