Telling the Story of the Yankees with YES Broadcaster Michael Kay

Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio News. Welcome to the deal.

I'm your host, Jason Kelly here with my partner Alex Rodriguez. Alex, we're gonna get to our interview with Michael Kay. Of course, play by play legend for the Yankees.

So much to talk to him about.

I've got some things I want to ask him about you, about the Yankees, and lots of other stuff. He's had an incredible career from growing up in the shadows of Yankee Stadium to now being literally the voice. He was the voice also on Saturday that a lot of people were hearing when you went back to Yankee Stadium for a very big moment. It was so awesome to watch from afar. Tell us about it, tell me what it was like.

Yeah, Jason, I wish you were there, because I know you were there with family a few weeks ago. But it was It's really an incredible afternoon, an incredible weekend for that matter. I was flooded with unexpected emotions or fifteen years feels like fifteen seconds, and it's.

Just really cool and interesting.

There's something that happens to grown men, I guess grown people when you win something so big, so special for a city, especially in plays like New York City, and to do it with all your guys and to be basket in those great memories.

It was so much fun.

And so this was the coming together, just to make sure everybody knows. So this was fifteen years since the two thousand and nine World Series, the last time the Yankees, one last time they even played in the World Series, if I'm correct about that. And we can talk about the Yankees in a second, but I want to stay with you. You know, going back to Yankee Stadium is always I don't know if it's tricky, but like it's weighted,

Yeah.

Right, when I was in a dugout steps, I was kind of just joking around with Mariano Rivera and a few of other guys, and I.

Was flooded with emotions.

I mean, even going back to the torture and the agony of defeat versus the Red Sox in two thousand and four, just five years prior to that, after being up three to zero in that series and then losing four in a row, and then you cut to five years later and.

Just a thrill of victory and to be able to lock.

It down and close that World Series against the Philadelpha Phillies who had won the championship in eight the prior year, it was incredible. And obviously to get a nice ovation a Yankee Stadium. I haven't been back in a while. It was like a dream come true.

You were nice enough to share with me that before that, before you came out, you were in the clubhouse with the team, and not just with the team, but with Derek Cheters. He's been a guest on this show. We talked a lot about your relationship over the years. That feels like a very big moment. It's one thing for him to like sit and chop it up with us, but to be, you know, sort of officially together in the clubhouse.

What was that like?

Yeah, it was nice.

You know, Boone in and the hitting coaches asked us to talk to the hitters, and I walked in with their Jeter and Horror Pasad and the three of us just spoke to them for about twenty or thirty minutes and kind of just went over really sometimes in a long season, Jason, you need to hear a voice outside of like mom and dad, which are your manager and your pitching.

Coach and your hitting coach.

Yeah, and when they hear from a different voice and they're hearing exactly the same thing, it just brings a lot of reassurance to the players and coaching staffs. And hopefully we were able to cement the thought process and our message was short, it was tight, and basically, they have all the talent in the world. They just have to figure out a way how to play hard, how to compete, and how to eliminate, you know, the little

All right, So you're feeling good about this team because I don't know. I look around, I watch the games, I talk to people.

I don't know.

They're making it hard to love them sometimes, this Yankee team.

I think they have enough talent to win.

I think their biggest opponent is themselves, right, And the one thing you can control is to play hard every single night, which you know they have not done that thus far this year. But Derek had a great message is whatever the numbers are to this point.

That's it.

Those are going to be your numbers. Maybe two percent here, two percent there. The only thing that matters is why we're here fifteen years later is winning and winning a championship in New York is vital and that's what they have an opportunity to do.

All right, So before we get to Michael Kay, just give me thirty seconds on Michael Kay, because this guy you've known forever. You knew of each other before you came together. You hosted a show called Kay Rodden Alternate Broadcast, and he made some big calls over the the course of your career.

Yeah, I think Michael Kay is one of the most important members of the Yankees family in there's Zeichgeist.

I mean, if you know, probably the.

Most important person not named Aaron Judge, because he's a.

Guy that he's a legacy connector.

You got to understand when he was in his twenties and now he's above in the other side of sixty. He started as a New York postwriter, then he went to the Daily News, and then he went to MSG and he's kind of done it all. But he's grown up in the shadows of Yankee Stadium. He's like the single most authentic fan. He just happens to be really

Of his work. Both as a player when.

I had big moments, I wanted him doing it because no one does the big moments better than Michael Kay, but also just someone that is a soothing voice that is very habitual and you know, recognizable.

Yeah.

Well, and we're going to ask him about the calls he made and one particular call that he didn't make much to your chagrin.

Yes, and it has to do with something like five hundred, but we'll leave it right there.

We'll believe you that.

All right, coming up, Michael Kay.

All right, So now we're going to bring in Michael Kay. I've so been looking forward to this conversation, mostly between the two of you. This is going to be super fun. Michael, thanks so much for joining us. I'm going to start by asking you how long have you known this guy. When do you recall first meeting Alex, Well, he was definitely with.

The Seattle Errors. So that's a long time. So it's over over thirty years, right, Alex beautiful.

So let's go back there, mean, let's go back to your college days. You grow up and you go to school, you know, practically in the shadow of Yankee Stadium. When did you know that that's what you wanted to do? And when did you know that you were actually going to get a chance to do this for a living.

Well, those things are separated by a lot of times. So what I wanted to be the Yankee announcer. I was nine years old and I was very rational even as a child. So when I realized that I could not simply hit and I was afraid of getting hit by the ball, I knew I was not going to be the Yankee first baseman. So I wanted to be involved in the Yankees in some way because I loved

So I just didn't think it was very a real viable thing at that point.

But then once I became a writer covering the Yankees, I was the rain delay guests all the time on radio, and I tried to like always make myself, you know, the expert on the Yankee so when they needed me on radio or TV, I'd be that guy. And I could start to see the germination of maybe that happening.

So Michael, we've talked about this offline, and you know, just for listeners some point to know that we're very good friends.

And I always ask you what kind of writer you are?

You like a Tom Berducci, Are you, like, you know, one of the greatest writers? And I think your answer was very honest. You said I wasn't the greatest writer. I was always a good writer, and I could write fast. But I'm paraphrasing, so I want you to correct me and keep me honest here. But I had a nose to get information. People just felt comfortable by the way company included I will tell you a lot of stuff. What was it about you that was able to get that?

I definitely think it's helped me because I still do this day, Alex, even when I'm doing a baseball game. I try to approach it as a writer or a journalist with that kind of thought in terms of I don't think I was a great writer by any stretch of the imagination, and I'm not being humbled at all. I got the words down, and the newspapers you had to get them down in a certain amount of time, get them in. It was important not to miss deadline. I never missed deadline. I was always the fastest writer

You know, I do wonder going back to this kind of transition to the booth, it's a really interesting moment, not just in your career, but sort of in the history of broadcasting. Jerry Cardinal was a guest on this show. He obviously was pivotal and creating Yes Network. Tell us about that move to the booth, not just for you, but also kind of what it meant for Yes Network to sort of come onto the scene. From a business perspective and from a broadcaster's perspective, well.

The first move to the booth obviously was to the radio side. So I covered the Yankees for five years, two for the Posts and then three for the Daily News. And during that time, the MSG network got the rights to the Yankees, so I pitched to them.

You know, it's weird that.

The biggest news is always broken in the newspapers because the newspapers before the Internet, it was always a day behind real life. I said, you're on the air live with our postgame show with Al trowing. Let me go on the air, go into the clubhouse and tell you why that guy threw that pitch, why that guy struck out on that pitch, why he hit a home run, and put it on the air immediately, because TV is the medium of immediacy, and they actually bought it, and

So I worked with John for ten years.

And I'll tell you what, Jason, if that was the only job that I ever had, I would have been thrilled.

If I would have been an old man and retired.

And just doing radio, I would have been thrilled because I had reached my goal of being the ache announcer. Then they started they S Network, and I just think that the formation of the S Network, it was so forward thinking by George Steinbrenner, and I think that has changed the entire landscape of the regional sports networks.

And it showed organization. And Alice can speak of this as well.

There is something there that you could make money just off your team and own the rights for yourself and produce your own games.

I think, yes, change is a whole game in that.

Yeah, for sure. I mean that you're exactly right. Did it feel like that in the moment. I mean, obviously that's again a big moment for your career. But also did it feel like you were doing something historic or were you just sort of like doing your thing and it was happening around you.

What was the feeling of the moment.

Well, the feeling in the moment that it was. It was definitely big because you could see they put a lot of money into it.

I mean, they did not short shrift it at all. It was big time right from the very beginning. They didn't scrimp on.

Coster at all. Whatever. But there's one funny story, like Alex I grew up really really poor.

All right, So I was on the radio and I was making a nice living. And my mom at that point, so we started YES in two thousand and two. She must have been she was in her seventies. And the first year of YES, we weren't on cable vision and my mom lived in a cable vision area, so she couldn't watch the Yankees. And every time I come over, I try to drop by every day and she'd be sitting there. She goes, what an idiot, you gave up the radio. Now you're not even on TV. I said, Mom,

You had to go for the big, big thing.

And now, look, I said, man, just give it time. So at that point I didn't feel like it was that very big. But then the next year when it was settled then the games were on cable vision, I think she felt a little bit better, and you could just see that it was such a big deal around baseball, and I think other owners were jealous as well. So at that moment, when we got total clearance on all the cable systems, we knew that it was something big.

So, Michael, one of the things that I love about the Yankees, and I know you do too, is that, and I think this comes from George Steinbrenner. The longevity of the employees of the team members have been there forever.

And I saw it this weekend.

Most people have been there for twenty twenty five, thirty years, whether it's Sonny or Debbie or a lot of the support staff. My question to you, is you still going to When I hear you every night is like you're twenty one years old.

You're so excited you have.

So much gratitude to still be the voice of the Yankees. Where do you get that appreciation and how do you do it? Because after so many years, it's like day one for you.

Well, thank you for that. And I think that's important too.

I hate any guy or gal in a job that phones it in, you know, it just takes it for granted. And you know, I've got longtime friends, most of my real close friends of people that I met in Collins, like Mike Breen. I've always told them, if you ever hear me complain about this job, just slap me right in the face, because this is a special job. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. And you know what, there's things that.

You give up.

Would I like to spend even more time with my family, of course I would, But this job allows me to make things possible for them that they wouldn't have if I didn't have this job.

So everything in life is a trade off.

And every day walking to booth, Alex, and I've told you this when we did the k Rod stuff, I just look around, even if it's for a couple of seconds, and I realize.

You're pretty lucky.

You're big headed freak You're pretty lucky that you're here every single day, so I never take it for granted. And I think it's important to provide to the fans. When they tune into Yankee Baseball, they're tuning in to get away from the realities of life and all the things that are going on. That's their escape, and if the guy that's on the air is not happy to be there, it's going to bleed over to them. So

I feel the same way about my job, and I know Alex does too. So it's nice to hear that that is how you feel, because it does come through. As Alex says, all right, let's talk about k Rod. That was the collab that you guys did together. Take us back to how that came about Michael and what it was like doing it.

Well, I loved it.

It's one of the favorite things that I've ever done in my career, and Alex was so easy to work with. And you know the way it came about was, as far as I know, I was being considered for Sunday Night Baseball. I ended up not getting that it wasn't anything I applied for, but you know, I was being considered to maybe do the play by play, which Alex was also in the booth for, and that that wasn't that it didn't it.

Didn't work out.

And then I got a call from Norby Williamson and said, would you be into doing like an alternate cast where you know, it is Sunday Night Baseball. We do eight of them and it's going to be you guys interview people. And I said, well, who would I be working with? And he said it would be it would probably be Alex Rodriguez and I said that'd be great. And as he said, I said, that'd be great the k Rod broadcast. He said, what I said, k Rod? He goes, you just came up with that. I said, I said, yeah,

I missed it.

This is the first year without doing it, and all the time I think about, I'll see it would be so fun to do a k rat to today's show. But you know, I guess all things must pass.

Yeah, and Jason, my experience was very similar. I honestly felt like Mike when I need a ski mask. The fact that they were paying us to hang out with one of my best buddies, it was absolutely incredible. I'm like, what a gig, what a country?

So Michael, speaking behind the scenes, I also sort of fascinated. You've said a couple of times that you know, there are jobs that you got that you didn't even essentially apply for or even raise your hand for. Tell us about your career path in that regard and sort of

How have you navigated that well?

I think unfortunately, I don't say this with any recognition for any young person. I think a lot of this has to do with being selfish. And I didn't get married till I was forty nine years old, and a lot of these decisions that I made that led to what you might say is my success. I didn't have to make it thinking of a wife, and I didn't have to make it thinking of children. If I had, I don't think I would have left the radio to

Jody, that that probably helped me along.

I mean, you know, you talk to a lot of kids in colleges and I said, well, you know, how did you do this? And I wish I had some kind of great answer for them. So much of it is fortune, So much of it is luck, just being in the right place at the right time. But the one thing I always do tell people, and this is the one thing that I'm a big proponent of, and I tell my kids as well, never punch a clock.

Never worry about your work. It too long. You got to work.

I think there's so many people in the world that have similar levels of talent. I mean, there's an outlier like a Bob Costas out there all the time, but most people have the same talent level, give or take you know, a smach And when it's time to get moved up or it's time to get a promotion, the people that are doing the promoting are always going to be the ones that say, Wow, that guy works hard.

You know.

People can't hit like Alex Rodriguez, or they can't throw like Alex Rodriguez, but.

They could play as hard as Alex Rodriguez.

And I think that's the one thing that you control, control the controllable, and that's effort. And the one thing I will always give my employer is top effort. I'm always going to work as hard as I possibly could. So again, long answer to your pointed question. I just think selfishness in terms of the fact that I made all these decisions just for me, and then once I got married, I was in these jobs and I didn't have to worry about that.

But now I could see how it.

Would have fet you because I had these two great jobs, a radio show on ESPN and the Yankee Gig on Yes, but my son is nine, my daughter's eleven, and I do want to be a big part of their life growing up, and at some point I think I'm going to have to give something.

Up in order for that to happen.

So that was the decision I never had to make when I was single, and I think that's important.

So Michael, I want to take you back, call it thirty five almost forty years when you were just a young lad and you were writing for the New York Post or the newspaper industry, and at that time you had like the rap pack where you had like Bob Clappage, you.

Had Jack Curry, John Hayman, Joel Sherman.

You guys were like rock stars walking around, really smart, really competitive. You would drink, you can drink all night, but then you're competing a health.

For the best story the next day. I thought that was fascinating.

But take our listeners back to, like, approximate how much were you making on your first paycheck back in those days when you were in your mid twenties.

Well, when I finally became the Yankee beat writer for the Post, Alex, I think, I think I got like forty five thousand.

Dollars a year.

Wow.

And you might look at that and go, well, that's not that much, But believe me, that was more than my dad ever made. That was more than I dreamed that I would ever make. And I thought, wow, this

On the front page.

And I remember I kept going to the Post and said, you know, I should be making more money. I'm giving you guys all these front page exclusives and stuff like, oh, this.

Is all we have. This is all we have.

And I remember one day I'm walking out of the Yankee Stadium and it's about one in the morning, and Mike Lupik is walking out with me, and he would doubt columns for the Daily News and you know the Yankee parking lot. When you were crossing the old stadium allege, I saw Billy Martin's carr there.

It was one in the.

Morning, and I said to Mike, I said, I gotta go check. I'm sorry, I gotta go check. I said, something's up, just my reporter in town. I went up and I went back into the into his office and he was sitting there drinking, and he told me he was going to quit the Yankees because the umpires were holding their hatred of him against his team and he couldn't have that. Well, I ran back to the press room and I wrote this story and it was on the front page, Billy wants to quit, a big story taken.

All around the country. Huge.

And then the next day Mike Lupeka went to the publisher of the Daily News and said, we got to get this guy.

Wow, no matter what, we got to hire this guy.

And so at the end of the year they promoted Bill Madden to the baseball columnists and they hired me from the Post. I couldn't believe it. To this day, I still can't believe it. They offered me ninety two thousand dollars. Wow, they doubled my salary. And then all of a sudden, the Post said, well, we'll match it, and I said, no, I asked you for years to give me a raise and you didn't do it. I'm not going to play the Dai News against you. They

Like when a Rod went to Texas Jason.

I changed the salary structure a little bit because I got all this money to go to the daily news, which is kind of a cool thing.

Yeah.

Well, and to that end, I mean, first of all, that is an amazing parallel.

It.

I know how much you study.

First of all, you're a fan first, and I think that that's what you're able to predict what the fans are thinking at all times. And I mean you're usually nine or ten out of ten, which is phenomenal. But is there other guys are the same job that you do, pass or present, that you look, that you study, that you admire from afar.

Well, you know, I always say, you know, I had a sister, I didn't have a brother, so and then you know my dad and I always said that there were four male voices that were heard in my house growing up, th Rizudol, Frank Messer and Bill White. I know you were a Met fan, but they were like Murphy Nelson and Kener for you. So I don't think I modeled myself after any broadcaster growing up. I mean I looked at the success obviously of Marv Albert and you know the way he handled big moments. I look

So my son was a big, big consumer of all the all the calls.

That they put up on social media after games, and like I hear him, Like he can be sitting next to me on the couch and he's playing him and there could be like little nuances in a call that I hear and I go, oh, maybe I'll tweak that a little bit and use it for myself. I don't look into this stealing. I look at it this borrowing. But yeah, I think there's so many great people in our industry, and I try to take a little something from all of them.

Well, I know Alex would love to rewrite history and go back and have you call his five hundredth He told me, he told me that earlier that he wished he could redo that, he wished he could hit that win again.

Okay, so Jason, here's the deal. And I told Alex's to his face. The guy took forever to hit the five hundred home run. I finally had a day off and he decides to jack on the left field that day. If he had done a lot sooner, I would have done it.

But again, he just kept waiting and waiting and waiting.

And I didn't make the call, but I did make the call in a six hundred, and I did get his last one, a six ninety six, so that makes me feel good.

And I got his three thousand as well.

That's true.

Yeah, there you go.

And I know where I.

Was too, walking in Central Park and like I got my phone buzzed and said, Alex Rodriguez, sis is five hundred. Almost threw the phone in the fountain. I said, yeah, of course, thanks Alex.

Maybe that's what he needed.

Maybe he needed the pressure off of you making the call to actually it all ties together.

It all ties big bumber in my career bag bummer.

All right, here we go, Alex. We want to be respectful of your time, Michael. So we're going to move to our lightning round, so this will be quick. We'll bounce it back and forth. What's the best piece of advice you've received on deal making or your business?

Know your value and you know I got some of that from Alex Rodriguez. Don't think that you're not as valuable as you really are. You should know exactly what you do for company, and you should be uh renumerated in that way.

What's the worst advice you've ever received.

I was told like the you know, sometimes if you're in a tough negotiation role.

This I know this is a lightning round. But I talked with Scott Boris, who used to represent Alex, and you know, we talked about he never represented a broadcaster, but I have a good relationship with Scott, and he said, well, i'll you know, maybe I said, maybe you could represent me.

He said, well, if you do, if that ever happened, if I tell you to walk away, you got to walk away.

I said, no, no, no, no, no, you don't walk away from the Yankees.

I said, you could walk away if you're one of seven hundred players and you know that there's going to be bidding. You don't walk away from the Yankees. So that was probably the worst.

That's good, that's really good.

All right.

So you can't say Alex is an answer to this. Who's your dream broadcast partner, dead or alive? Who would you want to be in the booth with if you could pick anyone?

Oh man, I really love the people I worked with.

It.

Yes, I know that's a cop out, so I won't go that route. And I you know, I idolized Vin Scully, but Vin Scully worked alone, so I don't know if I.

Get any works in edgewise. It'd probably be fun to work with. You know, I have an unbelievable respect for Joe Buck. I would probably like to do a game with Joe Buck.

Michael, what's your hype song before a big game?

Well, let's see, you can think I'm corny. I love building a butter cup. That always puts me in a good move. But probably for baseball it's glory days.

Ah.

Nice, Nice, I already think you're corny.

Mike gol just just just the same.

They played that song. I'm like, what to build me up? Bud Ah?

That's great, that's great, all right.

And finally, what's your advice for you know, folks who can't be Alex Rodriguez who want to work around baseball, what should they be doing?

All I can do is give advice maybe on being a broadcaster. Never turned down an opportunity to be on the air wherever it is, whatever it is, whether it's a podcast or it's a five thousand radio station, just be on the air as much as you possibly can, because that's that's the most important currency that we deal with.

And again and I'll shoot it.

That is, never let anybody, anybody in the world out work you, because that's the one thing you can control.

All right, Well, this has been so fun.

I was really looking forward to en I know Alex was too because he knows you so well. You know, it's one of these voices that's been in my head for so long, and you're written words as well. So thank you so much for the time. We really enjoyed it.

Thank you guys. It was a lot of fun. And Alice gets get Krot back together somehow.

Yes, Michael, and I just want I wanted to say thank you for obviously being on our show. You're a great friend, and really thank you for a very emotional weekend for me coming back to Yankee Stadium. Your incredible introduction as usual, it's like we've got the band back together.

Made it very memorable for me and my girls. Thank you.

I'm glad and I was so happy for you.

The reception you got it was amazing and I thought the reception was incredibly, incredibly warm.

You could speak to that better than me, but I was happy for you.

Thank you, Michael.

The Deal is hosted by Alex Rodriguez and Me Jason Kelly. This episode was made by Stacy Wong, Annamasarakus, Lizzie Phillip, and Victor Evez. Our theme music was made by Blake Maples. Our executive producers are Kelly Laferrier, Ashley Honig, and Brendan Newnham Sage Bauman is the head of Bloomberg Podcasts. Additional support from Rachel Scaramzzino and Elena Los Angeles. Thanks for listening to the deal. If you have a minute, please subscribe, rate,

I'm Jason Kelly.

See you next week.