thank you what a thrill to have two Great Hall of Famers here with us who know about this rivalry as well as anyone who's ever played the game and uh Joe first of all you almost became a Red Sox manager in 1988 how did that work when they made a change in mid-season yeah I was broadcasting for the Angels at the time and we were in Detroit and I get a call it was right before the All-Star break I get a call from Lou Gorman uh and asked me if I'd be interested in managing he says I don't I don't know what we're going to do but we may make a change and if we do uh want to know if you're you'd be interested in in managing the Red Sox and I jumped at that I mean I you know been broadcasting for a few years after you know getting fired for the second time in my career and um and then you can finish the story up till then I mean after that yeah Joe more took over as intram manager they called him dayto day and Joe's reaction of the media was intrum is not ad my vocabulary he won 12 in a row and 19 out of 20 and he's still going strong here today God bless you Joe and and with making that job more permanent uh I bought a box of cigars and sent him to Lou Gorman and I said thanks for thinking of it oh I'm sure he appreciated that David you came up with the twins remember you had a Grand Slam against the Red Sox early in your career and then Pedro recommended you to the Boston Red Sox how did that work I guess it work out pretty good yeah you asked the wrong guy that but you saw him in a restaurant yeah I kind of bump into uh Pedro Dominican is a small island you know the city have been growing and growing by back then it was just um it was easy to find people you know and and Pedro was one of those guys that in the offseason everybody go back home and go to places and I just bump into him in at this one restaurant and uh um he was asking me how things were going I told him hey the Minnesota Twi just released me and he was like that was a mistake it was let me get you and boy with the red sucks and that's how it went down and then you came to spring training I remember uh you were sharing the DH roles with Jeremy Giambi and then you had a 14th inning home run in Anaheim to win a game and after that you just took off on the 2003 Red Sox which was one of the most powerful teams ever absolutely yeah I mean my case it was pretty much one of those cases where that we see it a lot in baseball you know lack opportunity sometime and once you get that opportunity you never let go Joe you grew up uh following a great robal the Brooklyn Dodgers New York Giants and even though you were from Brooklyn you were a Giants fan and you later manag the Dodgers saw that series from a West Coast perspective how does Red Sox Yankees compare as a rivalry well you I grew up living in Brooklyn and I was a Giants fan which was you know a mortal sin you weren't allowed to do that uh and we had three teams in the New York area at the time and if you were a fan of one of the teams you automatically hated the other two so you know I hated the Yankees and I hated the Dodgers and I wind up managing both those teams um but uh yeah the Rivalry um you know I thought that was that was ferocious I mean you got two teams in the New York area and the Rivalry was was was so uh so strong uh you know then I played with the Cardinals and I I had the the sense and feel of the the Cubs and the Cardinals which was which was amazing and then when I came to the Yankees um nothing can compare with the Red Sox Yankees uh it even got to the point where Don mattingley son was going to be drafted and he didn't want the Red Sox to draft his son okay uh but the uh the Rivalry uh was was so crazy that when we'd play you know you play 1819 times a season you know after one of the series was over either Terry Frank cona would call me or I'd call him would say we're glad this crap is over for 6 weeks it's uh you know because everything was uh it was like World War III I mean the media jumped on it loved it and you know I guess uh you know we pretty much lived up to everything because as you saw in the video uh you know two teams that were pretty passionate when did you become aware of it David because you hit the Yankees so well right from the get-go with the Red Sox I really it really hit home for me after the uh playoff 2003 you know when we end up losing at New York I was looking around and I saw people crying and everything I was like this is this is real right here you know I mean coming from Minnesota uh where you know basically it was your family coming to watch you playing over there and then all of a sudden you know you have the most incredible fans uh uh making you you feel the heat it was a whole totally different game you know what I'm saying and uh uh uh once I saw that happening after the 2003 uh playoff I was like man this town right here is a baseball town this is real right here and that's how I start engaging myself to to the Rivalry Joe uh Larry lukino coined the phrase for the Yankees the evil empire this was about Jose contras signing and your boss didn't take too well to that term did he Mr Stein Brer he didn't take you know he didn't take that very well or a lot of other things he didn't take very well uh he certainly didn't like to lose and he he really didn't like to win by one run he wanted to beat somebody by 10 all the time uh but uh you know the Rivalry was ferocious I mean there was no question about it and having to play each other so many times uh you know all the all the things you think may happen did happen and um it was um you know we we certainly U we certainly prepared I I I remember one um we had one Series against Baltimore at home uh and we were going up to Fenway right after that we played probably the worst game because we I I think we look right through that series that we were playing Baltimore because we knew what was you know ahead for us and uh it really consumed us there was no question you can say it's just another ball game but that wasn't the case well certainly the height of the arrival we I guess was first in the 70s was Caron Fisk and Thurman mson Bill Lee and that group and then 2003 and 2004 and really the seeds uh were swn for the Red Sox championship in 2004 in 03 when the Red Sox came so close they had a walk-off home run by Trot Nixon and big hits by Big Poppy to win the series with Oakland and then they took the Yankees to the seventh game of that ALCS we leading 5 to2 late and eventually Aaron Boone hit the crushing blow to beat the Red Sox and you guys both saw it from opposite perspectives but won the ultimate High and the next year when the Red Sox rallied from three games to none the ultimate low there was nothing in between in those two seasons no you're right there there was there was no uh there's nothing me mediocre about any game we played but 03 you know with Pedro pitching uh you know and they uh they they went ahead of of us and I think Roger I think started for us that that year and U the the one funny thing about it uh that that game Mel stommer my pitching coach come in before the game you know it's game seven obviously there's there's no tomorrow and he says Mike m is available out of the bullpen but let's you know let's have him start an inning so the inning uh where it looked like Roger was going to get in more trouble and we're already behind in the game uh I said to Mel I said you know get moose up in the bullpen and he got msen up and when I'm out to make a pitching change I bring mine in it's the base is loaded and uh nobody out or I think it was nobody out it was nobody out and um he comes into the game and gets out of the inning without giving up a run and he went on to pitch a few more Innings and then he came to me after we took him out of the game and he said I you know I I thought you weren't going to bring me in the middle of inning I thought I was going to you know start an inning I said I guess we lied to you you know I didn't know what else to say to him I said but you gave me a good idea for next year because now that I know you can work out of the bullpen and I got halfway through that sentence and he walked away from me so but I but I'll tell you what I remember that move and when you take out Clement at the moment me just you know my first year there with the Red Sox I asked myself man he's taking out the rocket in this situation I mean you know that type of pictures they always want to find a way to bounce back and and do their thing you know and and just uh uh watching Mr Tor just going out there and be like hey I ain't I love you but I ain't losing this game today I was like I mean that's a hble manager right there you know he certainly is well the next year uh Joe the ultimate well let me you know when we win the when we win the game when when boony hits the home run the one thing I mean aside from the happy thing I saw I saw Manny run off the field which means we won the game see and when he hit the home run but the one thing that really struck me I I saw Tim Wakefield walk off the field and he just you know walked off you know his head down and you know this guy and you talk about what baseball to me it's a game of life okay and Tim Wakefield had a heck of a year that year and you know all of a sudden it just like falling off a cliff it's over with and it it really struck me that you know he didn't deserve that ending okay and um so go ahead and pick it up from there and then I'll finish that story well certainly uh Wakefield helped save the Red Sox the next year down two games to none they get blown out 19 to8 in game three they go down three games to none no team had ever rallied for that from that deficit and Tim offered to pitch the rest of the game to save the bullpen and the other starters and uh the Red Sox went on from there did that sort of galvanize the team when Tim did that to Rally the team a little bit absolutely I mean Tim was the perfect guy for for for the for the organization of all time you know he don't care if you want to bring him out of the bullpen when he was playoff time he was ready no matter what I mean that guy saved us so many time but he was our leader you know he was he was the guy who who Cals everybody down he was the guy who who used a strategy for us to win game he was the guy that was available he basically run the starting pitcher the starting pitching and the bullpen you know what I'm saying he was he was he had the ability to do that and that was huge for us well you this past week your son D'Angelo was drafted by the Boston Red Sox congratulations playing out of Miami D and I saw a tweet fact the Boston Globe did a story about how the late Tim wakefields daughter Briana tweeted congratulations to your son because they they grew up together at Fenway absolutely those kids you know they they grew up together they are family I mean now that they are all growing up when they see each other it's like it's a family thing you know uh I'm very proud of that young man he uh he he's a good kid he basically uh uh tried to do everything that that me and his mom uh tell him to do and and he love and breath baseball you know because uh in a younger age I basically taught him you know in baseball is is a it's a tough career it's not an easy thing to do you know and and if you want it you got to chase I mean I your dad I'm going to give you advice I'm going to uh teach you what I know but you are the one in charge we're going and getting it you know and and he's aware of well certainly it's great that that relationship continues and Brianna would be a student at the Boston College this year as a freshman Tim wakefield's daughter one thing you guys both Shar and the greatest onew punch I've ever seen Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz and you got to manage Manny as well yeah keep applauding for that I know I one time I one time they had a right-hand pitcher on the mount and I walked David to get to Manny and then Manny hit one off the wall and you know the next day he looked at me and he went like this don't do that and I promised I'd never do it again but uh as luck would have it uh when I was managing the Dodgers Manny came over and you know and became became one of my players which was a kick I mean I I always admired what he did obviously on the field not liking it but admired it uh and he come over and he said you know Joe what do you want me to do I said what you know Manny why don't why don't you get your haircut so just to begin with and he said you want me to get my haircut I said yeah uh so he come in like three or four days later comes into my office and he he stands there and then turns around you know just to show me you know what what do you think I said' what do I think about what he says he my haircut well he got about this much cut off his hair I said it looks great don't worry about it but he he he was special there's no question no question and David Ortiz mattered him right oh man I'm telling you I went through so many thing with a man you had no idea you know uh but uh the one thing that I can tell you about him he worried so much about uh uh competing preparing to compete and you know to find a way to beat you that is it was it was amazing like his preparation uh uh I I got the memo early I understand why he was one of the greatest here in the G and he was he get prepared for he used to do his homework very well and and in the type of way that if You observe him you will learn he wasn't the guy that likeed the camera as much but if you if you watch him closely I mean he he was a masterpiece when he comes down to hit him yeah when I when I had him uh you know we'd be on the road and I'd be at the Ballpark early you know for a night game it would be like 12 1:00 and Manny would be there taking batting practice he'd get in the batting cage and take batting practice then go back to the hotel you know lay down for a bit and come back but uh you know as poppy mentioned he he did take his craft very seriously and uh I mean the numbers you know prove it was it worked for him well certainly you both had so much success Joe Tor is's the only guy in baseball history to have 2,000 hits and win 2,000 games as a manager Joe thank you so much for joining us it was fun thank you and a guy who was a Red Sox Hall of Famer first ballot Hall of Famer hit 688 in the 2013 World Series so many clutch hits walk-off hits and one of the great people the Red Sox have ever had Big Poppy David Ortiz gentlemen thank you so much it's been a lot of fun thank you Jo [Applause]