12/10: Interview: Matthew McGough - Author, Bat Boy: My Real Life Adventures Coming of Age with the New York Yankees
Posted by: Patrick
Recently, we sat down with Matthew McGough, who wrote Bat Boy: My Real Life Adventures Coming of Age with the New York Yankees (review). We asked him about the book, his time with the Yankees, the current Yankees and more.
Have you had any reactions from those that were mentioned in the book? Your parents, people in the front office, the players, coaches, clubhouse staff, etc.? Were there any negative reactions? Was this the first time that your parents had heard of most of your adventures?
As you hint in your question, there were a few adventures in Bat Boy that I'm pretty sure neither my parents nor the Yankees brass knew about at the time I was still working for the team, but thankfully the response has been very positive to date. I suppose I'm lucky to be too old now to be grounded by my folks for old offenses! As for the guys in the clubhouse, one of the most exciting things to have come out of writing the book is that it's brought me back in touch with a few of the ballplayers - Don Mattingly and Jim Abbott, in particular - who I hadn't seen or spoken with in more than a decade, since I was seventeen years old and about to leave for college. Both told me they enjoyed the book, and it's a thrill to be able to get together with those guys and talk with them man-to-man, now that I'm a little older (and hopefully a little wiser).
The book's disposition was overall positive, which I [Patrick] appreciated. Did you purposely steer clear of trashing anyone?
There's obviously no shortage of books out there that sling mud at sports stars, and when I first started writing the book and looking for a literary agent, I did feel some pressure to write something of an expose, airing dirty laundry, naming names, etc. It's not that I couldn't have written that kind of a book - the Yankees clubhouse is indeed a very grown up world to be thrown into as a teenager, and I kept my eyes open the whole time I was immersed in it - but at its heart the experience was a richly positive one, and I didn't want to cheapen the memories (or the book) by focusing gratuituously on stuff that was basically peripheral to my experience working with the team. That's not to say that I whitewashed anything, but it would have felt false, and ungrateful, to go out of my way calling out people who I genuinely liked and got along well with.
Of all the players you were around, before a game - who was the most relaxed, laid back and who was the most hyped up and intense figure?
Bernie Williams, hands down, was the most relaxed - between batting practice and the national anthem, Bernie almost always found time to nap or watch a movie on a couch in the player's lounge. I always found it incredible that he could be sound asleep at seven o'clock, and ten minutes later, running a line drive down at the warning track or turning on a ninety-five mile per hour fastball. As far as most intense (excluding Paul O'Neill, which is no secret), I'd have to say starting pitchers as a group. Each starter had his own routine, but the rule of thumb was to never bother a guy on his gameday. The funny thing is that on the other days, the four out of five when they're just sitting on the bench, starting pitchers were generally among the most laid back and approachable players on the team.
I know your favorites were Donnie and Abbott. To the outside fan, like myself, they both seemed like good guys. Mattingly was my [Patrick] first favorite player. So, reading your book just confirmed what I already believed. But, sometimes we're given a picture (by the media, usually) of a player that has an attitude problem. Was there someone in the organization (doesn't have to be a player) that you didn't think you would like, for whatever reason, only to find out that you really liked them once you got to know them?
To be honest, when I walked into the clubhouse for my first day of work, I'm not sure I even grasped fully that the ballplayers were real people - meaning individuals, with distinct personalities, and senses of humor, and families and lives off the field. It seemed like a big revelation at the time. I guess the biggest individual who it was a surprise to meet would be George Steinbrenner, whose public image then was still much more wrapped up in his spats with Billy Martin and Reggie Jackson and Dave Winfield than it is now. And I don't have any complaints about the Boss - he does indeed have a temper, which I saw a few times - but he also ended up helping me pay my way though college, which I'll always be grateful to him for.
Do you still keep in touch with anyone that was in the organization when you were a bat boy?
A few of the guys who work in the clubhouse - my old boss Nick Priore left the Yankees a few years back, but his old assistant Rob Cucuzza was promoted to run the team, and I try to keep Robby posted on what I'm up to. And then there's a handful of guys who I'd lost touch with but was able to reconnect with through the book -- Mattingly, Abbott, and a few others.
What were your impressions of Randy Velarde? Steve Howe? Jim Leyritz?
Velarde and Leyritz were both OK guys, but I never was as close to either of them as some of the other ballplayers. Steve Howe was kind of a sad case. He was on a drug suspension for most of the two seasons I was in the clubhouse, but when he was around he actually seemed like a good guy - funny, always cracking jokes, and a good tipper (not to be underestimated when you're sixteen years old and working for $5 an hour). It was really a shame he couldn't get his life together in time to have the type of career his baseball talent warranted.
Do you happen to read any Yankees blogs? If so, which ones?
I do - I had no idea there were so many of them, and how in-depth their coverage is, until this season, but it's hard to imagine getting my serious baseball news elsewhere at this point. I'll give you a few that I try to read as religiously as possible: Bronx Banter; Pride of the Yankees; WasWatching.com; and UnitedStatesofBaseball.com are all worth checking out (along with YanksBlog.com, of course).
How often do you make it to the stadium to see a game?
Not often enough! The past year or two I've probably caught a half-dozen games or so a season.
Since you're a Yankee fan, I thought I'd ask you a few questions not related to your time with the Yankees. Of any retired former Yankee that is not in the Hall of Fame already, who is the one that most deserves to be?
I'd lobby for Mattingly, though I know it's a long shot. It was his MVP year in '85 that basically made me a Yankees fan, and even by the time I got to the Yankees, it was hard to see him need to play through pain on an almost daily basis. In terms of Yankees I've seen play myself, I think only Jeter comes close to measuring up as a presence on the field and as a leader in the clubhouse. Hopefully Mattingly will at least get his ring in 2006. I got a nice note from one Red Sox fan after the book came out that basically said: I'm not sorry when I see the Yankees lose, but even I'm objective enough to know that it's a crime that Byung Hyung Kim has a World Series ring and Donnie Baseball doesn't.
Who are the potential free agents that you are a drooling over?
He's not a free agent, and I wouldn't say drooling, but I'm intrigued by the idea of Milton Bradley in center field next season. I think Torre has a way of connecting with ballplayers who are supposed to be uncoachable, and I'd love to see his bat in the middle of the Yankees' lineup. More than anything, though, I just hope they don't trade Cano or Wang. We need to get back to developing our own players instead of relying so much on the free agent market.
If the sky is dark and the mountain high and you need someone to make something happen, out of the current Yankees, who do you want at the plate?
Jeter.
Have you had any reactions from those that were mentioned in the book? Your parents, people in the front office, the players, coaches, clubhouse staff, etc.? Were there any negative reactions? Was this the first time that your parents had heard of most of your adventures?
As you hint in your question, there were a few adventures in Bat Boy that I'm pretty sure neither my parents nor the Yankees brass knew about at the time I was still working for the team, but thankfully the response has been very positive to date. I suppose I'm lucky to be too old now to be grounded by my folks for old offenses! As for the guys in the clubhouse, one of the most exciting things to have come out of writing the book is that it's brought me back in touch with a few of the ballplayers - Don Mattingly and Jim Abbott, in particular - who I hadn't seen or spoken with in more than a decade, since I was seventeen years old and about to leave for college. Both told me they enjoyed the book, and it's a thrill to be able to get together with those guys and talk with them man-to-man, now that I'm a little older (and hopefully a little wiser).
The book's disposition was overall positive, which I [Patrick] appreciated. Did you purposely steer clear of trashing anyone?
There's obviously no shortage of books out there that sling mud at sports stars, and when I first started writing the book and looking for a literary agent, I did feel some pressure to write something of an expose, airing dirty laundry, naming names, etc. It's not that I couldn't have written that kind of a book - the Yankees clubhouse is indeed a very grown up world to be thrown into as a teenager, and I kept my eyes open the whole time I was immersed in it - but at its heart the experience was a richly positive one, and I didn't want to cheapen the memories (or the book) by focusing gratuituously on stuff that was basically peripheral to my experience working with the team. That's not to say that I whitewashed anything, but it would have felt false, and ungrateful, to go out of my way calling out people who I genuinely liked and got along well with.
Of all the players you were around, before a game - who was the most relaxed, laid back and who was the most hyped up and intense figure?
Bernie Williams, hands down, was the most relaxed - between batting practice and the national anthem, Bernie almost always found time to nap or watch a movie on a couch in the player's lounge. I always found it incredible that he could be sound asleep at seven o'clock, and ten minutes later, running a line drive down at the warning track or turning on a ninety-five mile per hour fastball. As far as most intense (excluding Paul O'Neill, which is no secret), I'd have to say starting pitchers as a group. Each starter had his own routine, but the rule of thumb was to never bother a guy on his gameday. The funny thing is that on the other days, the four out of five when they're just sitting on the bench, starting pitchers were generally among the most laid back and approachable players on the team.
I know your favorites were Donnie and Abbott. To the outside fan, like myself, they both seemed like good guys. Mattingly was my [Patrick] first favorite player. So, reading your book just confirmed what I already believed. But, sometimes we're given a picture (by the media, usually) of a player that has an attitude problem. Was there someone in the organization (doesn't have to be a player) that you didn't think you would like, for whatever reason, only to find out that you really liked them once you got to know them?
To be honest, when I walked into the clubhouse for my first day of work, I'm not sure I even grasped fully that the ballplayers were real people - meaning individuals, with distinct personalities, and senses of humor, and families and lives off the field. It seemed like a big revelation at the time. I guess the biggest individual who it was a surprise to meet would be George Steinbrenner, whose public image then was still much more wrapped up in his spats with Billy Martin and Reggie Jackson and Dave Winfield than it is now. And I don't have any complaints about the Boss - he does indeed have a temper, which I saw a few times - but he also ended up helping me pay my way though college, which I'll always be grateful to him for.
Do you still keep in touch with anyone that was in the organization when you were a bat boy?
A few of the guys who work in the clubhouse - my old boss Nick Priore left the Yankees a few years back, but his old assistant Rob Cucuzza was promoted to run the team, and I try to keep Robby posted on what I'm up to. And then there's a handful of guys who I'd lost touch with but was able to reconnect with through the book -- Mattingly, Abbott, and a few others.
What were your impressions of Randy Velarde? Steve Howe? Jim Leyritz?
Velarde and Leyritz were both OK guys, but I never was as close to either of them as some of the other ballplayers. Steve Howe was kind of a sad case. He was on a drug suspension for most of the two seasons I was in the clubhouse, but when he was around he actually seemed like a good guy - funny, always cracking jokes, and a good tipper (not to be underestimated when you're sixteen years old and working for $5 an hour). It was really a shame he couldn't get his life together in time to have the type of career his baseball talent warranted.
Do you happen to read any Yankees blogs? If so, which ones?
I do - I had no idea there were so many of them, and how in-depth their coverage is, until this season, but it's hard to imagine getting my serious baseball news elsewhere at this point. I'll give you a few that I try to read as religiously as possible: Bronx Banter; Pride of the Yankees; WasWatching.com; and UnitedStatesofBaseball.com are all worth checking out (along with YanksBlog.com, of course).
How often do you make it to the stadium to see a game?
Not often enough! The past year or two I've probably caught a half-dozen games or so a season.
Since you're a Yankee fan, I thought I'd ask you a few questions not related to your time with the Yankees. Of any retired former Yankee that is not in the Hall of Fame already, who is the one that most deserves to be?
I'd lobby for Mattingly, though I know it's a long shot. It was his MVP year in '85 that basically made me a Yankees fan, and even by the time I got to the Yankees, it was hard to see him need to play through pain on an almost daily basis. In terms of Yankees I've seen play myself, I think only Jeter comes close to measuring up as a presence on the field and as a leader in the clubhouse. Hopefully Mattingly will at least get his ring in 2006. I got a nice note from one Red Sox fan after the book came out that basically said: I'm not sorry when I see the Yankees lose, but even I'm objective enough to know that it's a crime that Byung Hyung Kim has a World Series ring and Donnie Baseball doesn't.
Who are the potential free agents that you are a drooling over?
He's not a free agent, and I wouldn't say drooling, but I'm intrigued by the idea of Milton Bradley in center field next season. I think Torre has a way of connecting with ballplayers who are supposed to be uncoachable, and I'd love to see his bat in the middle of the Yankees' lineup. More than anything, though, I just hope they don't trade Cano or Wang. We need to get back to developing our own players instead of relying so much on the free agent market.
If the sky is dark and the mountain high and you need someone to make something happen, out of the current Yankees, who do you want at the plate?
Jeter.
