Speaker 1: By Billy Cunningham, the Great America and there's a new
Speaker 1: aircraft carrier in town.
Speaker 2: His name is Terry Francona. He played for the Reds
Speaker 2: in nineteen eighty seven. He's been a.
Speaker 1: Manager of the Year three times. He also has two
Speaker 1: World Series rings, three pennants, eleven playoff appearances. He's managed
Speaker 1: about three thousand, six hundred games, and for some reason
Speaker 1: he wants again to come out more or less of
Speaker 1: retirement and coach Baseball's I think best town for baseball
Speaker 1: and its oldest team that is the Cincinnati Resident Terry Francona.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Bill Cunningham Show, and Terry, can you
Speaker 1: tell the American people?
Speaker 2: First of all, why are you doing this?
Speaker 3: Well? Thanks for having me. That's kind of a loaded question.
Speaker 3: You know. I needed to take a step away from
Speaker 3: baseball because I was just so beat up and I
Speaker 3: really thought I was retiring. I didn't have the intent
Speaker 3: to come back, and it was a really good year
Speaker 3: away from baseball. But as I got healthy and then
Speaker 3: Nick and Brad came out to Tucson to talk to me,
Speaker 3: it just felt right, and I think I made a
Speaker 3: really good decision. But there's a way I think you
Speaker 3: do this job, and to do it right, you got
Speaker 3: to have a certain amount of energy, and I didn't
Speaker 3: have that before. And these guys have been good for
Speaker 3: me this spring. I've felt pretty reinvigorated and I'm having
Speaker 3: a good time.
Speaker 1: You know, when I look at your medical history, it's unbelievable.
Speaker 1: At least fifty surgeries, you have two new knees, two
Speaker 1: new hips, other difficulties, all of which now is short.
Speaker 1: You're like the bionic man. You're the six million dollar manager.
Speaker 1: It's unbelievable that you're doing this. And I harken back
Speaker 1: to other times in the Red's history. I know you've
Speaker 1: managed the Phillies and the Red Sox and the Indians,
Speaker 1: the Guardians and now the Reds. But in nineteen seventy
Speaker 1: there was a manager named Dave Bristol and Red's management
Speaker 1: management decided to get a new guy in town, and
Speaker 1: that guy with Sparky Anderson and went to the World
Speaker 1: Series that year. About twenty years later, we went through
Speaker 1: the Pete Rose situation, and we all love Pete Rose
Speaker 1: in this town, and you played for him in nineteen
Speaker 1: eighty seven, and after that we got a new manager,
Speaker 1: Lou Panella went to the World Series and won it.
Speaker 1: So here's history repeating itself. New Manager World Series, New
Speaker 1: Manager World Series Champion, New Manager World Series Champion.
Speaker 2: What is the goal?
Speaker 1: If somebody would tap you on the shoulder, Terry frank
Speaker 1: Cone and say what is the goal for the twenty
Speaker 1: twenty five Reds, what would Terry say?
Speaker 3: I think it's always the same is show up every
Speaker 3: day ready to compete your ass off. That's how I
Speaker 3: always feel, because you don't know what's going to happen
Speaker 3: with guys going down. But if we show up and
Speaker 3: we play the game the way you're supposed to, I
Speaker 3: always feel like we'll end up what we're supposed to.
Speaker 3: And we obviously have high expectations we're supposed to, but
Speaker 3: I don't ever put the card to ahead of the horse.
Speaker 3: I just try to, you know, we stay in a moment,
Speaker 3: play as good as we can today, and then show
Speaker 3: up tomorrow and see what we can play a little better.
Speaker 1: Are you an analytics kind of a guy? At one
Speaker 1: point I couldn't spell analytics. And right now, if the
Speaker 1: Reds are pitching and there's a batter up and there's
Speaker 1: two to one, if it counts two and one he
Speaker 1: hits two ten against the curveball, three ten against the fastball,
Speaker 1: and you got the nine quadrants of a home play.
Speaker 1: Are you, as Terry Francona analytics or do you do
Speaker 1: by the seat of your pants.
Speaker 3: I don't do it by the seat of my pants.
Speaker 3: I don't think that's fair to anybody. But the way
Speaker 3: I like to say it is, I feel an obligation
Speaker 3: to know stuff because I don't want to guess. But
Speaker 3: you're dealing with people and you never can forget that.
Speaker 3: And I feel like I, you know, I've been in
Speaker 3: the game, I think forty six years. I feel like
Speaker 3: I know what I'm watching. And again, it helps to
Speaker 3: get information. I think you can get bogged down with
Speaker 3: information if you lay yourself as.
Speaker 1: Far as one thing, Michael Jordan. You managed Michael Jordan,
Speaker 1: the greatest of all time in basketball in nineteen ninety
Speaker 1: four with the Birmingham Barons, and then you were managed
Speaker 1: by Pete Rose. And when I think about basketball, I
Speaker 1: think about the passion, the perseverance of Michael Jordan. Then
Speaker 1: I think about Pete Rose, I beloved character. Is there
Speaker 1: some connection in your mind between Michael Jordan and Pete Rose?
Speaker 2: How they're conducted themselves.
Speaker 3: I've told a lot of people that the very similar
Speaker 3: personalities where if you tell them no, they're going to
Speaker 3: find the They're going to find a way to make
Speaker 3: the answer be yes. You know, they're just so driven.
Speaker 3: I mean, most people that get to this level are driven.
Speaker 3: But then there's a few and you just named two
Speaker 3: of them that take it to the anth degree and
Speaker 3: that is Michael and Pete both.
Speaker 2: Well, how did you handle Michael Jordan?
Speaker 1: Because I saw some of the thirty by thirty stuff
Speaker 1: and you're in it. You if he stuck with baseball,
Speaker 1: would he have made to the major leagues? Of course,
Speaker 1: the owner of the White Sox wanted him to go
Speaker 1: and playing Comiskey Park. Can you imagine Michael Jordan in
Speaker 1: a White Sox uniform and chmisky?
Speaker 2: What was he? A major league baseball talent? Michael Jordan.
Speaker 3: What I've told people is it wasn't fair to judge
Speaker 3: until he got about a thousand at bats. But he
Speaker 3: could do some things. Now, I mean he stole thirty bases,
Speaker 3: you know, he he could do some things that a
Speaker 3: lot of prospects, you know, you need to do. He
Speaker 3: just hadn't played in so long. But I also, like
Speaker 3: I said, I found out if you told him no,
Speaker 3: he'd find a way to make the answer be yes.
Speaker 3: So do I think he'd have found his way to
Speaker 3: major leagues? Yeah? I do. What do you have been
Speaker 3: an everyday player? I don't know he had more developing
Speaker 3: to do, but I knew he was so respectful to
Speaker 3: the game of baseball. He made it really easy to
Speaker 3: be patient with him, and that was what I appreciated.
Speaker 1: As far as your year with the Reds in nineteen
Speaker 1: eighty seven, your manager was Pete Rose.
Speaker 2: What did you learn about baseball from Pete Rose?
Speaker 3: Well, I played with Pete and eighty four in Montreal,
Speaker 3: and I tell a lot of people I've probably learned
Speaker 3: more playing cards with Pete about baseball than I did
Speaker 3: from a lot of other people. He just, you know,
Speaker 3: the game was in slow motion for him. And I
Speaker 3: know Pete brought me over here in eighty seven and
Speaker 3: I felt like I really let him down because I
Speaker 3: just I just didn't hit. I mean, I got some
Speaker 3: hits opening day and then it just went south, and
Speaker 3: I felt like I let him down and that killed me.
Speaker 1: Oh, you bat it two twenty seven for the Reds.
Speaker 1: You were twenty eight years old, pretty good team, and
Speaker 1: I think largely that same team three years later with
Speaker 1: Lou Penella won. What was the difference between the eighty
Speaker 1: seven eighty eighty nine Reds with Pete Rose that didn't
Speaker 1: win and then a new a breath of fresh air arrived.
Speaker 1: I saw this interview that Barry Larkin conducted about you,
Speaker 1: the great number eleven Hall of Famer. You're going to
Speaker 1: be a Hall of Famer. I pray to God Lou
Speaker 1: Panella becomes a Hall of Famer. But Barry Larkin said,
Speaker 1: after the Pete Rose situation in August September of eighty
Speaker 1: nine was resolved and spring training started, he said, there
Speaker 1: was a breath of fresh air that we needed that
Speaker 1: we thought we were better than our record indicated. In fact,
Speaker 1: in eighty one the Reds had a losing record. The
Speaker 1: next year they went to the World Series. And so
Speaker 1: how do you relate to the Reds team and Reds
Speaker 1: fans now saying this is a team that can win,
Speaker 1: it should win. It hasn't won. We can't go why
Speaker 1: it hasn't won in the past, but why will it
Speaker 1: win this year? And are you the breath of fresh air,
Speaker 1: the Reds and the baseball's oldest franchise, knees. I'm so
Speaker 1: excited about this, I can't stand it. Are you the
Speaker 1: breath of fresh air?
Speaker 3: I don't know if I've ever been called that. You know,
Speaker 3: I'm not here to try to piss anybody off. I
Speaker 3: think we all like to feel like we can make
Speaker 3: a difference, and we're certainly going to try. But I
Speaker 3: don't think I need to go make any proclamations. Like
Speaker 3: I said, I want us to show up and play
Speaker 3: our rear ends off every day, and if we do that,
Speaker 3: I always feel like we're going to figure it out.
Speaker 3: That's how I've always felt and I will continue to
Speaker 3: do that. And this is a good group. This is
Speaker 3: a fun group, and it's a group that's going to
Speaker 3: get better. We're not the finished product. That doesn't mean
Speaker 3: we can't win, but I think it means we'll get better.
Speaker 1: Let's say it's about seven pm on opening Day and
Speaker 1: the Reds are winning two to one. You look down
Speaker 1: to the look out to the bullpen. Used to be
Speaker 1: down to the bullman. You look out to the bullpen,
Speaker 1: and you got Rogers, you got Barlow. You don't have
Speaker 1: Alexis Das. Who does Terry Francona come in to nail
Speaker 1: down to win two to one victory and the ninth
Speaker 1: ending about seven o'clock on opening day, who do you
Speaker 1: bring in?
Speaker 3: Well, I hope we're in that situation. It's a lot
Speaker 3: of it's going to depend on how we get there.
Speaker 3: You know, we're gonna have to mix the match a
Speaker 3: little bit. And I've already talked to the bullpen guys
Speaker 3: and I've talked a little bit more. But you know,
Speaker 3: we'll see again. It depends on how long our starter goes,
Speaker 3: how many guys who went through, But we'll figure it out.
Speaker 3: And I guarantee you somebody to be out there. And
Speaker 3: like I said, though, it just depends who we use.
Speaker 3: Leading up to that, how.
Speaker 1: Would you say, Ladella Cruz, you're catching him in a
Speaker 1: second full year.
Speaker 2: We're just so excited about him.
Speaker 1: He could become the face of baseball and you now
Speaker 1: spent about twenty five thirty games. So with the Elladella Cruz,
Speaker 1: what kind of character is he and what does he
Speaker 1: bring to the table for the Reds in twenty.
Speaker 3: Twenty five, Well, it brings everything to the table. I
Speaker 3: think that's why everybody you know likes him so much.
Speaker 3: Everybody wants to get a piece ofthing. And he's a
Speaker 3: great kid to boot. He plays the game right, he
Speaker 3: plays with passion, and he's only going to get better
Speaker 3: because he wants to. And you know that we're getting
Speaker 3: him in it. We're getting a lot of our guys
Speaker 3: at a good time where they've got a year or
Speaker 3: two under their belt. You know, they start to understand
Speaker 3: they don't just belong, but maybe they can thrive and
Speaker 3: compete because there's a difference, and I hope we'll get
Speaker 3: them at that time.
Speaker 1: In fact, you've been in baseball. I mean, your dad
Speaker 1: was in baseball fifteen years. You grew up in major
Speaker 1: league locker rooms. You've been there. You talk about in
Speaker 1: baseball forty some years. You've probably been in baseball sixty
Speaker 1: some years. If you take your time in various locker
Speaker 1: rooms and from that, give me the one or two
Speaker 1: big changes you've seen in baseball just inside the locker
Speaker 1: room in the past thirty or forty years. Used to
Speaker 1: be you had a player and you knew they had him.
Speaker 1: But now little bit of romance has to go on.
Speaker 1: You have to make sure the players want to stay in.
Speaker 1: Cincinnati's a fabulous place to play because you're gonna you're
Speaker 1: gonna learn an opening day how important this is. But
Speaker 1: how's baseball changed the last thirty or forty years?
Speaker 3: Uh? In your mind, well, there's been a lot of changes.
Speaker 3: I mean one of the things, like you said in
Speaker 3: the locker room is we used to sit after games
Speaker 3: and you know, we played cards and drink beer, and
Speaker 3: now you can't do that. You know, life times have changed,
Speaker 3: and I get it, but it takes some of the
Speaker 3: some of the fun away. The game, though, is still baseball,
Speaker 3: and I firmly believe, regardless of how much money you
Speaker 3: guys are making or free agency, if you can get
Speaker 3: your players to play baseball, you got a chance. And
Speaker 3: that's what we're going to try to do.
Speaker 1: Terry Farrek Kona. Do you feel like you're born again?
Speaker 1: Because the article is written about you, and uh, it
Speaker 1: feels like after you went through your health difficulties now
Speaker 1: came out the other side. And the involvement Marty Brownman
Speaker 1: was key to this. Do you feel like You're born again?
Speaker 3: I don't know if I'd go that far. I am excited,
Speaker 3: you know, I gonna have to keep an eye on
Speaker 3: myself because I'm not a young pupp and you know,
Speaker 3: I've had a lot going on, but I get up
Speaker 3: and swim every day because I want to be a
Speaker 3: good manager. I want to have, you know, energy for
Speaker 3: these guys, and I try to keep my button on
Speaker 3: all day and then when I go home, I just collapse.
Speaker 2: Well, Terry, you're the best.
Speaker 1: I think you walk in the shoes of Sparky Anderson
Speaker 1: and Louke Panela in the sense that you're a lifer
Speaker 1: in baseball and you've come here and we're just honored
Speaker 1: to have you in Cincinnati after the year off. When
Speaker 1: this thing when Marty the story about Marty Brenneman just
Speaker 1: briefly tell me that Marty brennan connection that you had
Speaker 1: to get this job.
Speaker 3: Well, I mean when I was here as a player,
Speaker 3: Marty and Nuxy, Joey, they were so good to be
Speaker 3: and some people in this game he just remain friends with,
Speaker 3: and me and Marty have have been friends ever since.
Speaker 3: And he reached out to me earlier this year, and
Speaker 3: next thing, you know, Nick and Brad are find out
Speaker 3: the Tucson and like I said, it just felt right.
Speaker 3: And I mean I know what kind of baseball town
Speaker 3: this can be. You know, I saw it firsthand and
Speaker 3: we got it. We got we got some baseball to play.
Speaker 3: But if we do, these people will be excited.
Speaker 1: Lastly, would you like to enter the Hall of Fame
Speaker 1: in a few years with Pete Rose?
Speaker 2: In memory of Pete?
Speaker 3: I'll never I can talk about Pete. I'll never talk
Speaker 3: about myself in that vein. I don't think that's healthy
Speaker 3: for any for a manager. With a manager, it's got
Speaker 3: to be about the players. It can never be about yourself.
Speaker 3: And when it becomes about you, I get really uncomfortable.
Speaker 1: May fourteenth is Pete Rose Day. Whether there'll be a
Speaker 1: tear in your eye for Pete, I don't know.
Speaker 3: If I'll cry, I'll be touched. I mean I love
Speaker 3: the guy. Like I said, I played with him and
Speaker 3: for him, and I loved him to death. And I
Speaker 3: will be one of the proudest people out there. I
Speaker 3: guarantee it.
Speaker 1: Terry frank ConA, may you live long and prosper when
Speaker 1: about a hundred games and take the Reds of the
Speaker 1: World Series where they belong. Between nineteen seventy five and
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety, the Reds were champions in the World Series
Speaker 1: twenty percent of the time, think of twenty percent of
Speaker 1: the time. Between nineteen seventy five and nineteen ninety the
Speaker 1: Reds were the World Series champion. Since then, the last
Speaker 1: thirty five years have been more difficult. And I think
Speaker 1: you're the Moses that may lead us into the Promised Land.
Speaker 1: And Terry Francona, once again, thank you for coming on
Speaker 1: the Bill Cunningham Show.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Terry.
Speaker 3: All right, Bill and Joy Man.
Speaker 1: Thanks God bless America. Let's continue with more. That's Terry
Speaker 1: Francona Unplugged on News Radio seven hundred WLW