Speaker 1: We're in Philadelphia and I'm joined right now by one
Speaker 1: of my favorite Dodgers. You guys know him, love him,
Speaker 1: and he not only is a great player, but he's
Speaker 1: got a big heart. And that is the one and
Speaker 1: only Keike Hernandez. Thanks a lot for the time. It's
Speaker 1: been a great first nine games of the season for
Speaker 1: you guys.
Speaker 2: Yeah, hi, Dave from Philadelphia East Coast. Yeah, you got
Speaker 2: off to a great start. You know, the personal not
Speaker 2: so much, but the team hasn't necessarily needed me to
Speaker 2: play good to win games, so that's good. But yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean, we all hear the noise. We are doing
Speaker 2: a great job at canceling, shutting out the noise, and
Speaker 2: you know, focusing on our twenty six man roster, focusing
Speaker 2: on ourselves and what we do need to do in
Speaker 2: between the lines to be successful, and so far we're
Speaker 2: doing a good job of that.
Speaker 1: But it feels like you guys have done a good
Speaker 1: job with everything else around you, and you yourself playing
Speaker 1: a position that you don't really play a lot, and
Speaker 1: that's first base. I'm not sure people will fully appreciate that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know, definitely, I I think i'm you know,
Speaker 2: I usually i'm a chameleon. Defensively, I kind of adjust
Speaker 2: to where I'm at, and right now I'm possibly thinking
Speaker 2: so much about first base and I'm forgetting about you know,
Speaker 2: what happens on the plate. But you know, I Freddie
Speaker 2: has been you know, he's top five defender of the
Speaker 2: position in the whole Big League. So my job, my
Speaker 2: responsibility is to make sure that the team doesn't suffer.
Speaker 1: Part of the reason why you're back with the Dodgers
Speaker 1: and why everybody wanted you back was to enjoy the
Speaker 1: fruits and the celebration of being a world champion. The
Speaker 1: following year, you got your ring. I'm sure that was
Speaker 1: exciting for you. And then on Monday, the Dodgers are
Speaker 1: going to the White House.
Speaker 2: Yeah. No, second time through as a champ, first time
Speaker 2: that I get to, you know, come back and be
Speaker 2: part of all the all the celebrations of the previous year.
Speaker 2: Of course I missed out and all of that in
Speaker 2: twenty twenty one, So the White House, I feel like
Speaker 2: being a Latino and being somewhat of a fan favorite. Uh.
Speaker 2: It was kind of a loose lose situation for me
Speaker 2: in terms of the White House. If I was here
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty one, maybe my decision would have maybe
Speaker 2: possibly been easier, but you know the fact that I
Speaker 2: was in here, I need to be selfish and and
Speaker 2: put myself and myself before anything else. I understand that
Speaker 2: that I'm a role model and I'm you know, I'm
Speaker 2: supposed to be a leader in the Latino community. But
Speaker 2: at the same time, you know, as a little kid,
Speaker 2: you see the World Series champ or NBA Finals champ,
Speaker 2: all the you know, NHL, all these major sports. You know,
Speaker 2: they win the they win the title, and they go
Speaker 2: to the White House, and you know, this is one
Speaker 2: of the things as a little kid when you dream
Speaker 2: about winning the World Series, you know, you put yourself
Speaker 2: in the situations. And here we are in the present
Speaker 2: moment and a decision that is not really easy at all.
Speaker 2: But you know, I've decided that I'm going to go
Speaker 2: to the White House just because we are celebrating as
Speaker 2: a team and we have a really good thing going on,
Speaker 2: and I feel like if I say no, that kind
Speaker 2: of becomes a distraction, not only for myself, but for
Speaker 2: my teammates. I don't want to have any of my
Speaker 2: teammates have to answer questions to the media as to
Speaker 2: why I took a personal decision. So I feel like
Speaker 2: me going to the White House is definitely not a
Speaker 2: political thing. It's more of a you know, I'm there
Speaker 2: to celebrate the title and I'm there to support my teammates. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't want to go back, you know,
Speaker 2: go ahead twenty years from now and regret my decision
Speaker 2: of you know, not going to the White House. That's
Speaker 2: that would have been twice that I missed out onto
Speaker 2: the opportunity. So, like I said in twenty twenty one,
Speaker 2: the team got to go, my teammates got to go.
Speaker 2: I wasn't there because I wasn't part of the team.
Speaker 2: I missed out on that opportunity. So I'm trying to
Speaker 2: trying to make sure I don't miss out on anything
Speaker 2: this year. And you know, I think mixing politics and
Speaker 2: sports is never a good thing. So I am definitely
Speaker 2: not making this a political thing. I'm just going to
Speaker 2: be there for my team. I'm going to be there
Speaker 2: to support and my teammates, not anybody else. And uh,
Speaker 2: probably that's part of my reason why I'm going.
Speaker 1: No doubt, La loves you, KEYK Puerto Rico loves you.
Speaker 1: That will never change. So you don't have to worry
Speaker 1: about that. You just have to look good and be
Speaker 1: yourself wherever the Dodgers go.
Speaker 2: Well, those are two things that I tend to be
Speaker 2: good at. Looking good and be myself. Uh, be myself
Speaker 2: as something I pride on each and every day, regardless
Speaker 2: of where I'm at, And who knows, maybe I'll pull
Speaker 2: a k K stunt at the White House.
Speaker 1: Be on your toes. You never know what he might
Speaker 1: have in his back pocket. Love you, KEYK. And like
Speaker 1: I said, LA will never change how they feel about you. Uh,
Speaker 1: you leave it all out on the field. You wear
Speaker 1: your heart on your sleep and that's something that we
Speaker 1: all appreciate.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Dave, I appreciate you.