I was a pitcher, shortstop and outfielder, and the Yankees tried to sign me out of high school as a first-round draft pick in 1981. I turned them down to go to college.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I knew I'd never make it back to the major leagues as a player. Lee MacPhail came to me and asked if I wanted to manage the Yankees' Fort Lauderdale club. I thought about it for a day or two and decided to take the job. That was the turning point. I knew it was what I wanted to do.
I thought I was a pretty good shortstop, but I also wanted to play in the major leagues.
I was a baseball player at North Central High School in Spokane, Washington even though I was all-city in basketball, even when I signed a letter of intent to play quarterback at Washington State.
I figured that pitchers had a better chance of getting drafted than fielders, so I decided I should be a pitcher. But I never expected to be picked in the first round. I wasn't even sure I'd get picked at all.
It was part of my recruiting to go to Cal because they knew I loved to play baseball. I don't know if I was good enough to make the team, but I worked out with the guys, and it was a lot of fun.
I loved the opportunity to play for the Yankees, too.
The draft is a crapshoot, so I've been very fortunate to be drafted by the Yankees, and to have spent my whole career here.
I was a professional baseball player from the time I was drafted out of high school in 1981 until the time I retired in 2003.
I was 19 years old, pumping gas and going nowhere. I was kind of a high school dropout at that point because I had left school to play hockey, but no one drafted me.
I was happy that I was drafted, and then it was the Yankees and that just made it even better.