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MLB WORLD SERIES: DODGERS VS RED SOX

October 26, 2018

Boston, Massachusetts

CHRIS ROSE: Hi, everybody. I'm Chris Rose from Intentional Talk of MLB Network. We are here prepared for a very special announcement concerning the legacy of one Hank Aaron today.

As you can tell by the background, first and foremost, we are here to announce the two Hank Aaron Award winners, one in the American League and one in the National League. Now, the winners were selected through a combination of the fan vote on MLB.com and also a panel that involved several Hall of Famers, including the aforementioned Hank Aaron, along with Roberto Alomar, Johnny Bench, Craig Biggio, Ken Griffey Jr., Eddie Murray and Robin Yount.

First and foremost, I will introduce everybody that's on the dais. We have Christian Yelich of the Milwaukee Brewers with us, we have the Hall of Famer Hank Aaron, the Commissioner of Baseball Rob Manfred, and J.D. Martinez of the Boston Red Sox. And without further ado, I would like to turn this over to the Commissioner of Baseball.

COMMISSIONER ROB MANFRED: Thank you, Chris. This is the 20th anniversary of the Hank Aaron Award, which is given to the outstanding offensively player in each of the leagues. We're thrilled to have Hank Aaron here with us, along with his wife Billye, and his granddaughter, to celebrate this evening. I want to thank the Hall-of-Fame voters who worked in selecting our two winners tonight, as well as the fans that voted on MLB.com.

Our American League winner this year is J.D. Martinez, sitting to my left. He led the majors with 130 RBI, led the majors in total bases with 358, and he was second in home run, batting average and slugging percentage. Most important, he led his team to the World Series. And I know J.D. is anxious to get back to work, and I promised him I would be brief. So there you go.

Our National League winner, Christian Yelich. I want to thank Christian for making the trip, not too far from home. We appreciate it, nonetheless. He was the first Milwaukee Brewer to win the batting title, batting .326. He led the National League in slugging, total bases and WAR. He just missed what is it, one home run, two RBI, a Triple Crown.

CHRISTIAN YELICH: Something like that.

COMMISSIONER ROB MANFRED: Christian, congratulations to you. A great year and thanks for being here.

CHRIS ROSE: Thank you, Commissioner, we appreciate it.

Mr. Aaron, you have a few words about this.

HANK AARON: Thank you very much. Let me thank the Commissioner. Let me thank all who voted for these two young men. I watched Christian and I watched J.D., and I watched Major League Baseball in its entirety. But the most important thing I think, the thing that makes you proud of is the fact that in Christian's year that he had, he came that close, that close, I say "that close", I mean really close of winning the Triple Crown.

Now, many of you don't know what that means. That means something very special. When you talk about players like Ted Williams and Yaz and some of those other great ballplayers who did win the Triple Crown, it's something that you can be very proud of. And so I just want to congratulate Christian.

I want to congratulate J.D. for such an outstanding year he had, not only himself, but his entire team.

J.D. MARTINEZ: Appreciate it.

HANK AARON: Congratulations to you, and may you continue to keep prospering.

J.D. MARTINEZ: Appreciate it.

HANK AARON: I want to congratulate both of you.

CHRIS ROSE: J.D., a few words. A guy has made hitting such an art and science along the way. What does it mean to you?

J.D. MARTINEZ: Obviously it's a huge award. And I feel very honored to receive it from where I was five years ago to today. It's really a blessing. A lot of people helped me along the way. Just to get here today and sit in front of Hank, who growing up Paul Casanova was my mentor, and he was a guy who really took me under his wing and made me fall in love with baseball. A lot of those stories that he told me were about Hank. So it's pretty cool to be on stage with him today.

CHRIS ROSE: Christian, for a guy who played his first year in Milwaukee, where of course where Mr. Aaron spent a few years, I imagine this has to be especially special?

CHRISTIAN YELICH: Yeah, it's hard to explain what it feels like, but it's definitely a huge honor. He's hit a lot more homers up there than I have, but you're just humbled to win an award like this and be up here with the caliber of players that not only J.D. is, but you were in your career.

HANK AARON: Thank you.

CHRISTIAN YELICH: It's hard to process and really take it all in. I think it's something that will set in a little bit later.

CHRIS ROSE: Christian, he's at 755, you're at...

CHRISTIAN YELICH: Not even close. I'd have to play multiple careers.

CHRIS ROSE: Because J.D. is a little busy today, we do have time for a few questions for him, and then there will be time to ask questions of the people that are remaining. If you could just say your name and we'll get going on a couple of questions.

Q. What did you go through to show the ankle was fit today? Any lingering pain? Other than tape, did you need any painkiller or anything?
J.D. MARTINEZ: (Laughing) I don't know. Definitely the trainers put me through a little bit of a workout testing it out. And it's something that obviously it's a little discomforting, but I'm comfortable with playing, and definitely going to go out there and do our best.

Q. As somebody who prides themselves on for hitting average and power, what does it mean to win an award after somebody like Mr. Aaron who did that during his career?
J.D. MARTINEZ: Huge. If you look at the numbers, best right-handed hitter in baseball, in our sport, in our career. And to just be on the podium and be next to him and receiving his award is an honor and it's huge.

Q. Christian, both you and J.D. changed teams over the winter. What does it mean when you join a new franchise and live up to or exceed the hype the first year?
CHRISTIAN YELICH: Yeah, I think that's something that's on your mind from the start. You just want to contribute. And in my case, I came to a team that was a game away from the playoffs. My goal going in was to be the player that they traded for, nothing more, nothing less, and just contribute to what they already had going there. It was an unbelievable year, it was a lot of fun. And we came one game away from being in the World Series.

And I think we can take what we learned from this year and the feeling of disappointment we had of being so close, but not being able to get over the final hump and use it as motivation going into next year, and see if we can take that final step.

Q. Christian, in the days since Game 7 of the NLCS what have you been up to? Would you say you're over the loss now or are you still trying to get over it?
CHRISTIAN YELICH: I'd say you're never really over it but you've moved on from it. I think that sticks with you. You understand -- that's what you work for as a player is to play a World Series and to win a World Series. And to be that close is definitely disappointing, but like I said earlier, use that as motivation throughout the offseason and into next season. And I think as a team, as far as playing in 163, we understand that every game counts. That game in mid April counts just as much as the game in mid-September when you're in the playoff chase.

It was a great learning experience for us as a team and I think it's going to help us going forward.

Q. Mr. Aaron, end of the season is a time for taking stock. I wonder what your thoughts were on the health of the game in general and specifically in regard to getting young African American players into the game and into Major League Baseball?
HANK AARON: The second question I would prefer you to ask me a little later.

The first one I would like to say that Major League Baseball is healthy. I think that when you see young players such as Christian and some of the other players like J.D., and some of these young kids coming up, you kind of wish that you were playing, not for the sake of the money thing but simply because of the competition. There's some great athletes that we have now, really. If you think about all of the young kids that we have that's coming up. I watched this kid when he played with Miami, I think, for a couple of years, and I watched him and to be very honest with you, I tried to get a team to trade for him (laughter). But to no avail.

But he is an up-and-coming guy. And also J.D., same way. And this is all through the league, all through the League, that these kids can play, throw hard. I think I made this remark last year and I'll make it again, I told Willie Mays if he and I was playing, they'd be probably sending us to class D ball, because we wouldn't know how to the hit these guys at 100 miles an hour. It would be hard to learn how to do that.

But that's baseball. That is baseball. I watched him play and walk up to the plate and hit somebody that's throwing 100 miles an hour, and said, oh, my god, I couldn't do it.

But anyway, the game is healthy and because of the Commissioner. The Commissioner has done an outstanding job of keeping the game where it was for a long time. And he has done a great job. And I want to say I am proud to be part of it.

CHRIS ROSE: If you and Willie Mays are playing in class D, I'm buying season tickets.

Q. Christian, how much do you attribute to changing the team, your numbers right now, being in Milwaukee?
CHRISTIAN YELICH: I think it's definitely a little a little bit better place to hit. But I think really just learning yourself as a player. You're trying to improve every year. And you're trying to make improvements on what you learn about yourself, when you're successful or struggle. You try to minimize those stretches. And you realize what you do when you're successful and you try and lengthen those.

I think that was the biggest thing this year, was just having a little bit better understanding of what I do well as a player. And I think playing in that playoff race and having all those games mean something down the stretch definitely helped as well. But like I say, you're continually trying to improve throughout your career, and I think I can constantly get better and it's a great mindset to take into every season.

Q. Hank, you played so many times in this stadium, I'm curious when you come back in here are there any special memories that immediately come to mind?
HANK AARON: I didn't play here that much. I played my last year here when I was with the Braves. I came back here and played the last year when I was with Milwaukee. But I didn't -- in fact, when they traded -- I'm sorry, not when they traded, but when they moved the ballclub from Boston to Milwaukee, it was my first year in the Big Leagues. So I really didn't play here too much.

I had a little luck here, not that good of luck. I hit a few home runs but not many. This is a ballpark that can make you start thinking a little bit. And the reason I say is the reason it makes you start thinking is you see that Green Monster out there, not here, not in Los Angeles, but in Boston, you see the Green Monster in Boston, and the first thing you want to know is can you hit it over the fence, really.

But this ballpark here always gave me trouble because I just never felt like I could ever play the way I wanted to play because I got here late, traveled all night flying here. And I just -- I never did get up to it, really.

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