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MLB WORLD SERIES: NATIONALS VS ASTROS

October 25, 2019

Washington, D.C. - pregame 3

Q. Welcome back to Nationals Park. To both of you, what does this moment mean to you guys to be able to come back and celebrate the first World Series for the Nats?
BRIAN SCHNEIDER: It's special. I know Chad feels the same way. To get that call to come back here. It's not just any other game, right, it's the first time in 86 years there's been a series here. It's special. I'm very privileged and excited to be part of it. And to be here next to Chief means a lot to me, too. I'm just ready to go back out there and feel the excitement of the crowd and to be here.

Again, I just wanted to thank everyone who's put it together, the Nationals, and ownership, everyone. I do appreciate everything.

CHAD CORDERO: It's a huge honor to be able to come back and be A part of something like this. To be part of that first team in '05 that brought baseball back after so many years, and then to be able to be invited to throw out the first pitch in the World Series and the first one, like Brian said, in 86 years, that's a pretty special honor. Not a whole lot of people can say they've had a chance to do that.

When they gave myself a call, I told them I'd drop everything to be able to come out here. I don't want to miss this opportunity because who knows when you're going to be able to do this type of thing ever again and stuff.

Ever since I got that call I've been very nervous, my hands are all sweaty, and I'm just hoping I don't bounce it right now.

BRIAN SCHNEIDER: So do I.

Q. What do you guys remember about that first game at RFK and everything was so new and you were coming in from Montreal and all that stuff? All these years later, what do you think back on that day?
BRIAN SCHNEIDER: I just remember the crowd, the atmosphere. Coming from Montreal it was -- we didn't know what to expect, we really didn't. To see it packed at such an early time, like during batting practice and just the excitement through. I remember it was a really cold night and getting that first pitch over with, I was really nervous for that first pitch.

But that was our night. Everything seemed to work out. It clicked. Halfway through the game or maybe last, it wasn't like it was new anymore to us, it was like our home. It was where we were playing.

And it wasn't -- looked around and sometimes you're on the road and you're looking at new things. It wasn't about that. It was just about at that point we were winning and the excitement. It was our home. And that's -- I think for us it was really good because we did not -- no one knew what to expect. We had no idea. And man, we were very surprised and pleased. It was awesome.

To see where it's gone, off the charts.

CHAD CORDERO: The fans and everybody around here, the whole city made us feel right at home. We instantly felt very comfortable with everything, with the move, with the stadium, with the city. Because like Brian said, you don't really know what to expect. Being in a place like Montreal, which is a great city, you only had a couple hundred fans a night. And to be able to come in to a place like this and see it sold out almost every night for those first few months, it was a pretty cool thing.

And then what I loved, I loved to watch the stadium bounce up and down, or the seats. That was awesome. That's a unique thing at RFK that you really can't get anywhere else. And it was a great feeling. And the fans and everybody around the city were very welcoming.

Q. Are those your actual old jerseys?
BRIAN SCHNEIDER: Yeah, it's pretty funny. They asked me to bring it down. I didn't know where it would be. Somewhere. And Chief said, Mine are all framed and everything. I'm going to call my dad, see if he has one. I was like, That's a good idea. I called my dad, and he had one, too. He said, Dads never throw any of that stuff away.

Yeah, these are both our originals, I guess, that we had given to our dads.

Q. Now everyone looks back so fondly on that first season. Do you remember in the moment as that season played out realizing or feeling like this was a big deal and that it was going to have a lasting impact that people would still be talking about you guys 15 years later?
BRIAN SCHNEIDER: Yeah, for sure. I remember thinking about couldn't believe, it was still kind of surreal that we were in first place for such a long time going into the All-Star break. It was very disappointing, obviously, to a lot of people, but more us that it ended the way it did.

But going into that All-Star break, it was meant to happen. We were in a new stadium. New team. And it was going to be our year. We were disappointed the way it ended up.

But you knew that that was just the beginning. This place was going to continue to grow and support. And honestly, when you look at places to go as a free agent or where to play, the nation's capital is a pretty cool thing to say you're here in the nation's capital. It's a good destination. You always knew they would bring guys in, guys would want to play here.

CHAD CORDERO: Yeah, you can kind of sense it, like Brian was saying, that it could be something pretty special. Obviously I don't think we realized just how good it was going to be. Granted, it took quite a number of years to be where it is today. But you had that feeling that it could be something really special for the city and for the organization.

I remember that team, we had a very unique group of guys. We had Carlos Baerga, who I swear his hair was like a helmet. He took off his hat and it was like you were, like, hitting a helmet and stuff. It was fun. It was just -- we were enjoying ourselves. It was a great situation to be in. It's not every day that you get to be a part of a team that brings back baseball after so long and stuff.

You kind of had the sense that it was going to be pretty good, but I don't think you really realized just how special the organization was going to be for the city.

Q. What are your best memories from playing in Montreal? This franchise is the same.
BRIAN SCHNEIDER: For me, I've always said that I owe everything for myself, for playing professional baseball, to give me my chance to make it to the big leagues. And they drafted me and they gave me a chance to play in the Major Leagues. So I'll always be grateful. I'll always owe everything to, not just the organization, but to the city because without them calling me up, I don't know if I ever were to get called up.

That was my team that I started with and that's still the team I'll always remember because they brought me to the big leagues.

CHAD CORDERO: Montreal is a great city. I remember it was kind of sad when we left because just how awesome the city really is. You go to Toronto and you kind of feel like it's an awesome city, itself. But Montreal, it's like you're in Europe. It's a whole different world.

And so I'm hoping, hearing the rumors and stuff and reading the news, and hopefully they do get a team again because I think they can do some pretty special things up there. They have the right fan base, I think and it's not that far from the border to where you can get a lot of people from the states to go up there. I enjoyed my time up there. It was awesome.

I was only there for a year, and part of my year was spent in Puerto Rico, unfortunately. But the city itself is great. And you can see that the fans that came on a regular basis, they are die hard, they knew baseball. You saw those same faces in Spring Training every year. Even after we moved down you still saw a number of them coming down.

Montreal really does have a good place in baseball. Hopefully they can work something out and get a stadium that's not Olympic stadium. But I think if they get a stadium downtown, I think baseball can really take off over there.

BRIAN SCHNEIDER: I think it would be really good for the game to get baseball back there. Those fans have been through a lot. When they had the teams before the strike they supported the teams and they had some really good teams. I really hope they get a chance to get a team back there. There's a lot of good people back up there, I keep in touch with a lot of people and I think it would be good for baseball.

Q. (No microphone.)
CHAD CORDERO: Yeah. I'm hoping I don't pull the same thing I did in Anaheim where I slipped off the mound and bounced against Vladimir. That's what I'm hoping that I don't do. I don't want to be on the top ten list again, that wasn't fun.

Q. Frank Robinson made the move down here with you guys. I'm wondering if you have any good Frank Robinson stories, what he meant to your careers and the transition coming down here from Montreal?
BRIAN SCHNEIDER: For myself, I loved playing for Frank. Frank got the most out of you, if you let him. For myself I always said I wanted to play hard for Frank and play the right way because I wanted him to respect myself as a ballplayer.

For what he's done for the game, what kind of player he was and person he was, I know I respect him, a lot of people did. That's why he's in the Hall. But with that said, I want him to respect me, too. How do you do that? You go out and play the game the right way, play hard and do things as a team. He got the most out of me, I tell you that, I played really hard for him and miss him dearly.

CHAD CORDERO: Frank was awesome. He was very intimidating. I remember the first time I met him, I had just got drafted out of Cal State Fullerton and they had me to go to New York to throw bullpen. I knew who Frank was. My dad was a huge baseball fan, he still is. So I knew who Frank was and to have him standing about 15 feet away from me as I was throwing my bullpen made me really nervous. I think I threw 20 pitches and I think 19 of them were in the dirt because I was so nervous because I was in the presence of a Hall of Famer. That was first time I'd had a chance to do that. But Frank was amazing. He gave me my first chance and kind of stuck with me.

I remember I was struggling a little bit in 2004 and we were still in Montreal with walks and stuff. And he just told me, he brought me in the office and told me he had a lot of confidence in me.

And I remember the one piece of advice he gave me was, he's like, No matter how long you're in this game, you'll learn something new every day. And this is coming from a Hall of Famer, someone who's been in the game for 50 years. If he said that and he's still learning something new, I was like I can do the same thing. And that really stuck with me.

I tell the kids that I coach now that same thing. Frank was an amazing person. I know he was kind of hardheaded and stuff, kind of expected a lot out of you. But if you played hard he was your biggest fan. For myself and Brian, we both gave it everything we had. And that's all he wanted.

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MLB WORLD SERIES: NATIONALS VS ASTROS

October 25, 2019

Chad Cordero

Brian Schneider