MLB WORLD SERIES: MARLINS v YANKEES

October 22, 2003

David Wells

DAVID WELLS: Roger's got a great personality in the clubhouse. Some of his "isms," you don't know where they're coming from. That goes a long way in a clubhouse, his joking around, having a good time. He's good leadership. It's something there that he's been around a long time and he knows how to ease a clubhouse a little bit. When he talks, a lot of people listen. So it's something that's gonna be missed with him. A lot of guys before him as well, that I've played with, that have retired. Another guy was Dave Winfield, when I played in Toronto. He was a big inspiration to everybody because he made sure everybody was on the bench. And if you were in the clubhouse, he'd drag you out. That says a lot. He wants everybody to be involved and just his knowledge is very good for everybody in the clubhouse. But going out there and facing him stands out more. Just being a teammate and getting to know him the last couple years has been good. He's treated me well, with respect. I think that when you can retire - and I'm not far behind him - I think that hopefully that will carry on into an older age, and when you get to see each other at functions and stuff like that, sit there, reminisce and talk about the good old days.

DAVID WELLS: I hope I get to clinch tomorrow. I mean, that's -- that would be a great feeling. It's a great opportunity. You try to win it as quick as you can. Just Game 1, I thought I pitched well enough to win. But we just were flat. It just didn't work out. There's nobody to blame. If you're gonna blame anybody, blame me, I gave up the three runs. But redemption is good, and that's something that I'd like to have tomorrow to clinch the whole thing. This may be, being my last game as a Yankee, it could be. It's out of my hands. It's up to George Steinbrenner if they want to exercise my option. If they don't, then I move on. It's been great. It's been fun. It's a great organization. A great bunch of guys. That's the one thing in baseball you miss, when you're comfortable in a clubhouse, you got a great bunch of guys around you, that's what you're gonna miss the most. That's the tough part about leaving a ballclub, is the friendships that you've made.

DAVID WELLS: I don't know. He's not done pitching yet. He just gets better and better with age. What I've seen of Mo so far has really blown my mind. He just goes out there. His confidence level is up. His determination of going out there every opportunity he gets, and just with ease. He's focused out on the mound. That's something that it's very rare, from a closer, to see. A lot of guys press and get really fidgety out there. Mo is just relaxed. He goes out there and that's what makes him so special out there. He's the type of guy that's not afraid to fail either. When you get that type of -- you get that type of pitcher on the mound, that's the kind of guy you want.

DAVID WELLS: Joe's given me a couple line-up cards this year. The only rubber I've got pitching mound was a perfect game, and that's -- that one I can -- if I don't ever get another one, that's the one I'd want. That's a good one to have. No, it's something that he's had longevity. Those are special additions to a collection, a personal collection that you have. To me, I've collected enough things. But, to me, I collect all the old baseballs, try to get as much Yankee memorabilia as I can and other artifacts out there. It's something that I've enjoyed what I've done, and I've gotten bits and pieces. In Toronto, I've got a couple cards from when Jim Fregosi was manager there, he gave me a few cards. It was great there. He used to let me make the line-up cards, put the guys out behind me. That was special to me. So I've got a few of those cards as well.

DAVID WELLS: No, that's just the Yankee fans. That's out of my control. To me, he's been a Boston Red Sox, his blood has been there for years, for his whole career. Then he comes over to New York, it's kind of -- you got to prove yourself in New York. I don't care who you are. It's something that he won them over, and I think that's great because of the fact that if you can win the Yankee fans over, you can win anybody over. He goes out there and does a job, pitches well, and that's what they respect. They want us to go out there and do well. And if they don't, the fans will let you know it, the media will let you know it, and it's something that, look at Ed Witson, Kenny Rogers, guys like that. They ran them out. The fans didn't like them. And it's something that he's not gonna -- he's the type of person that won't let the fans or the media get to him; he's gonna go out there and dominate.

DAVID WELLS: Doesn't surprise me one bit because we all know what we can do. We all believe in our ability of what we can do out there on the mound. Sure, we're gonna have bad days. But I think the stuff that we have, we've had more better days than bad. I think that for that to -- that said, we just -- we go out there every five days with confidence. And not only that, we go out with confidence in our defense. The days that we don't have our good stuff, we rely on our infielders and outfielders to make our plays for us. To me, that goes with the territory. You've got to play together. The nine guys out there, you got to go at it hard and try to find a solution to win. That's how this team has been successful, by playing good teamwork.

DAVID WELLS: What's my story (laughter)?

DAVID WELLS: I don't know if I want to touch that one (smiling). Goes to show you don't need to bust your ass every day to be successful (laughter). Wow! I was wondering when that was gonna come out. I don't know. I just, you know, something I love to do, I go out there. I've put my time in in conditioning and all that. But I've been blessed with a rubber arm. I'll keep knocking to the day I retire and that's just something that, you know, going out there, knowing how to pitch and making my pitches and challenging guys, because you see a lot of guys that throw 90, 95-plus and are scared to throw strikes. You're not gonna win games by walking people. That's something that I've really took pride in, is not walking guys. I think that's how you save yourself, by going out there and you challenge guys and you get out of the inning quick. But I'll leave the working and conditioning to those guys forever. They can write a book and do videos. They can make money on that, on how to last 20 years in the Big Leagues by conditioning. I'll write the one, "How not to work out." I think I'll -- we'll weigh the both of them.