MLB WORLD SERIES: INDIANS v MARLINS

October 25, 1997

Jeff Conine

JEFF CONINE: I don't think so, I think we knew coming into this Series that a lot of us have played against some of the Cleveland Indians in the past with Marquis and David Justice, Matt Williams, and we know what they were capable of for sure offensively. And I don't think anyone is surprised on their offensive ability.

JEFF CONINE: Well, obviously I think these expansion teams, both Colorado and ourselves, are not the norm as far as history shows. And I think with both situations in Phoenix and Tampa Bay the fan interest and the ownership that both those teams have, I think they're going to win quickly, and they're going to want to win quickly, because they have such tremendous support. So I think any player that I've talked to is excited about the prospect of possibly playing at either of those places.

JEFF CONINE: Well, I think the city was transformed into a baseball loving town in the last two months of the season. It takes a long time to really grab hold of a franchise, of any pro sports team, I think. With us going to the World Series so quickly, I think it transformed a lot of people into baseball fans, but I think that will continue after this year.

JEFF CONINE: Well, I think you've got to look at it as just another game. Obviously it's not, but you've got to look at it as another game or another postseason game, and you don't want your emotions to get too high or too low at this point, this close to game time. So we'll go out there and any excess energy that I might have, I'll go out there during BP and have a good time during BP and go through my normal warm ups and ground balls and I think that will take the edge off of a lot of guys.

JEFF CONINE: When Mr. Huizenga puts his mind to something, I think he goes all out. And he definitely did that this off-season. I sat back and was on my computer all the time looking at all the moves he made and reading the papers, and I had nothing but a big smile on my face, because I knew it was going to give us an excellent chance to make it into the postseason.

JEFF CONINE: That's it, every time or any time this year we've wanted to win a big game or any situation where a clinching game or a big game during the year, you want Kevin Brown on the mound, because he's our ace, and even if he has a little bit of an off night, his stuff is better than most, and he's going to keep us in the game no matter what.

JEFF CONINE: Well, obviously I didn't particularly think of it as a good thing. It's almost like being traded, you're going from one organization to another. At that time it was even worse to me, because I had -- they had no team, so I didn't know who to expect to play with or who was going to be my teammates. And obviously after I thought about it and realized it was going to give me a chance to play in the Big Leagues full-time I embraced the change. But at first I was a little shocked.

JEFF CONINE: Well, he's not going to -- it's not like a rabid dog or anything, he's not going to bite you. But everyone knows he's a very intense competitor and they give him his space and let him prepare the way he prepares. And that's very intensely.

JEFF CONINE: Yeah, I thought that was a concern because the team was a year and a half old and we hadn't really given it a chance to take hold here in South Florida and we didn't have the benefit of New York Yankees or Chicago Cubs that have been around so long and built such a great fan base. But I think they've come back well, and you're going to see tonight how well they've come back.

JEFF CONINE: Well, I don't care if you keep this team together or you disband this team totally, everyone in here, it could be our last chance. There are no guarantees that just because this team stays together for next year that we're going to go back to the postseason, you can't think that way, because you never know. So everyone in there, Bobby Bonilla has been a part of some tremendous baseball teams, and he's never been there. Everyone -- I think everyone in there looks at it like let's win this one, and anything else that comes on top of this is gravy.

JEFF CONINE: I think just support, going out in the community and whether it be at a restaurant or supermarket or whatever, I think fans, they were just a lot more excited about baseball the second half of this year than they ever have been. And that has to do with being in the playoff hunt.

JEFF CONINE: I think they will be remembered as the World Series Champions. I don't think anyone will go back and research the off-season moves or realize how much money we spent. I think that's all -- that's not relative at all. I think this team has played together well as a team and we've played with a lot of guts and drive this last month and a half, and I think that will be remembered over anything.

JEFF CONINE: I will not even go close to that dirt circle on the mound in the game. I'm not going to tell him anything he doesn't already know.

JEFF CONINE: The only thing I've heard about that is basically the comments in the paper about Jim being mad about it. Both of these teams in this World Series right now know how they got here, they know who they had to beat to get here, and we both know we deserve to be here. We don't pay any attention to that.

JEFF CONINE: I don't know, there are a number of comical things that happened that first year that kind of stand out in your mind, I mean going to Spring Training facility that wasn't built yet. We had to go by bus to our temporary home in Coco Expo. And it just seemed like we were so far away from where we are right now. It seemed like we would never get here, because everything seemed so chaotic at the time.