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MLB ALL-STAR GAMEJuly 11, 2011Robinson CanoJose CanoClaribel CanoRaquelle EnosTodd FischerPHOENIX, ARIZONA ROB BUTCHER: By way of introduction, to your left here is Raquelle . She is 14 from the Lehi Branch of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Scottsdale. Todd Fischer, he's the manager of National Sponsorships for State Farm. And we have Robinson Cano, his father, Jose, and his mother, Claribel. I will turn it over to Todd. TODD FISCHER: Thanks, Rob. Another incredible evening tonight. First of all, congratulations to Robinson, and a big thank you on behalf of State Farm to everybody for making this night happen, from Major League Baseball to ESPN, Arizona Diamondbacks, the City of Phoenix and so many other folks. It was arguably the most exciting State Farm Home Run Derby in recent memory, and probably a new chapter in the Yankees and Red Sox rivalry although these guys were teammates. The impact left on fans and everybody watching across the country on the broadcast is probably only matched by what the guys were able to do for great kids like Raquelle and so many others in the donations that were raised tonight. State Farm is proud to make a donation to worthy charities and the community in the amount of $603,000, and over the course of our five years as a partner of Major League Baseball, we cracked the $2 million barrier in our donations to the Boys & Girls Club of America and other worthy causes. We could not be happier and prouder of this event and the way that guys like Robinson Cano represent baseball and everything that it stands for, and the way that great folks like Raquelle represent their club and the good that comes with this event cannot be understated. So congratulations to both parties involved. Q. For Jose, can you just put into words how gratifying that must be to throw, to, do what you did tonight, to throw BP to your son and see him win the Derby like that? JOSE CANO: That's what I do all the time at home, just throwing BP. When he called me at home, that he wanted me to come to the United States because he's going to be in the Home Run Derby, I said, "I'll be happy to pitch to you, because that's what I do at home," you know. Whenever got the season off, we are working on a lot. So it's worked today, because sometimes you work and you never know what's going to happen, when he's going to need you. It worked. Thank God it worked. Q. Robinson, was it more special because of your dad being involved with this whole thing? ROBINSON CANO: Yeah, 100%. First, I want to thank God, and second, my dad, and my mom. Also want to thank my friends and my family that came with me, because when they find out that I'm going to be in the Derby, they say, you are going to win; wow, we have a lot of guys, we have Ortiz, Fielder, Bautista, we have a lot of power. But even my mom said, you never know. You know, I told her I'm going to go out there and do things the best I can, and good thing is it went my way. Q. You've been wanting to compete in one of these for a long time. What was the feeling when you hit that last one to win? ROBINSON CANO: That was a great, great feeling. I mean, it's like when you are in the game, last inning to win the game, you get excited. As a kid, you dream to be up here with a bunch of guys, that you watched back in the day like Sosa, Griffey, McGwire, Giambi, how much fun they have, and it's the same thing, as a kid, you say, I want to be one day and see how they feel. So now that I'm here, it's a great feeling. I also want to thank Major League Baseball, the way they put it together, it was a great job. Everything was good and fine. And now I'm looking forward to tomorrow. Q. When you are hitting, Gonzalez is hitting first, 11 home runs and you need 12 home runs, what did your father tell you when he went to talk to you? ROBINSON CANO: First thing that goes through my mind is wow, he got 11. So I say, "Wow, that's a lot." But I was positive. My dad said, "You can do it." The other thing was, he never get nervous. Q. Would you talk about your relationship with Jordan the barber from the Bronx who was here and what it meant to have him here? ROBINSON CANO: He was the first guy that said last night, he said, "Don't worry, you're going to win. You've got a chance." I look at him, "A chance?" I said, "I'm going to go out there and have fun, not even try to win it." And it's good. It's always good to have a friend like him that always gives you positive advice, always got you on his side, and he's always been there for me. And we have been friends now for ten years. He's a great person, and it's always great to have a good person around you. Q. Any added pressure of trying to do this tonight with the absence of Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and Alex Rodriguez? ROBINSON CANO: I was sad when I heard they are not coming, because you always like when you're teammates are here, because you feel like you're in the clubhouse. But I know they have their reasons and I hope fans understand that it's not that they don't want to come. There was a reason and I know nobody else wants to be here more than them. Before I forget, I want to say thanks to C.C. Sabathia, Granderson, Alex, the guys that came to me and says, "You're going to win it, don't worry, be relaxed." Like I say, it's always great to have people around you like that, not like, "Oh, this guy is going to go, don't care if he doesn't win." Q. Can you just tell us about, it's obviously exciting to win this event, but the way you won it, as you mentioned, breaking the record, hitting the home runs and then those Yankees against Red Sox and the whole drama. ROBINSON CANO: You know, I never thought that it was Red Sox and Yankees. I know that I was facing Gonzalez, but I don't have that in my mind, because it's like I said, I always focus on winning. But now that I went so far away to the end, now you have to put in your mind that you are going to win. You don't want to waste almost 40 swings to say, wow, congratulations to another person. You want to beat the total, take that trophy, and that's a trophy that you can show to your kids when you retire or one day they grow up. Q. You displayed a lot of power, and also you were quite consistent, getting off to a good start and you kept it rolling. Was that one of the main keys? ROBINSON CANO: Well, the main key was every time I done my round, I went in the training room and told the trainer if I can get a stretch, put a heat pad on my back so that way I get loose all the time, and also want to thank the trainer, he did a great job. That's the thing, you've got to be always positive, try to stay loose and stretch yourself. Like I say, I don't want to say that I win the trophy. I want to say that my dad has won the trophy. Q. For Raquelle, you are sitting there next to a girl wearing a Red Sox hat, and although he said the rivalry was not that important, what was it like for you two sitting there watching this? RAQUELLE : It was -- I don't know, it was sort of -- ROBINSON CANO: It's all right. Take your time. Take your time. (Laughter.) TODD FISCHER: Were you rooting for Robinson all the way? RAQUELLE : Yeah. Q. How cool was this for you guys to be able to sit there and watch it? RAQUELLE : It was cool. I liked it. It was awkward because we were -- I don't know, against each other, I guess, and we were the last two. Q. For you, in terms of your career and the development of it, winning the Home Run Derby, does it have importance for you in terms of your career overall? ROBINSON CANO: Yeah, of course. It's like one of the dreams come true, because it's always good to be here, but to win it, like I said before, it don't matter how much money you make, how long you play. But those are the kind of things, the memories that you can bring home and always share with your family, not only now, but when you retire, you can look, you can look over and say, "Wow, I was good back in the day" (Laughter). Because I got a trophy. But when you don't have anything, you just look, wow, my son made a good play one day, I was at the Derby. But this is a good memory and something that I'm always going to have in my mind and my heart. Q. From throwing Robby batting practice all those years, did you know where he likes the ball to try to hit home runs? JOSE CANO: Sure. He asked me to throw it inside and low. I said, that's the way I throw you the whole year, so it's going to be easy for me. ROBINSON CANO: I might bring him to New York. (Smiling broadly). Q. What was it like for to you have three of your teammates out there? They looked like they were more excited about this than you were. ROBINSON CANO: That was great. That was great the way they support me from the beginning. They said, "Hey, dude, I got you." I said, "Man, if you don't got me, something must be wrong, because I'm your teammate." And he was laughing about it, Granderson before we left New York, he told me, "I've got Robby to win it." And you know that you're people go down, you can step up and win it. Q. It looked like he said, "I love you, dad," when he tied Gonzalez; what did that mean to you? JOSE CANO: We counted every home run he hit today and when Gonzalez got 11 home runs, I'm for sure that we are not going to win, because the way he hit the ball and the way he feel today, every time he hit a home run in the last round, I said, ten more, nine more, eight more, and when he got the last one, I said, "Just one, just give me the one, that's it." ROBINSON CANO: So can we split the trophy half and half? (Laughter.) Q. There's a lot of fun things in right field, the pool and -- ROBINSON CANO: Don't forget the Miller Lite sign. (laughter) say that again? Q. How fun was that? ROBINSON CANO: It was a lot of fun. I already told you in the beginning that I can hit the ball that far, I can hit it out of the park but not like that. I know for sure that I surprised my dad and everyone, because I know a lot of people, besides my teammates, they told me that I can win this Derby. But it's like I said, you never know, and we are here. Q. Since you mentioned it, which was the favorite one you hit? Was it the Miller Lite sign? ROBINSON CANO: Yeah that, was my favorite one. I'm going to have that in my mind for the next two or three weeks. I wonder how far could it be, that in New York? Q. It said 472. ROBINSON CANO: Wow. (Laughter.) That was the longest one I hit, right? JOSE CANO: Twice. ROB BUTCHER: Thank you very much. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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