Season 2, Episode 11: Rick Cerrone

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Richard Cerrone: Okay.

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Jack Hubbard: So, as you know from this program, most of my guests are bankers or consultants or bestselling authors, and I guess my guest today could qualify for 2 of those 3 because he has done in his career a lot of consulting for baseball, and I just thought it would be the coolest thing

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Jack Hubbard: to have Rick Cerrone back, since we're on the cusp of our new baseball season to talk a little bit about the game and his experience. Welcome, Rick. Great to have you back.

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Richard Cerrone: Thanks, Jack. It's good to be back with you.

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Jack Hubbard: As you all know, from our previous programs. And, by the way, the 2 shows that you did, Rick, with us were were among the most popular we've done, and I'm I'm certainly not surprised.

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Jack Hubbard: But Rick and I got to know each other at Northern Illinois University, and we're going to talk about the Niu Hall of Fame in a little bit. But Rick is executive editor of baseball Digest. And so I want to talk about baseball because we're just about ready to get the season going as we do, Rick. Talk about the state of the union of baseball! What's going on in 2025.

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Richard Cerrone: Well, from where I sit. I I think the game is in very good shape.

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Richard Cerrone: There are some issues facing the game. I think

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Richard Cerrone: the the Oakland issue seems to have been the athletics issue seems to have been resolved with

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Richard Cerrone: with that team. Sadly. In my opinion, having to relocate.

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Richard Cerrone: we won't get into the, you know all the reasons for that.

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Richard Cerrone: but they will be playing the next 2 years at least in a in a minor League ballpark in Sacramento, and then you have the situation of the Tampa Bay rays. Another franchise in flux

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Richard Cerrone: who was put further into, let's say, chaos by the hurricane last year that literally blew the roof off of Tropicana field.

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Richard Cerrone: forcing them to move into my old spring training home towards Steinbrenner Field, which is as good as it gets. There's probably no other spring training facility in the country that has the amenities. The major League level amenities that

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Richard Cerrone: George Steinbrenner Field has, and you know, in another 2 weeks they'll have about 6 days

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Richard Cerrone: to completely convert that from Yankee centric

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Richard Cerrone: to raise centric. So I think those are the biggest issues

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Richard Cerrone: facing baseball. And then in 2 years you've got a a basic agreement coming up. And that's always fun and interesting.

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Richard Cerrone: But I will say that the game on the field the product, is in the best shape. It's been in many, many years.

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Richard Cerrone: A lot of it is due other than it's a great game to, you know, to the new rules, especially the pitch clock, and I kind of wrote, and I didn't mean this in a derogatory way at all that that Rob Manfred, the Commissioner, basically had to play the role of the exasperated

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Richard Cerrone: parent.

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Richard Cerrone: You know you you tell your kids I want you home at a decent hour, and they keep coming in at 2 o'clock, 3 o'clock, and finally you have to put the hammer down, and you have to put it, give them a curfew. You will be home by 11,

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Richard Cerrone: or there will be the following penalties.

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Richard Cerrone: That's what he basically had to do. The game had gotten so out of hand. A lot of it by selfishness, from managers to to players.

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Richard Cerrone: stepping out, stepping off all this, taking 2530 seconds between pitches.

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Richard Cerrone: playing the game at your own selfish pace that he had to put in the pitch clock, which

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Richard Cerrone: you know in the beginning you looked, and you watched the clock, and now you you forget there's even a pitch clock.

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Richard Cerrone: So I think that is really

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Richard Cerrone: brought the game back to a lot of people who.

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Richard Cerrone: you know, I used my my cigar club when I lived in New York, and I can just see that

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Richard Cerrone: they were former baseball fans or longtime baseball fans that didn't even

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Richard Cerrone: come inside and look at the screen when a baseball game was on. Well.

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Richard Cerrone: some of those people have come back to the game. So I think that's a very small sample. But it speaks to

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Richard Cerrone: what's going on at large. Viewership is up

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Richard Cerrone: even in TV ratings which you can no longer. You can't. You can't compare the TV ratings of the 2025 World series to the 1975 or 1979. It's just a different animal. There's so many choices today, you know, it's not the super bowl.

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Richard Cerrone: you know, which is the perfect event.

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Richard Cerrone: you know, on a Sunday, one time a year big party a lot of betting like, you know. So I think the game is in a in a really good place.

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Jack Hubbard: Outstanding. Let's take. Let's go to the Wayback machine. 1996,

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Jack Hubbard: you became the senior director of media relations

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Jack Hubbard: for the New York Yankees. And what an experience you must have had! They had great teams

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Jack Hubbard: won some World Series Hall of famers in that in that group. But most interestingly, you work for George Steinbrenner. Talk about that experience, and maybe some of the stories you can relate.

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Richard Cerrone: Well, you know, Jack, before I start on on Mr. Steinbrenner.

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Richard Cerrone: let me just say that I spoke to a class of

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Richard Cerrone: of students at a major university about 2 years ago.

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Richard Cerrone: and it was a sports business class or sports management, and not a single person in the class knew who George Steinbrunner was.

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Richard Cerrone: Nobody knew who Howard Cosell was. That's troubling to me, but he's a character on Seinfeld. So that's the interesting thing, you know. We talked the 1st time

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Richard Cerrone: at how I wanted to be the Pr. Director. It's all I ever wanted to be. From the time that I was. You know I verbalized it to my High School guidance counselor when I was 14. But it was probably long before that that I focused on that particular job. Well, you know. That was in 1970, 1970.

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Richard Cerrone: It would be 3 years later when the team was bought by a relatively unknown shipbuilder from Cleveland, Ohio, by the name of George Steinbrenner and the Yankee world changed. So

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Richard Cerrone: you know.

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Richard Cerrone: when I wanted that job and thought at 14, there's no reason why I shouldn't have it. Now.

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Richard Cerrone: The team is owned by Cbs.

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Richard Cerrone: When I walked into that office my boss is being satirized on a what would be an iconic TV sitcom. You know, he fires people like it's a bodily function.

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Richard Cerrone: So it was a very different world than I could ever have imagined, and I watched it from afar

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Richard Cerrone: for those 25 years before I got the job.

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Richard Cerrone: It got to the point where I I no longer was focused on that job, I mean.

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Richard Cerrone: you know, I got out of Northern Illinois University, went back home to New York, and well, now you got to get a job. Well, the Yankees weren't calling for some 20 year old, 21 year old.

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Richard Cerrone: and I had to do a variety of things and took a variety of different jobs all in baseball.

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Richard Cerrone: and I was very happy with those jobs. I would not have left the Pittsburgh pirates had they not simply run out of money

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Richard Cerrone: and had to make cuts. But you know as hard, hard as that was for me to leave

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Richard Cerrone: the pirates who I loved. It was the best time I ever had

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Richard Cerrone: it. Looking back, I should have said what a great opportunity this is.

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Richard Cerrone: because right around the corner was was the Yankees.

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Richard Cerrone: but it was. You know, I still look back at that 1st year of 1996.

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Richard Cerrone: It's an iconic year in Yankees history, but it really didn't start that way.

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Richard Cerrone: I mean, after losing in the playoffs in horrific fashion in 1995, in the 1st Wildcard Series, where

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Richard Cerrone: best of 5 the Yankees had a 2 games to none lead, and and went to Seattle and lost 3 straight games.

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Richard Cerrone: you know Buck Showalter was not brought back. They hired Joe Torre, who, the famous back page of the news

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Richard Cerrone: or the post, said, You know, Clueless Joe.

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Richard Cerrone: which did not mean he was clueless as a baseball manager, because, if you reread it.

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Richard Cerrone: what Ian O'connor wrote was, he was clueless to think that it would work with George Steinbrenner.

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Richard Cerrone: the headline writer, deserves quite the

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Richard Cerrone: the bonus for that iconic headline.

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Richard Cerrone: But you know, for for me, for Joe, for the coaches.

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Richard Cerrone: We were all new to the organization.

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Richard Cerrone: Everybody kind of started at the same time we they inherited this team. Even Tampa. Our spring training facility was brand new. They had just moved

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Richard Cerrone: from Fort Lauderdale to Tampa.

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Richard Cerrone: so that was kind of an advantage that everybody was kind of in the same boat. I wasn't walking into a place where everybody was comfortable, and everybody knew where they were going, and I had to catch up. We were all in the same boat, but, as I remember, spring training that year was not all that smooth.

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Richard Cerrone: I mean, there were some issues. There were injury issues. There was Melito Perez who got hurt. There was

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Richard Cerrone: Kenny Rogers.

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Richard Cerrone: There was just there was a lot of I mean, you know Derek Jeter, who I love, always says well, the only reason he was the starting shortstop was because Tony Fernandez

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Richard Cerrone: got hurt, which is not really true, because

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Richard Cerrone: Tony Fernandez was moved to second base to accommodate Jeter.

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Richard Cerrone: He was playing second base. When you know in the game that he got hurt.

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Richard Cerrone: So I really think that

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Richard Cerrone: that Derek, unless he had an awful spring which he didn't, was going to be the starting shortstop.

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Richard Cerrone: although I do remember one of the things that happened in spring training was.

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Richard Cerrone: and I learned this that year because it was my 1st spring training with the Yankees is that at the towards the end of camp there was a big meeting up in the conference room with Mr. Steinbrunner, the scouts that were there, and all of Mr. Steinbrenner's so-called advisors, and he had a lot of advisors from Reggie Jackson

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Richard Cerrone: to Al Rosen, to former manager, and GM. Clyde King Jean Michael. There were just a lot of them, and

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Richard Cerrone: Joe went up to this meeting after practice, and it was up there a good hour or 2Â h, and I'm waiting in his office because he'll meet the media

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Richard Cerrone: as he does every day after practice. But this one was interrupted by this meeting, and Joe came into the office, and he plopped his binder on the desk, and I could just see that I didn't know him very long, but

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Richard Cerrone: I could just see that he was not happy.

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Richard Cerrone: And I, said, Joe, what's wrong? And he looks at me, he goes.

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Richard Cerrone: I just sat in a meeting where Clyde King, who's the former manager, coach general manager, real baseball guy, wonderful man.

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Richard Cerrone: got up at the meeting, pounded the table and said, We can't win with this kid Jeter at shortstop.

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Richard Cerrone: and Joe thought that would usurp his plan of starting Jeter, but which it didn't thankfully. So Springtrak Joe got a little testy with the media to basically make him make them understand. I'm in charge here. I know what I'm doing here. There were a couple of little tense interactions in those post practice or post game

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Richard Cerrone: times with the media. And I don't think we didn't go into that 96 season with a lot of people thinking we were going to win the American League east.

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Richard Cerrone: You know we and we had a tremendous season. And my favorite one. To tell you the truth, I mean, we won a hundred and

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Richard Cerrone: 14 games in 1998,

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Richard Cerrone: you know, you just about after we started on 3 and one and 4

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Richard Cerrone: but I don't think anything will will top 1996,

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Richard Cerrone: you know, putting the Yankees back, you know, on top, and being part of that.

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Jack Hubbard: How often did you interact with George Steinbrenner? And what were those interactions like.

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Richard Cerrone: Well, it seemed like every day, but it wasn't

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Richard Cerrone: One of the advantages I had over some of my predecessors is that he was based now out of Tampa.

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Richard Cerrone: So when he came to New York it was for just a couple days, or a homestand, or whatever it might be, he. He wasn't

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Richard Cerrone: down the hall, and when he was down the hall everybody knew it. It was like, you know, batten down the hatches, you know. Stay out of the hall, you know it was, but you know it's funny that

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Richard Cerrone: I don't know if I covered this when we 1st spoke, but

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Richard Cerrone: one of the things I did or the thing I did when I shortly after I got out of out of college, and the only job I could find in New York was a part-time feature writer for a local newspaper suburban newspaper. I was able to start a baseball magazine

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Richard Cerrone: which ended up being a national magazine, and and it was good enough, I guess, that I landed an interview

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Richard Cerrone: with Mr. Steinbrenner after the Yankees won the World Championship in 1977.

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Richard Cerrone: It was just like the Playboy interview, which is where I ripped it off from Q. And a. The baseball interview.

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Richard Cerrone: So

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Richard Cerrone: I went to interview Mr. Steinbrenner in his office. I still have the photos, me and my 3 piece suit, I think, and my beetle haircut, and Mr. Steinbrenner a very young Mr. Steinbrenner, and I asked him a question about his leadership style.

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Richard Cerrone: and

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Richard Cerrone: it's funny that I I have it on tape. But I didn't. For some reason I didn't see it necessary to use this in the actual magazine. It didn't make the cut, so to speak, but it was the most important thing, he said.

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Richard Cerrone: in what I thought was a really good interview. I mean, I really, I really kind of went at him on a couple of things.

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Richard Cerrone: Your catcher, Thurman Munson doesn't want to play for you anymore, or you know. But I asked him about his leadership.

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Richard Cerrone: and I remember him saying.

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Richard Cerrone: You know some some men are as leaders are Eisenhowers, and some are patents, you know, referring to the 2 very different World War, 2 generals, sadly. College students today wouldn't know who they are, either. But

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Richard Cerrone: he said, and I suppose I'm a patent.

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Richard Cerrone: And that was it, Jack? That was the key.

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Richard Cerrone: He's General Patton, and I vowed to myself that day getting in my car that

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Richard Cerrone: you know cold night in November at Yankee Stadium. If I ever get this opportunity. That's the way I'm gonna play this. He's General Patton.

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Richard Cerrone: and I'm a lowly corporal, and that's the way I played it. Whenever I addressed him. It was, sir.

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Richard Cerrone: I answered the phone.

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Richard Cerrone: Mr. Steinbrenner's on line one.

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Richard Cerrone: Yes, sir.

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Richard Cerrone: you know. Blah blah, sir, if I can. If I might, sir, you know, then it got to be, sir. I can't let you do that, or, Sir, are you out of your mind, or you know, whatever we got we had, we had a really good relationship. He gave me a lot of rope.

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Richard Cerrone: He never fired me, but he would say things like.

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Richard Cerrone: Okay, we'll do it your way. But you better be right.

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Richard Cerrone: you know many times countless times. You better be right

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Richard Cerrone: when I he called me up when he, which is one of my favorite moments

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Richard Cerrone: in my years with the Yankees when he reconciled after 14 years with Yogi Berra.

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Richard Cerrone: Yeah, he called me on the phone, and I kind of got a heads up that this was

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Richard Cerrone: that this was going to happen.

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Richard Cerrone: because Susan Waldman, one of our broadcasters, and A and a dear friend, called me up and said, I just talked to the boss, and I told him, this is enough with Yogi. You gotta cause Yogi now had a museum, and

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Richard Cerrone: you need to go out there. We're doing a show out there, and you need to come out there and be on that show. And he called me up, and he said, You know Waldman's got this wild idea

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Richard Cerrone: that I need to go out to. And I listened, and he said, I said, Yeah, you you're going to do this.

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Richard Cerrone: he says, well, you're just saying that because he's your friend.

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Richard Cerrone: I said, I've met the man twice in my life.

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Richard Cerrone: He's not my friend. You're my boss. You're the person. But his last thing was okay. Well, you're going with me, and I'll tell you right now. If it doesn't work out you might not be coming back so, but it was just great. I don't say that with any mall it was so. Anyway, we went out there, and I will tell you

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Richard Cerrone: that we picked him up, his driver

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Richard Cerrone: and a security. I think it was just a driver

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Richard Cerrone: picked him up at Newark Airport.

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Richard Cerrone: 1st thing I was stunned that he was wearing a light brown camel

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Richard Cerrone: sports jacket and slacks and a

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Richard Cerrone: cream colored turtleneck, and I'm like

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Richard Cerrone: that's not the George Steinbrenner. I know I've never seen him outside of that, you know. Power blue

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Richard Cerrone: sports jacket and and white turtleneck, or, in fact, one time I met his, a man who identified himself as Mr. Steinbrenner's tailor.

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Richard Cerrone: and I said to myself, boy, talk about an easy job, you know. So anyway, we picked him up at Newark airport in the entire way to

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Richard Cerrone: navigating

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Richard Cerrone: to Yogi's Museum, where the driver certainly had never been. Mr. Steinberg had never been. I'd never been. It's

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Richard Cerrone: I never saw him that fidgety, that nervous

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Richard Cerrone: but when he got in that car

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Richard Cerrone: to come home, the ride back where they dropped me off at Yankee stadium before they went to the Regency Hotel. I never saw him happier than that. Ride back to Yankee Stadium.

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Richard Cerrone: and I think that kind of so that was like 1999, you know, 2, 3 years into my tenure there. But that's when he said, this guy's okay. This guy's got my back.

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Richard Cerrone: So I truly loved the man. He never fired me. He kept me from resigning 3 times in a span of 5 weeks in 2,003

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Richard Cerrone: And 2 of those 3 times

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Richard Cerrone: he had every right to say, Hey, I love you. But yeah, you're not saying this to me, or whatever, but for some reason he didn't.

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Richard Cerrone: I must have been really good, because

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Richard Cerrone: I wasn't very likable. So so.

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Jack Hubbard: I got to tell you. Y'all, if you ever need a speaker

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Jack Hubbard: who know is in a baseball encyclopedia, it's Rick Cerrone, and he's got story after story, and I want I want him to tell his Willie Mays story and and a couple others. But but here's a little known fact about Rick Cerrone that a lot of people don't know.

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Jack Hubbard: It's 1984.

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Jack Hubbard: And they're making a movie called The Natural.

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Jack Hubbard: It's 2,001. And Billy Crystal is making a movie called 61. Both iconic baseball movies. What a lot of people don't know is Rick Cerrone was a consultant on both of those movies. You've got to have some great stories about that. What did you do? What was your role.

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Richard Cerrone: So we didn't cover this the 1st time. I'm not going over

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Richard Cerrone: Old Territory. Well, I did a lot more for the natural than I did for Billy being a consultant, he was gracious enough to put me in the credits, but it would be taking a call from Billy. Hey? Could you look this up, or Hey, do you recall with the natural? I was

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Richard Cerrone: one of 2, what they called baseball consultants, which they could have said technical advisors.

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Richard Cerrone: Interesting thing is, I did get a credit and a New York knights jacket, which is all I got, other than the wonderful experience from the natural. But

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Richard Cerrone: there were 2 baseball consultants, myself and someone a former broadcaster.

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Richard Cerrone: a guy that in 1984 you'd know who he was, but his name was Gene Kirby.

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Richard Cerrone: Terrific guy. And my role was pre-production.

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Richard Cerrone: Jean's role was during the production. Hey? Take your watch off, or you know, different things. For for realism and whatnot. But my role, my role started interestingly, because I know we've talked about

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Richard Cerrone: our favorite baseball books, which maybe we'll get to. But

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Richard Cerrone: I get a call. I'm the low man on the totem pole. I kind of like shut the door on the on the magazine that I was doing, and, interestingly, I must have been pretty good as a businessman, because I had a liability of 20,000 subscribers.

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Richard Cerrone: I can't just close the door, and they hey, I just sent you

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Richard Cerrone: 5, 95 for a 2 years, and so I had to. And this is what I learned, and and that whole thing with the magazine. I didn't know anything about the magazine business when I did my 1st issue. Somebody said

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Richard Cerrone: this should be on the new. Why isn't this on the newsstand.

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Richard Cerrone: because I have no idea how you get a magazine on the newsstand, which I learned quickly, and we did. But anyway, I had this liability, and I was able to sell it

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Richard Cerrone: to Newsweek, which was starting a new sports magazine, you may remember, inside sports.

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Richard Cerrone: and they they fulfilled my liability with inside sports.

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Richard Cerrone: much to the dismay of all my subscribers. But I went from baseball magazine to the office of the Baseball Commissioner

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Richard Cerrone: because, as I like to say baseball magazine was at the very least a very expensive resume.

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Richard Cerrone: because everybody in baseball I knew every Pr director. Now I knew all the you know, and I knew people in the Commissioner's office.

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Richard Cerrone: and I got hired by Bob Weirs, who is Bowie Kuhn's head of Public relations.

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Richard Cerrone: So now I'm in the Baseball Commissioner's office. And like my second year, 1980, well, this is 83. So yeah, my second year, the movie was filmed in the summer of 83. So prior to that.

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Richard Cerrone: my secretary says.

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Richard Cerrone: I have a movie producer by the name of Mark Johnson on the phone. Well, movie producer, this is, gonna be, you know. Not that I'm not gonna take somebody's call, but so this gentleman Mark identifies himself as Mark Johnson, who was relatively unknown.

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Richard Cerrone: He was a producer of a big hit movie

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Richard Cerrone: that year the year before called Diner.

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Richard Cerrone: And he's telling me that he's making a movie, the natural with Robert Redford. Okay, you have my attention.

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Richard Cerrone: And he said, it's based on the book by Bernard Malamud. Are you familiar with the Malamud book? The natural

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Richard Cerrone: and what any successful person would say was, of course I am

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Richard Cerrone: now to be honest with you, Jack. I had heard of the book.

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Richard Cerrone: I had no idea what it was about. I had never read it, but it wasn't going to help me

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Richard Cerrone: with whatever he needed to stay.

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Richard Cerrone: I guess his question came a little bit more down the road when I decided, this is something I'd like to do, he says, well, we're looking for a baseball consultant to help us with pre-production. The movie is a fictional story of a real team in the National League

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Richard Cerrone: in New York. So figure they're the giants because we show the dodgers. And

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Richard Cerrone: and okay, okay, and we need to know what uniforms look like. We need to know what concessionaires wore. We need to know all these different things.

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Richard Cerrone: I said, well, if it takes place in 1939, as you say.

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Richard Cerrone: the uniforms will have to have the Centennial pack.

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Richard Cerrone: because that was considered the Centennial of baseball, 1839 to 1939, and every player in the uniform person wore the centennial patch on their sleeve. And Mark Johnson said, I think we found our man you interested, and

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Richard Cerrone: I went to my boss and he said, Well, you can't take any money for it, you know you can, you know

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Richard Cerrone: which I don't think we ever discussed money, but

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Richard Cerrone: I mean I got to work with Robert Redford

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Richard Cerrone: and a cast that was, I would you know other than Robert Duvall? I mean, I wasn't that familiar with Robert Prosky or Wilfred Brimley and Richard Farnsworth? You talk about 2 wonderful actors, but

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Richard Cerrone: the 1st thing I had to do other than

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Richard Cerrone: put him in touch with someone regarding uniforms and so and programs

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Richard Cerrone: was help them find a ballpark, which I recommended

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Richard Cerrone: the ballpark that they ultimately used

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Richard Cerrone: War Memorial Stadium. But that's long forgotten by them, because the minute I suggested it and I had recalled. I think we ran a picture of it for some reason

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Richard Cerrone: in baseball magazine, a packed house, war memorial stadium in Buffalo. That's my recollection. But I was told by whoever was on the phone. Oh, no, no, that's been demolished.

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Richard Cerrone: So okay, let's move on to the next thing. But what they did say was, we're not taking any shortcuts in this movie.

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Richard Cerrone: I mean, Mark Johnson said this to me, Rick.

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Richard Cerrone: this is going to be a very different baseball movie than has ever been made. Because we're not going to splice in newsreel footage or footage of players from the major leagues because it's 1939. We're not going to use Wrigley Field or a ballpark that someone's going to look at and say, Oh, that's Wrigley Field.

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Richard Cerrone: I'm like, okay. If if it if we show a newsreel, it'll be a newsreel that we create.

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Richard Cerrone: which is what they did.

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Richard Cerrone: I mean movies going into the natural in 1983, when they were filming

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Richard Cerrone: the baseball movies were so bad in terms of

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Richard Cerrone: their depiction of the game that there's a famous movie from 1957, called fear strikes out about Jimmy Pearsall, the white Sox, who went on to be a

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Richard Cerrone: white Sox broadcaster, who, I guess, during his career, was suffering from mental illness, and there's a scene where he races around the bases, and and then he climbs the the screen. But

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Richard Cerrone: they they used other than the close up of Anthony Perkins running around the bases they cut to to long shots

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Richard Cerrone: that were like newsreel footage.

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Richard Cerrone: So here's a guy who gets an inside the Park home run! You don't shake the 3rd base coach's hand

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Richard Cerrone: on an inside the Park home run, but they do in fear. Strikes out in

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Richard Cerrone: a movie that came out in the seventies. Bang the drum slowly with a young Robert de Niro and Michael Moriarty. They basically duplicated

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Richard Cerrone: every position was matched.

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Richard Cerrone: The the Yankee at that position. So the 1st baseman wore Number 12. The catcher

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Richard Cerrone: were Number 15, because they'd splice in footage of that Yankee player. Well, I was told. We're not doing any of that. Everything's going to be realistic. And you.

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Richard Cerrone: So it turns out, War Memorial was not

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Richard Cerrone: demolished. It was the home of the Cleveland Indians. Double a team at the time, and

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Richard Cerrone: I you know not that I want credit for it, but they could have saved a lot of time if they just said, well, let's make let's make sure it's been demolished, but I think they wasted at least a couple of weeks there. But

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Richard Cerrone: It was amazing. Because when you watch that movie, unless you're from Buffalo, you know, that's War memorial stadium.

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Richard Cerrone: I mean.

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Richard Cerrone: if you had seen war memorial stadium. It was really only for football, for the Buffalo Bills, not baseball, so they had their own stadium.

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Richard Cerrone: their own uniforms, their own stadium.

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Richard Cerrone: But the the 1st real test I had was that

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Richard Cerrone: the producer, Mark Johnson, said to me.

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Richard Cerrone: this takes place in 1939, but it goes back before that when they show a young Robert Redford which would be 1516 years earlier, we need to teach him to throw the way they did back then, with the big wind up. And you know, do you know anybody that could do that?

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Richard Cerrone: Well, I had met a for a Yankee at Old Timers day, and had his number.

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Richard Cerrone: who pitched for the Yankees in the late forties by the name of Frank. Spec. Shea

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Richard Cerrone: was a pretty good pitcher there for a while, and they did not name the stadium after him. That was a different shay, but I reached out to Frank, and he and Robert Redford both lived in Connecticut. So they connected and went off to some ball field and

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Richard Cerrone: fright taught Robert Redford how to you know how to

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Richard Cerrone: throw like a 19 twenties pitcher.

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Richard Cerrone: So you know, I was very proud of my contribution. Yes, I'm aware that players or managers didn't have mustaches

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Richard Cerrone: back in those days. That was the 1st thing I saw when I

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Richard Cerrone: went up there for a weekend and 3 days of filming that these guys have mustaches and nothing, you know. And I told Mark Johnson I said, Hey, you wanted to be realistic, I said.

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Richard Cerrone: must you know I'm not thinking you already got all this film in the can. You're not, I said. It's not realistic. You said you wanted everything to be real, that the manager and the coach would not have had mustaches, and Mark Johnson said, You know what you're right. You're right.

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Richard Cerrone: You go tell them. And I said, No, no, I'm not doing that. So

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Richard Cerrone: It was a wonderful experience, and I think it came out pretty good, although there's quite there. There's some mistakes in that movie

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Richard Cerrone: that that they weren't even aware of until I

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Richard Cerrone: maybe a year later, told Mark Johnson. You know, when Roy Hobbs comes to bat for the 1st time

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Richard Cerrone: and knocks the cover off the ball. Did you purposefully use 2 different actors

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Richard Cerrone: behind the plate in that one at bat? What are you talking about? I said. When Hobbs comes up to bat

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Richard Cerrone: the umpire with the chest protector that goes over to the dugout and say, Hey, get a hitter up here is not the home plate umpire that called, Strike one.

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Richard Cerrone: and Mark Johnson said, You're out of your mind.

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Richard Cerrone: And then he called me the next day, and he said, Oh, my God!

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Richard Cerrone: How did we let that go. How did I saw this thing? I saw the editing process. They just they edited in the umpire who owns the playoff game against the pirates.

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Richard Cerrone: So if you watch the movie,

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Richard Cerrone: 2 different actors are the home plate umpire in that first.st And there are other, you know. I mean. People point out well, that train they're taking when they're in that super, you know. That would only go to the West Coast, and there were no team. Who cares? That's that's not. That's not. But I did learn, and I'm giving something away because it's a question that I just had answered for baseball digest that.

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Richard Cerrone: And I've noticed this, too, that when Hobbs is playing at Wrigley Field.

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Richard Cerrone: you know, and he sees his iris in the stands, and he hits the home run breaks the clock.

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Richard Cerrone: They're clearly, we know they're the visiting team.

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Richard Cerrone: you know. They're playing in Wrigley Field.

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Richard Cerrone: but you could see that they're batting 1st because they show the scoreboard.

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Richard Cerrone: but for the next game. When he, you know.

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Richard Cerrone: Iris comes back to the game.

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Richard Cerrone: and they show this one at bat, and they have the play by play, broadcaster

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Richard Cerrone: doing 4 different at bats.

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Richard Cerrone: and in 2 of them one, he says, bottom of the 3, rd and the next one, he says, bottom of the 6.th

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Richard Cerrone: Well, that's clearly a mistake. You're at Wrigley Field.

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Richard Cerrone: though a reader pointed out to me that

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Richard Cerrone: he always thought that was a mistake.

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Richard Cerrone: but a friend of his pointed out that it at that time

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Richard Cerrone: the home team had the choice of batting 1st or last.

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Richard Cerrone: and I said, that's not what happened here.

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Richard Cerrone: because there was no, there's no likelihood that the producers of the movie

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Richard Cerrone: had any idea that that rule existed if it did.

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Richard Cerrone: and secondly, it plays no role in the plot.

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Richard Cerrone: They didn't win the game because they batted for it. It was a mistake.

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Richard Cerrone: And I, sure enough. I went to the Elias Sports Bureau baseball's record keeper, and they confirmed that that record was on the books until 1950,

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Richard Cerrone: but but like it hadn't been used in 30 years.

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Richard Cerrone: which is likely. Why, so that that is a mistake, and I will also tell you inside information

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Richard Cerrone: that the famed, now famed Director Academy award winning director of that movie, Barry Barry Levinson

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Richard Cerrone: was that voice of the New York Nights broadcaster, and the reason he cast himself was

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Richard Cerrone: and he's not credited.

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Richard Cerrone: The reason he cast himself was, he said I just couldn't afford any anybody else. So

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Richard Cerrone: he did a good job.

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Richard Cerrone: He he did a nice job, and he I don't know if he created it. But you know the famous goodbye, Mr. Spaulding will live on forever. But that was a fabulous, fabulous experience.

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Richard Cerrone: Bet it was, and I still have the jacket.

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Jack Hubbard: I bet you wear it. I got to tell you you're mentioning of the mustache and your connection with the Yankees. I'd be ridiculous if I didn't bring up the whole beard thing that the Yankees are now allowed to grow beards, what would Mr. Steinbrenner say about that?

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Richard Cerrone: Well, if Mr. Steinbrenner were alive, and

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Richard Cerrone: you know we're 95 years old, he

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Richard Cerrone: maybe he would relent and say, it's time like his son Hal did.

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Richard Cerrone: But you know, it might seem, Jack, like an archaic or an antiquated concept.

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Richard Cerrone: but it kind of put the Yankees on a little different level.

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Richard Cerrone: I'm gonna tell you a story that will get to this

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Richard Cerrone: whole thing about the facial hair.

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Richard Cerrone: Back in early on probably 96 or early 97, because Bob Watson was the GM.

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Richard Cerrone: Bob Watson came to me and told me that a woman

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Richard Cerrone: by the name of Laura Vesey, who was a sports writer.

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Richard Cerrone: I think, for one of the Seattle papers was hosting a conference of women in sports

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Richard Cerrone: in Seattle when we were out there.

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Richard Cerrone: and they were putting together a panel

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Richard Cerrone: that would have a Seattle seahawk.

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Richard Cerrone: a Seattle mariner, and a Seattle supersonic, and

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Richard Cerrone: Bob Watson suggested that Bernie Williams be our representative.

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Richard Cerrone: So I went to Bernie, and Bernie said, Yeah, no problem. So

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Richard Cerrone: the day before, or whatever we're in Seattle, how should I dress?

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Richard Cerrone: I said, Well, you don't have to wear a tie or a 3 piece suit.

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Richard Cerrone: but I would wear a sports jacket and collared shirt. Okay, great.

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Richard Cerrone: So I get there. And there's the representative from the mariners who's in jeans and a T-shirt.

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Richard Cerrone: and there's the representative of the Seahawks who's wearing shorts.

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Richard Cerrone: And here comes good old Bernie, wearing a three-piece suit.

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Richard Cerrone: and they're up there on the day as the stage one in jeans and a T-shirt

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Richard Cerrone: one in shorts. And there's Bernie looking like a banker in a, you know 3 piece suit.

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Richard Cerrone: So I'm like mortified because

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Richard Cerrone: Bernie's going to be really mad that he's sitting up there in a three-piece suit with these 2 guys that look like they're going to a bar.

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Richard Cerrone: But a couple of the women came up to me afterwards and said, Please thank Mr. Williams for showing us the respect of dressing appropriately. That meant a lot to us.

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Richard Cerrone: So

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Richard Cerrone: When I walked Bernie to the elevator I said to him, I said, Hey, I know you're probably ticked off at me because you sat up there in a 3 piece suit, and these other 2 guys were in shorts and jeans and a t-shirt. But I want you to know that

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Richard Cerrone: a number of women came up to me

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Richard Cerrone: afterwards and said to thank you for showing them the respect that that you did by dressing that way. And Bernie put his arm on my shoulder, and he said, Rick.

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Richard Cerrone: I'm a Yankee.

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Richard Cerrone: and that's kind of the way. You know we were different than the Seahawks and the mariners. By the way, Bernie dressed that day, and I don't think Yankees should look, you know, have a motley appearance. I think they

327
00:39:13.600 --> 00:39:20.289
Richard Cerrone: they should look good. That doesn't mean you can't have a mustache or a tightly cropped beard. But you can't look like, you know.

328
00:39:21.930 --> 00:39:27.132
Richard Cerrone: you know, like you're playing for the the house of David, you know. So

329
00:39:28.010 --> 00:39:38.290
Richard Cerrone: it'll be interesting to see, I think if you think that the Garrett Coles and the Aaron judges and the Anthony Volpes are all of a sudden going to grow beards, you're you're wrong.

330
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Richard Cerrone: but I do think it kind of it. It set a standard.

331
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Richard Cerrone: you know. There's a Yankee standard, and that was that separated the Yankees from every other team, and if you want to say it's outdated and needs to be changed, that's your prerogative.

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Richard Cerrone: But

333
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Richard Cerrone: you know I I think they still need to keep a tight rein on it as they did back in the seventies. When you know.

334
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Richard Cerrone: players looked a little, you know

335
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Richard Cerrone: a little motley, and Lou Pinela's excuse that. Well, Jesus had long hair. He can't play for the Yankees. Well, you know, that doesn't really doesn't really fly so.

336
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Jack Hubbard: Yeah, could he? Hit, too, would be another thing. So I want to talk about the Niu Hall of Fame. But you have so many amazing stories you talked about favorite sports books I remember in high school, and this is a sad indictment of my high school career. I used to have to write book reports.

337
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Jack Hubbard: And so the instructor teacher said, well, you can write pretty much anything you want, and I wrote about the only book I ever read in high school other than catcher in the Rye, and that's Ball 4. Jim Bowton's book. There are a ton of great baseball books. You've got to have one or 2 that you really think are some of the best ever.

338
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Richard Cerrone: Well, it's not Ball 4, I can assure you that

339
00:41:05.060 --> 00:41:08.607
Richard Cerrone: just wasn't my cup of tea. Let's put it that way.

340
00:41:11.220 --> 00:41:14.249
Richard Cerrone: I had. I had to think about this question, but

341
00:41:14.690 --> 00:41:19.680
Richard Cerrone: I go back to probably one of the very 1st baseball books

342
00:41:19.800 --> 00:41:26.920
Richard Cerrone: I ever read, because I was in High school in the late sixties found this in our school library.

343
00:41:27.130 --> 00:41:32.439
Richard Cerrone: and I just couldn't believe what I was reading. It was called The Glory of their times

344
00:41:32.620 --> 00:41:39.700
Richard Cerrone: by a gentleman named Lawrence Larry Ritter, who, I got to know, wrote for me at baseball magazine.

345
00:41:39.880 --> 00:41:45.100
Richard Cerrone: and basically all it was was a collection of interviews with players

346
00:41:46.490 --> 00:41:48.890
Richard Cerrone: who had played at the turn of the century.

347
00:41:49.130 --> 00:41:55.790
Richard Cerrone: So, looking back now, all these players played more than a hundred years ago, and he later

348
00:41:56.230 --> 00:42:04.860
Richard Cerrone: made the recordings of these interviews. I think you can go on Youtube and get it available. So you're all these different

349
00:42:05.220 --> 00:42:16.229
Richard Cerrone: Smokey Joe Wood and all these guys that Trish speaker, and all these players that were, you know, would soon be soon be gone.

350
00:42:16.340 --> 00:42:21.510
Richard Cerrone: That was one of my favorites. I like 8 men out by Elliot Asinoff about the 1919

351
00:42:21.700 --> 00:42:23.200
Richard Cerrone: white Sox.

352
00:42:24.420 --> 00:42:26.597
Richard Cerrone: Didn't read the natural sorry. But

353
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Richard Cerrone: you know, those are them. And you know there's there's still great baseball books that that are coming out.

354
00:42:33.933 --> 00:42:34.920
Richard Cerrone: These days

355
00:42:35.760 --> 00:42:43.099
Richard Cerrone: I just got I just got Bill Madden's new book about his career as a writer in baseball. So that's my latest read.

356
00:42:44.410 --> 00:42:48.450
Jack Hubbard: There was a couple of good books about Joe Madden and the Cubs when they, when they won the World Series.

357
00:42:48.710 --> 00:42:48.970
Richard Cerrone: Right.

358
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Jack Hubbard: I read a number of those, too. But but speaking of books, you know, a lot of the books you talk about have to do with old timers, and I remember when you and I 1st talked about doing this, and this is last year, and you talked about some stories, you know Willie Mays, Hank Aaron.

359
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Jack Hubbard: Talk about a couple of the stories from the old timers and the Hall of Famers that you got to know.

360
00:43:14.000 --> 00:43:18.386
Richard Cerrone: Well, I knew quite a few of them, because the Yankees had quite a few of them, but

361
00:43:18.630 --> 00:43:22.220
Jack Hubbard: More more hall of famers than anybody in baseball.

362
00:43:22.220 --> 00:43:23.620
Richard Cerrone: Well I met.

363
00:43:24.310 --> 00:43:29.020
Richard Cerrone: I met all these great hall of famers when I was with baseball magazine.

364
00:43:29.340 --> 00:43:32.310
Richard Cerrone: The 1st one I met was Ernie Banks.

365
00:43:32.710 --> 00:43:41.350
Richard Cerrone: who I? I don't know if I told that story when we we 1st convened some months ago, but he had a real impact.

366
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Richard Cerrone: You know

367
00:43:43.150 --> 00:43:49.389
Richard Cerrone: it didn't really do much, but it had a tremendous impact on my future. I was a student at Niu.

368
00:43:49.710 --> 00:43:52.899
Richard Cerrone: And did I tell this story? Or well.

369
00:43:53.380 --> 00:43:59.520
Richard Cerrone: so it's 1974, 75. And I got invited with a

370
00:43:59.780 --> 00:44:06.339
Richard Cerrone: 2 people got invited, and I was one of them designated to go to a a college sports editors. Seminar

371
00:44:07.010 --> 00:44:28.380
Richard Cerrone: at Wrigley Field before the Cubs played the Cincinnati Reds on a Saturday afternoon. So I went with a gentleman who had a legendary career as a columnist for a number of papers in Chicago, most notably the The Sun Times, by the name of Phil Cadner. He went on to be a political columnist, and

372
00:44:29.720 --> 00:44:35.320
Richard Cerrone: Phil was gonna accompany me, or I was gonna accompany Phil to this seminar and I

373
00:44:35.810 --> 00:44:38.699
Richard Cerrone: seminar. We're going to Wrigley Field for crying out loud.

374
00:44:38.900 --> 00:44:48.679
Richard Cerrone: So Phil said, You know it's tough to find parking around Wrigley Field. This is 50 years ago.

375
00:44:50.190 --> 00:44:54.620
Richard Cerrone: so we should leave early, so I think we left at like 7 in the morning.

376
00:44:54.740 --> 00:44:56.510
Richard Cerrone: and the game's at 2 o'clock.

377
00:44:57.040 --> 00:45:00.730
Richard Cerrone: and the the seminar's at noon, so

378
00:45:01.080 --> 00:45:05.649
Richard Cerrone: we get there, and I later learned in the last couple of years

379
00:45:05.840 --> 00:45:12.879
Richard Cerrone: that Phil had never been to Wrigley Field before that day. I said, you've never been to Wrigley Field.

380
00:45:13.290 --> 00:45:20.160
Richard Cerrone: and I didn't understand the culture he goes. How's that possible? You were a baseball fan, weren't you? He goes. I was a white sox fan

381
00:45:20.570 --> 00:45:26.259
Richard Cerrone: and white sox fans. Don't go to Wrigley Field. Okay? So all right. So we get there

382
00:45:26.450 --> 00:45:28.609
Richard Cerrone: and we go up to the press gate.

383
00:45:29.180 --> 00:45:35.260
Richard Cerrone: And there's an elderly man who's probably younger than I am now standing there.

384
00:45:35.770 --> 00:45:41.000
Richard Cerrone: and we hand him this proudly. Hand him this letter that we're coming here for this

385
00:45:41.300 --> 00:45:44.230
Richard Cerrone: seminar, and he looks at us, and he says.

386
00:45:45.160 --> 00:45:47.439
Richard Cerrone: You realize this is at 12 o'clock.

387
00:45:48.170 --> 00:45:51.649
Richard Cerrone: and we said, Yes, sir, and he said, It's 9 o'clock in the morning.

388
00:45:52.530 --> 00:45:54.720
Richard Cerrone: I said, Oh, all right. Well, we'll come back.

389
00:45:55.170 --> 00:46:00.619
Richard Cerrone: and we start walking with. No, no, no, no, I can't have you 2 wandering the streets.

390
00:46:01.570 --> 00:46:02.870
Jack Hubbard: Go on! In!

391
00:46:03.490 --> 00:46:07.160
Richard Cerrone: Go on in is that now, Jack, is that gonna happen today?

392
00:46:07.390 --> 00:46:13.619
Richard Cerrone: Is some guy at the prescade can say, go on in. So here's these 2 20 year olds.

393
00:46:14.020 --> 00:46:18.120
Richard Cerrone: and we walk in. And it's like a movie Wrigley Field.

394
00:46:18.420 --> 00:46:25.199
Richard Cerrone: and we go down to the railing on the 1st base side, and the Cubs dugout was on the 3rd base side.

395
00:46:25.480 --> 00:46:32.449
Richard Cerrone: and we're just standing there for at least an hour before we see any movement of any kind.

396
00:46:32.680 --> 00:46:43.319
Richard Cerrone: So finally, after an hour in this empty ballpark, this lone figure in a Cubs uniform comes out of the left field corner because that's where the Cubs clubhouse was

397
00:46:43.650 --> 00:46:49.030
Richard Cerrone: back in those days. I'm like, Hey, we got action, you know. Here comes somebody, and as the

398
00:46:49.750 --> 00:46:57.730
Richard Cerrone: figure with a bat in the Cubs uniform gets to like 3rd base. Phil Gadner says, Holy crap!

399
00:46:58.070 --> 00:46:59.950
Richard Cerrone: That's Ernie Banks.

400
00:47:00.180 --> 00:47:03.019
Richard Cerrone: Now Ernie was like on a coach or a

401
00:47:03.290 --> 00:47:10.419
Richard Cerrone: an instructor, or something, because he had just retired 2 years earlier, 3 years earlier, and Phil yells out, Hey, Ernie!

402
00:47:10.610 --> 00:47:17.959
Richard Cerrone: Now, what do you want, Ernie to do there? You want him to like no wave, hey, guys?

403
00:47:18.300 --> 00:47:21.079
Richard Cerrone: But he just keeps walking to us.

404
00:47:21.390 --> 00:47:25.379
Richard Cerrone: He passes the Cubs dugout, and he's right in front of us.

405
00:47:25.650 --> 00:47:28.550
Richard Cerrone: and he says, what are you 2 doing here so early?

406
00:47:29.280 --> 00:47:30.110
Richard Cerrone: And

407
00:47:30.460 --> 00:47:37.989
Richard Cerrone: one of us says, well, we're here for the college sports editors Day and Ernie Banks says, Oh, you 2 want to be sports writers.

408
00:47:38.330 --> 00:47:48.029
Richard Cerrone: and Phil Kadner, bless his heart, says, Well, I do. But Rick here wants to be the Public Relations director of a major League team.

409
00:47:49.070 --> 00:47:58.570
Richard Cerrone: And with that it's like the movie, the natural. When you know the the woman's focus goes right to Roy Hobbs. Ernie Banks focus goes right to me.

410
00:47:58.700 --> 00:48:09.840
Richard Cerrone: and he gets right in front of me. He goes. So you want to be a big League Pr. Director. Is that right? I said. Yes, sir, he says. Well, then, that's what's going to happen, and don't let anybody ever tell you. It won't

411
00:48:10.490 --> 00:48:28.249
Richard Cerrone: just keep moving forward, and it will happen. Now say it back to me. I'm going to be a Big League Pr Director, I said. I'm going to be a Big League. Pr. No, say it louder. I'm going to be in this one on. I'm screen. I'm going to be in okay. You remember, to come and see me when you get to the major leagues.

412
00:48:28.720 --> 00:48:29.760
Richard Cerrone: walks away.

413
00:48:31.320 --> 00:48:33.320
Richard Cerrone: Now, 15 years later.

414
00:48:33.650 --> 00:48:39.410
Richard Cerrone: I'm in Cooperstown with the pirates, because Willie Stargell is being inducted into the Hall of Fame.

415
00:48:39.650 --> 00:48:45.310
Richard Cerrone: and we're at a cocktail reception right in the Hall of Fame Gallery with all the plaques.

416
00:48:45.700 --> 00:48:52.159
Richard Cerrone: and there's Ernie Banks, so of course I have to go over to him. And excuse me, Mr. Banks.

417
00:48:52.280 --> 00:48:55.969
Richard Cerrone: you won't remember this, but about 15 years ago

418
00:48:56.220 --> 00:49:06.679
Richard Cerrone: I met you in an empty Wrigley field, and my friend told you that I wanted to be a public Relations director for a Major League team, and you got right in my face

419
00:49:06.950 --> 00:49:07.860
Richard Cerrone: and

420
00:49:08.330 --> 00:49:17.170
Richard Cerrone: convinced me that that's what's gonna happen, and you gave me kick up. I just wanted to thank you for taking the time to do that and give you my card.

421
00:49:17.570 --> 00:49:29.140
Richard Cerrone: and he takes the card, and he looks down and he reads it. Richard J. Cerrone, vice President, public relations, Pittsburgh pirates, and he looks up at me and he's got tears

422
00:49:29.340 --> 00:49:35.109
Richard Cerrone: coming down his face, and he hugs me in this and that. Okay, 10Â min later he comes back

423
00:49:35.460 --> 00:49:40.840
Richard Cerrone: he goes. Rick, would you mind telling that story one more time for my wife.

424
00:49:40.990 --> 00:49:47.350
Richard Cerrone: So it meant something to him, too. But that that's happenstance.

425
00:49:47.740 --> 00:49:51.059
Richard Cerrone: But it's happenstance turned into seized opportunity.

426
00:49:51.410 --> 00:50:00.239
Richard Cerrone: You know. I mean I took that to heart, and you know I knew I was going to be a Big League Pr. Director, because Ernie Banks told me so.

427
00:50:00.580 --> 00:50:03.109
Richard Cerrone: So that's my Ernie Bank story.

428
00:50:03.850 --> 00:50:15.230
Jack Hubbard: Great story. I want to end this by asking you about your take on the baseball season this year, but I I can't leave this conversation

429
00:50:15.410 --> 00:50:16.350
Jack Hubbard: without

430
00:50:17.520 --> 00:50:20.809
Jack Hubbard: The fact that in 2022

431
00:50:21.010 --> 00:50:30.709
Jack Hubbard: you were named the Niu Athletic Hall of Fame, and you still stay involved very much with that talk about the Northern Illinois University Hall of Fame.

432
00:50:31.180 --> 00:50:33.450
Richard Cerrone: Well, the Niu Athletics Hall of Fame.

433
00:50:33.680 --> 00:50:39.639
Richard Cerrone: You know it. It started in 1978, Bud and Angle, Bob Brigham.

434
00:50:39.990 --> 00:50:53.660
Richard Cerrone: Mike Corsick, who's still in decal. They started a hall of fame, chick Evans, who preceded Bob Brigham as the athletic director, had kind of fostered the idea. In 1978 it became a reality.

435
00:50:54.060 --> 00:51:05.420
Richard Cerrone: When I went to Niu there was no Niu athletics hall of Fame. Not that I would have ever aspired to be a part of it, it would never! I would never conceive that you'll do something that

436
00:51:05.640 --> 00:51:09.159
Richard Cerrone: you know. I wasn't an athlete or a coach

437
00:51:09.813 --> 00:51:18.870
Richard Cerrone: but even though there was not an Niu athletics Hall of Fame in my years. At Niu, 1972 to 76.

438
00:51:19.140 --> 00:51:21.519
Richard Cerrone: There were future Hall of Famers.

439
00:51:22.160 --> 00:51:29.861
Richard Cerrone: you know. There was Tom Jorgensen, the basketball coach. There was Bob Brigham, there was Bud Nangle, there was Mike Corsick, there was Walt Owens,

440
00:51:30.380 --> 00:51:36.700
Richard Cerrone: Jerry Ipoli, the football coach, and every one of them went out of their way for me.

441
00:51:37.728 --> 00:51:41.910
Richard Cerrone: You know. Button Angle, who was the sports Information director.

442
00:51:42.510 --> 00:51:48.350
Richard Cerrone: treated me like I was there from the Chicago Tribune rather than the Northern Star.

443
00:51:50.100 --> 00:52:03.819
Richard Cerrone: you know. The same with Bob Brigham and Jerry. I. I hosted Jerry Ipology, the football coaches, weekly radio show, and none of them treated me like a student, except for the patience that they showed me.

444
00:52:04.749 --> 00:52:09.330
Richard Cerrone: And you know, 50 years later I still advocate

445
00:52:11.120 --> 00:52:14.300
Richard Cerrone: to the athletic department for the Northern Star.

446
00:52:14.650 --> 00:52:19.150
Richard Cerrone: You know these kids are students from you know. Not that, you know.

447
00:52:19.260 --> 00:52:27.760
Richard Cerrone: Make sure you understand that they aspire to be professional journalists. And they're gonna they're going to

448
00:52:28.400 --> 00:52:31.460
Richard Cerrone: make mistakes. They're gonna write things you don't like.

449
00:52:31.590 --> 00:52:35.670
Richard Cerrone: But they need to learn from it, and I even did that

450
00:52:36.250 --> 00:52:43.529
Richard Cerrone: with one of the students at the Star back in the late summer in September.

451
00:52:43.690 --> 00:52:50.299
Richard Cerrone: when I went out there, and I read this story it was not labeled a column. So

452
00:52:50.440 --> 00:52:52.929
Richard Cerrone: to the reader, this is a new story.

453
00:52:53.050 --> 00:52:57.000
Richard Cerrone: Talking about how awful! Don't expect anything from athletics.

454
00:52:57.580 --> 00:53:00.359
Richard Cerrone: because we're we're just not good at anything

455
00:53:00.670 --> 00:53:04.207
Richard Cerrone: or attend, I mean, and I I went into

456
00:53:05.760 --> 00:53:10.529
Richard Cerrone: I went into the Star office and the Kid was sitting right there, and I know him.

457
00:53:10.700 --> 00:53:15.170
Richard Cerrone: and I got him his colleague and the advisor and I went into a conference room.

458
00:53:15.590 --> 00:53:17.859
Richard Cerrone: and I actually used a story

459
00:53:18.200 --> 00:53:26.619
Richard Cerrone: that happened to me when I was the sports editor of the Northern Star in like 1974, 75,

460
00:53:26.950 --> 00:53:34.040
Richard Cerrone: where the basketball coach took a liking to me because I and I was going to do the games on the radio.

461
00:53:34.420 --> 00:53:38.170
Richard Cerrone: and he took a liking to me, and he knew I'm out there in the summer.

462
00:53:38.520 --> 00:53:40.399
Richard Cerrone: you know, and I don't know, for you know.

463
00:53:40.900 --> 00:53:45.230
Richard Cerrone: and he invited me to his home for dinner. He and his wife had me to his home for dinner.

464
00:53:45.340 --> 00:53:53.389
Richard Cerrone: and that day, that very day something happened to me in journalism class, where I felt terribly disrespected.

465
00:53:53.610 --> 00:53:54.460
Richard Cerrone: Right?

466
00:53:54.951 --> 00:54:00.520
Richard Cerrone: The the professor was handing back papers, of which I got a good grade on.

467
00:54:00.890 --> 00:54:06.680
Richard Cerrone: and as he got to me he said, just because you're some big time sports editor

468
00:54:06.880 --> 00:54:20.650
Richard Cerrone: of the Northern Star, I mean, doesn't cut anything in my class. And the reason he said that was the journalism professors, for the most part, wanted nothing to do with the Northern Star. You're not learning anything you learn from me.

469
00:54:21.360 --> 00:54:30.340
Richard Cerrone: you know. Well, I learned everything at the Northern Star, or I put into practice what I learned from this professor, this doctor.

470
00:54:30.460 --> 00:54:35.670
Richard Cerrone: Well, now I can put into practice. Oh, I learned this. There, now, I'm using it. They didn't see it that way.

471
00:54:35.920 --> 00:54:46.499
Richard Cerrone: So I was venting to Dr. Luck, who had played for the Harlem globetrotters. Wonderful man and his wife.

472
00:54:46.990 --> 00:54:50.549
Richard Cerrone: and how I was gonna bury this guy in my next column.

473
00:54:50.910 --> 00:54:57.590
Richard Cerrone: I'm gonna I'm gonna blow the lid off the journalism department. They're not helping me. I don't learn anything. You know, the whole 9 yards.

474
00:54:58.010 --> 00:55:02.040
Richard Cerrone: So they just sat and listened, and then

475
00:55:02.220 --> 00:55:12.539
Richard Cerrone: I told him that I was taking up. Wanted to play golf. Well, let's let's go out to the North 40, which was a big open field and hit some balls because he was a

476
00:55:12.690 --> 00:55:19.409
Richard Cerrone: scratch golfer, and I'm swinging the club and hitting the ball, and I bring it up again.

477
00:55:20.360 --> 00:55:28.129
Richard Cerrone: Oh, another thing I'm going to write about. Let me stop you right. He spoke in a very high, high-pitched voice. Let me stop you right there.

478
00:55:28.510 --> 00:55:29.680
Richard Cerrone: How old are you?

479
00:55:30.360 --> 00:55:32.549
Richard Cerrone: I said. Dr. Luck. I'm 20,

480
00:55:33.020 --> 00:55:35.490
Richard Cerrone: son, let me tell you something.

481
00:55:36.600 --> 00:55:39.799
Richard Cerrone: You don't know nothing about nothing.

482
00:55:40.950 --> 00:55:43.930
Richard Cerrone: and you're not writing this column.

483
00:55:45.210 --> 00:55:48.149
Richard Cerrone: Because and he went on to tell me what the you know.

484
00:55:48.876 --> 00:55:54.270
Richard Cerrone: You know I I looking back, I know what the problem would be, I'd be dead in the journalism department, whatever.

485
00:55:54.640 --> 00:55:59.550
Richard Cerrone: So what that told me was, you know you don't know nothing about nothing. It goes.

486
00:55:59.850 --> 00:56:02.870
Richard Cerrone: I would. I would never tell that to a college student.

487
00:56:03.140 --> 00:56:06.120
Richard Cerrone: But you don't know as much as you think, you know.

488
00:56:06.420 --> 00:56:13.130
Richard Cerrone: and your judgment is not what it would be in another 5, 1015 whatever. So I always so. Anyway.

489
00:56:13.510 --> 00:56:15.760
Richard Cerrone: this is last September

490
00:56:17.140 --> 00:56:25.750
Richard Cerrone: or August, you know, and school just started so 1st week of September, and I'm out there for the the home opening football game.

491
00:56:26.100 --> 00:56:47.059
Richard Cerrone: But I'm reading this thing in a local restaurant. And this was the orientation issue. It's the only issue they print. Everything else is online. And you got students coming in here. And with all the problems that Niu's had over the years you're telling people that our athletic program is not very good.

492
00:56:47.300 --> 00:56:48.230
Richard Cerrone: Why.

493
00:56:48.840 --> 00:56:57.149
Richard Cerrone: so I take my little Northern star. I get in the car and I go over to the Star office, and I see the writer

494
00:56:57.400 --> 00:57:00.320
Richard Cerrone: who's a good kid. Really good writer.

495
00:57:00.750 --> 00:57:02.450
Richard Cerrone: I see the advisor.

496
00:57:02.760 --> 00:57:08.510
Richard Cerrone: and I said, Can I see you, too, in the conference room, can I? Yeah, sit down, I said.

497
00:57:09.040 --> 00:57:10.850
Richard Cerrone: I want to tell you a story

498
00:57:11.760 --> 00:57:14.559
Richard Cerrone: 50 years ago, and I tell the story.

499
00:57:15.380 --> 00:57:17.659
Richard Cerrone: and at the end I say so to quote

500
00:57:17.890 --> 00:57:20.899
Richard Cerrone: Dr. Luck, the late Dr. Luck.

501
00:57:21.100 --> 00:57:25.349
Richard Cerrone: son, you don't know nothing about nothing.

502
00:57:26.140 --> 00:57:29.900
Richard Cerrone: and you should never have written that? What was your point?

503
00:57:30.120 --> 00:57:31.630
Richard Cerrone: What was your point?

504
00:57:31.880 --> 00:57:38.410
Richard Cerrone: And I think he realized that it was not well advised. And then the next week we beat Notre dame.

505
00:57:39.050 --> 00:57:40.719
Richard Cerrone: So why'd you write that?

506
00:57:40.920 --> 00:57:46.860
Richard Cerrone: But I think he learned a lesson, and it's not like I'm never writing another critical piece because he has to.

507
00:57:47.120 --> 00:57:56.529
Richard Cerrone: But I was just being to harken back to exactly 50 years ago, exactly 50 years ago.

508
00:57:57.350 --> 00:57:58.969
Richard Cerrone: to the day, maybe.

509
00:57:59.310 --> 00:58:05.840
Richard Cerrone: that Dr. Luck on the top of the North 40, where the school of business now sits, said to me.

510
00:58:06.440 --> 00:58:07.580
Richard Cerrone: son.

511
00:58:07.810 --> 00:58:14.319
Richard Cerrone: you don't know nothing about nothing, and he could not have been more right. But you ask about the Hall of Fame?

512
00:58:15.033 --> 00:58:20.930
Richard Cerrone: Those people helped me get there. They were all a part of I mean Niu.

513
00:58:21.330 --> 00:58:24.310
Richard Cerrone: and I don't want this to be a commercial for Niu. But

514
00:58:24.730 --> 00:58:27.440
Richard Cerrone: it is. It was my Disneyland

515
00:58:28.110 --> 00:58:33.249
Richard Cerrone: because I went to Niu through happenstance. I'm I'm from New York. Remember.

516
00:58:33.630 --> 00:58:40.789
Richard Cerrone: I get to Niu, and it was my Disneyland, because everything I needed to become whatever I became

517
00:58:42.340 --> 00:58:50.628
Richard Cerrone: was there for me. The radio station, the newspaper, the athletic program everything.

518
00:58:51.410 --> 00:58:54.740
Richard Cerrone: and I worked there as a consultant.

519
00:58:54.910 --> 00:59:01.740
Richard Cerrone: They were basically one of my accounts, for, like 6 or 7 years back, from 2,011 to to 17,

520
00:59:01.930 --> 00:59:10.779
Richard Cerrone: and I ran the Hall of Fame induction ceremony turned it into a big time. Espy's type, you know. A lot of bells and whistles

521
00:59:11.170 --> 00:59:17.610
Richard Cerrone: worked on a number of projects honoring the 1963 College Division National Champions.

522
00:59:18.290 --> 00:59:20.830
Richard Cerrone: Things like that. And

523
00:59:21.350 --> 00:59:27.059
Richard Cerrone: now I'm in a position I'm not retired or semi retired. But I've dialed it back.

524
00:59:27.600 --> 00:59:32.799
Richard Cerrone: I have time, and I have the means. So I I do.

525
00:59:32.950 --> 00:59:43.229
Richard Cerrone: They oh, basically, they allow me to do on a donor basis or a pro bono basis.

526
00:59:43.880 --> 00:59:47.199
Richard Cerrone: What I did when I was a paid consultant.

527
00:59:47.410 --> 00:59:48.350
Richard Cerrone: But

528
00:59:49.100 --> 01:00:00.629
Richard Cerrone: you know they're really they got their hands full. I mean. It is really trying times to be a successful division, one athletic program with everything that's going on.

529
01:00:02.380 --> 01:00:05.380
Richard Cerrone: They've got a full plate, and

530
01:00:06.440 --> 01:00:09.059
Richard Cerrone: there's some things that I can contribute.

531
01:00:09.400 --> 01:00:18.190
Richard Cerrone: whether it's I. Last year I ran the Hall of Fame ceremony. I've made some proposals to them of some ideas for some

532
01:00:18.960 --> 01:00:26.520
Richard Cerrone: things for the celebration of the 60th anniversary of husky stadium. So

533
01:00:26.950 --> 01:00:32.790
Richard Cerrone: which was brand spanking new when we were there, Jack? But you know

534
01:00:33.320 --> 01:00:36.849
Richard Cerrone: they they allow me to do that, and it's my way of giving back.

535
01:00:37.030 --> 01:00:40.819
Richard Cerrone: I can't write a check for $50,000, but

536
01:00:40.940 --> 01:00:48.760
Richard Cerrone: I can write it. You know I can give you an idea that I think is worth $50,000, and if they agree that it is well, well, we'll do it.

537
01:00:49.780 --> 01:00:52.759
Jack Hubbard: The dinner's coming up April 6, th is it.

538
01:00:54.260 --> 01:00:55.340
Richard Cerrone: The dinner.

539
01:00:55.340 --> 01:00:59.259
Jack Hubbard: Is there? Is there some kind of a ceremony coming up in April?

540
01:00:59.260 --> 01:01:01.129
Richard Cerrone: No, not that I'm aware of.

541
01:01:01.510 --> 01:01:02.779
Jack Hubbard: We can edit that out.

542
01:01:03.070 --> 01:01:04.040
Richard Cerrone: I missed that.

543
01:01:05.000 --> 01:01:07.010
Jack Hubbard: I'll tell you one cool thing.

544
01:01:07.180 --> 01:01:16.450
Jack Hubbard: If you turn away I turn around. There's a back in the corner here. There's a reel to reel tape recorder. We just moved into our new house about a month ago.

545
01:01:16.630 --> 01:01:22.500
Jack Hubbard: and the guys were setting up the reel to reels to come through my speakers.

546
01:01:22.900 --> 01:01:44.869
Jack Hubbard: I got married September 23, rd 1972. On September 30, th 1972. I broadcasted a game from Camp Randall Stadium Niu versus Wisconsin. We got our asses kicked, but the second half of that game was the tape that they played through the speakers. I got to tell you I got tears in my eyes.

547
01:01:44.870 --> 01:01:46.500
Richard Cerrone: Wow! And well, you should.

548
01:01:46.500 --> 01:01:55.880
Jack Hubbard: I agree with you. I think, Ni, you made a difference for me. I'm not on the radio anymore. But I still use what I learned every single day. It's a great, it's just a

549
01:01:55.880 --> 01:01:58.510
Jack Hubbard: you know. I I wish my tapes.

550
01:01:58.660 --> 01:02:06.079
Richard Cerrone: That I made of my broadcast because I did the games in the football games in 75.

551
01:02:07.000 --> 01:02:11.890
Richard Cerrone: I I wish they were in better quality that you know they're pretty.

552
01:02:12.880 --> 01:02:15.960
Richard Cerrone: They're pretty worn, you know. They they didn't.

553
01:02:16.200 --> 01:02:21.814
Richard Cerrone: The tape, the quality of the tape, that is the cassette tape, whatever. But you know, it's funny

554
01:02:22.530 --> 01:02:27.820
Richard Cerrone: And when you look back and you know how history went on that September 7th afternoon.

555
01:02:28.070 --> 01:02:33.380
Richard Cerrone: But I called the sports editor of the Dekalb Daily Chronicle. Eddie.

556
01:02:34.760 --> 01:02:35.410
Richard Cerrone: Curificio!

557
01:02:35.600 --> 01:02:40.790
Richard Cerrone: Back early summer, I said. Hey, I want to write a guest column

558
01:02:41.920 --> 01:02:45.529
Richard Cerrone: that you can run before we play Notre Dame, because

559
01:02:45.800 --> 01:02:50.040
Richard Cerrone: I think it needs to be put into context what this game means.

560
01:02:50.150 --> 01:02:52.250
Richard Cerrone: And I talked about

561
01:02:52.410 --> 01:03:06.550
Richard Cerrone: how Rudy's father, when he walked into that stadium in the movie, you know, played beautifully by Ned Beatty, and he just stopped, and he said, This is the most beautiful sight these eyes have ever seen.

562
01:03:06.690 --> 01:03:07.859
Richard Cerrone: and I said

563
01:03:08.010 --> 01:03:14.470
Richard Cerrone: that was quite different than my what I would have been thinking when I 1st went to Notre Dame.

564
01:03:14.860 --> 01:03:19.989
Richard Cerrone: probably at the same time that that scene took place

565
01:03:20.100 --> 01:03:22.940
Richard Cerrone: 1975. Something like that.

566
01:03:23.420 --> 01:03:32.269
Richard Cerrone: I got tickets to see Notre Dame and Pittsburgh University of Pittsburgh, number 5, Notre Dame. Coincidentally they'd be Number 5 when we played them.

567
01:03:32.690 --> 01:03:33.460
Richard Cerrone: and

568
01:03:34.030 --> 01:03:44.070
Richard Cerrone: I went there only game at husky stadium I missed as a student, but Notre Dame Pitt niu Idaho, you know. So

569
01:03:44.290 --> 01:03:49.120
Richard Cerrone: I went there with my girlfriend, and it was a rainy day.

570
01:03:50.770 --> 01:03:56.530
Richard Cerrone: Not pleasant. And the stadium was basically a dump, I mean.

571
01:03:56.950 --> 01:03:59.970
Richard Cerrone: the the base of the stadium was dirt.

572
01:04:00.140 --> 01:04:05.919
Richard Cerrone: and you walk to the portals on like wooden plant, you know it was, and it was raining. So it didn't.

573
01:04:06.150 --> 01:04:10.960
Richard Cerrone: So that would have been my reaction. But if

574
01:04:11.460 --> 01:04:21.800
Richard Cerrone: I never in a million years on that afternoon would have ever conceived that it would be, even though we had played that year Wisconsin and Northwestern.

575
01:04:22.080 --> 01:04:26.850
Richard Cerrone: you know, you know, we're Division one. We call ourselves Big Time.

576
01:04:27.210 --> 01:04:28.000
Richard Cerrone: But

577
01:04:28.790 --> 01:04:38.850
Richard Cerrone: big time is what I'm watching when I get back to my dorm, and I turn on the TV. And I'm watching Nebraska, Oklahoma, Ohio State, Notre Dame Penn State.

578
01:04:39.060 --> 01:04:43.620
Richard Cerrone: Well, you know, over the next 50 years we've played all these teams.

579
01:04:44.000 --> 01:04:47.060
Richard Cerrone: and the other thing is, we weren't getting our asses kicked.

580
01:04:47.500 --> 01:04:57.190
Richard Cerrone: I mean, we took the number one team in the Nation, Ohio State, right down to the wire and had 3 shots at winning that game

581
01:04:57.660 --> 01:05:00.189
Richard Cerrone: with Under. We lost by 7.

582
01:05:00.600 --> 01:05:02.299
Richard Cerrone: We beat Nebraska.

583
01:05:02.740 --> 01:05:09.509
Richard Cerrone: So we achieved the dreams of these people, Chick Evans and Bud Nangel and Bob Brigham.

584
01:05:10.150 --> 01:05:16.470
Richard Cerrone: So this time, when I go to Notre Dame Stadium on September 7.th

585
01:05:17.220 --> 01:05:22.690
Richard Cerrone: My reaction is going to be. This is the most beautiful sight these eyes and boy, was it ever?

586
01:05:22.900 --> 01:05:29.289
Richard Cerrone: What an afternoon! And to think that we could do that a little, you know.

587
01:05:29.670 --> 01:05:32.650
Richard Cerrone: Amazing, absolutely amazing.

588
01:05:32.650 --> 01:05:42.379
Jack Hubbard: Yeah, for sure. Let's let's wrap this up by talking about the baseball season this year. Expectations, predictions. What are you thinking.

589
01:05:42.380 --> 01:05:48.600
Richard Cerrone: Okay, I'm not going to waste your time with predictions, because

590
01:05:48.730 --> 01:06:01.639
Richard Cerrone: I don't know nothing about nothing, and neither does anybody else, because I didn't see anybody last year putting the Kansas City royals and the Detroit tigers in the postseason.

591
01:06:01.850 --> 01:06:02.890
Richard Cerrone: So

592
01:06:03.170 --> 01:06:12.570
Richard Cerrone: anything can happen, because if the old adage that I've heard for my entire life, and I'm like this is the stupidest thing I've ever heard.

593
01:06:12.890 --> 01:06:18.549
Richard Cerrone: By the end of the year everybody plays to the back of their baseball card. That's not true.

594
01:06:19.210 --> 01:06:24.690
Richard Cerrone: If everybody played to the back of their baseball card, I can tell you right now I can pick the divisions.

595
01:06:25.150 --> 01:06:28.370
Richard Cerrone: but I don't know how you know.

596
01:06:28.680 --> 01:06:34.440
Richard Cerrone: I pretty much think I know how the White Sox are going to do. But I don't know.

597
01:06:34.710 --> 01:06:41.340
Richard Cerrone: I don't know what kind of year Tucker's going to have, or in New York? How's Bellinger going to do in New York and Paul Goldschmidt.

598
01:06:41.460 --> 01:06:45.369
Richard Cerrone: I did say. Early on I thought the Yankees would struggle

599
01:06:45.640 --> 01:06:47.930
Richard Cerrone: doesn't mean they can't win that division.

600
01:06:48.440 --> 01:06:55.909
Richard Cerrone: I didn't see it as a 98 win team, and now they've been decimated by these injuries.

601
01:06:56.040 --> 01:07:00.750
Richard Cerrone: But the great thing about baseball is we don't know nothing about nothing.

602
01:07:02.500 --> 01:07:04.330
Richard Cerrone: What kind of impact is

603
01:07:04.460 --> 01:07:10.519
Richard Cerrone: Juan Soto gonna have in New York. I don't know. I know that down the road his contract

604
01:07:10.650 --> 01:07:18.849
Richard Cerrone: will create issues because they they've created precedent here that you're sweet, worthy.

605
01:07:19.190 --> 01:07:27.060
Richard Cerrone: you know. They gave him a suite, and they gave him security. Well, you're not. They're going to be telling players down the road. Well, he's sweet. You're not sweet, worthy

606
01:07:28.760 --> 01:07:33.349
Richard Cerrone: You're not security worthy whatever. I think it's going to be an issue down the road

607
01:07:34.080 --> 01:07:37.860
Richard Cerrone: for this year. It's the honeymoon we'll we'll see.

608
01:07:38.670 --> 01:07:42.960
Richard Cerrone: you know I'm here in Pittsburgh with my pirates that I don't think improved a lot

609
01:07:43.160 --> 01:07:48.719
Richard Cerrone: over the off season, so they got to put new numbers on the backs of their baseball cards.

610
01:07:48.840 --> 01:07:52.089
Richard Cerrone: O'neal Cruz can't play to the back of his baseball card.

611
01:07:52.640 --> 01:07:55.009
Richard Cerrone: you know Brian Reynolds can. But you know

612
01:07:55.120 --> 01:08:01.389
Richard Cerrone: not a lot of other guys on that team. So baseball's here. Enjoy it.

613
01:08:03.620 --> 01:08:05.099
Richard Cerrone: We'll see what happens.

614
01:08:05.620 --> 01:08:06.990
Jack Hubbard: And here's what I enjoy every.

615
01:08:06.990 --> 01:08:07.819
Richard Cerrone: There you go!

616
01:08:08.330 --> 01:08:10.249
Jack Hubbard: Seem to get some new issues out here.

617
01:08:10.250 --> 01:08:19.020
Jack Hubbard: This is an old issue, but it's a great issue. This comes out. How often, Rick, and how do people get a hold of baseball, digest.

618
01:08:19.029 --> 01:08:23.827
Richard Cerrone: 6 times a year. You can go to any Barnes and Noble right now, and and get

619
01:08:24.269 --> 01:08:33.019
Richard Cerrone: our Mlb. Preview issue with Juan Soto on the cover, or, really simple, get a great deal. Go to baseballdigest.com.

620
01:08:33.600 --> 01:08:46.160
Jack Hubbard: I just signed up for it, and I'm thrilled, and I am more than thrilled to welcome you back to the show. Thank you for investing this time and sharing all your great stories with us. Thanks for being with us, Rick.

621
01:08:46.160 --> 01:08:47.240
Richard Cerrone: No huskies.

622
01:08:49.740 --> 01:08:52.519
Jack Hubbard: Okay, thanks, Rick. I really appreciate your time.

623
01:08:52.529 --> 01:08:53.789
Richard Cerrone: Okay. My friend.

624
01:08:53.790 --> 01:08:55.949
Jack Hubbard: Are you coming out to be Cal anytime soon?

625
01:08:56.346 --> 01:08:59.919
Richard Cerrone: I'm coming out, maybe at the end of April.

626
01:08:59.920 --> 01:09:04.740
Jack Hubbard: Okay. Alright. Well, let let me know. I'd love to have lunch if you got time.

627
01:09:05.229 --> 01:09:07.929
Richard Cerrone: Yeah, absolutely. Now, are you in the Aurora area?

628
01:09:07.930 --> 01:09:08.840
Jack Hubbard: Elgin.

629
01:09:08.840 --> 01:09:10.180
Richard Cerrone: Elgin. Oh, that's easy. Okay.

630
01:09:10.189 --> 01:09:16.039
Jack Hubbard: Yeah, we're just west of Elgin. So yeah, yeah, well, safe travels to you. And thanks again for your time.

631
01:09:16.040 --> 01:09:17.090
Richard Cerrone: Thanks, my friend.

632
01:09:17.090 --> 01:09:18.110
Jack Hubbard: See you, Rick. Bye.