- Manny was like angry, yapping and,
and this and that. I'm in the bathroom.
- Oh, you were in the bathroom when that happened?
- I was in the bathroom.
When I came out the brawl was already...
Because I'm zipping up my pants quickly and I’m trying to get to see what’s going on.
And I see Zimmer rushing towards me and I'm like, “What?”
He got close to me, said some bad words. He actually tried to jab me.
♪♪♪
- [Master Tesfatsion]: So who we got in the pool hall today?
Pedro Martinez. What's good, baby? - [Pedro Martínez]: Ay.
All right, all right.
- How you livin'?
- I'm livin' great. Watching you, ready to play some pool, I'm excited.
Let's get it on, boy.
I haven’t played in a very, very, very long time.
- You got it.
[Balls hitting. Ball dropping into pocket]
- You got one in.
- I got one in. I got lucky.
- Pedro, you're one of my favorite baseball players of all time.
I love the fiery aggression that you played with.
It was just so relatable for me, growing up with nothing
and having that kind of anger growing up as a kid.
Where did that come from?
- Well it’s a long story man but, uh, our family was a big family.
Thanks to God, Ramón led the way.
Ramón was still bouncing in the minor leagues.
It’s a little later for the LA Dodgers. Didn’t make any money yet.
Mom and dad were left at home with me and the rest of the kids and uh-
I was dropped at the Academy really early.
- What age?
- Fourteen-and-a-half, fifteen? Because I was quick to fight.
- [Laughing]
I can relate.
- [Laughing]
I was really quick to fight. Any picking on one of my cousins would be my fight.
Family members, uh, friends. That would be my fight.
There you go.
- He gonna beat my ass.
- [Laughing]
I mean, I think most people remember,
from an anger perspective, the 2003 ALCS.
- It’s that Zimmer incident.
- What happened?
- Well, I threw a ball behind Karim García and my shoulder was hurting.
And I had men on first and second. Karim García's the ninth place hitter,
and I'm trying to rush a fastball up and in on him,
but I did it out of the slide step.
And I took the ball. I'm dragging. I'm tired. I'm aching.
You can't let the opposition know that your shoulder hurts.
- That's food. They'll eat you up.
- Exactly. So, the ball came behind him, and
instead of in front of him, up here, came behind him.
So, and when he ducked down the ball hit the bat.
It looks like the ball is over his head. - Mm-hmm.
- So Zimmer took obsession to that. They started yapping this and that.
I continue to pitch, got a ground ball, double play,
but when Karim García is going to second he almost kills the second baseman.
He was sliding to second and took my second baseman out.
I just said, “What are you thinking?”
It's a 2 to 1 game or a 3 to 2, something like that.
“Who wants to hit you? You crazy? Clean it up.”
So Posada popped up, Zimmer popped up. Everybody started yapping on me.
But I went in, got the inning done. Roger Clemens throws the ball at Manny.
- Manny Ramírez. - And then-
- Manny wasn't gonna take that.
- Manny was like angry, yapping and, and this and that. I'm in the bathroom.
- Oh, you were in the bathroom when that happened?
- I was in the bathroom. So I came out a little later.
When I came out the brawl was already... Because I'm zipping up my pants quickly and,
and I'm trying to get to see what's going on.
And that's when I hear the mumbling, kind of behind me.
And I see Zimmer rushing towards me, and I'm like, “What?”
And that's when he got close to me, said some bad words
that I didn't expect from Zimmer either.
He actually tried to jab me.
So I pulled it, and that's why it looks like I grabbed him.
But in reality, that's the only blemish I would love to erase from my career.
There hasn't been any other moment where I felt worse
in my life. I was- I will tell you my life,
than that moment. And that moment led to a lot more.
- Go ahead, take a shot.
Oo, we got the touch there.
- Yeah there you go. - [Laughing]
So when you go back to New York now what is it like?
- You know what, it's a lot better than, than I ever thought.
People really realize what I did, how I did it.
I became a Hall of Famer.
I've done so many other things that people didn't know.
They see that my attitude was different when I wasn't pitching.
Like, Nomar tying me to the post.
- What happened with that?
- Well, I was like the lucky charm.
I would come out and I would last for two or three runs,
they would get the two or three runs and Nomar was hitting like crazy.
And that day I had pitch, so I was running on the treadmill.
I was doing some more exercises in the clubhouse
and I hadn't come out and Nomar was, I guess, 0 for 2.
Nomar did not like that, he went and grabbed me and goes,
"Ah, you get out here, you get out here.
You be loud, you do whatever, but we need to continue to do that."
And Nomar was really superstitious.
So I was so loud all day that even after we got the game one side,
even Nomar got tired of me being so loud.
I got to the post and I kept just yapping and yapping and yapping
and Nomar and Portugal decided that they had enough
and they tied me up to the post before I realized what they were doing,
I’m- like tied up with this heavy tape and I can't move.
Even though I was taped to the post everybody's laughing
because if a line drive goes through the dugout, I'm dead meat.
- [Laughing]
- Look at you.
♪♪♪
[Digital beeps from game sounding] - Let’s get it.
Dirtiest opponent you ever faced?
- Jorge Posada.
- A-Rod or Al Horford?
- Al Horford.
- What’s your signature pitch?
- Fastball.
- Bachata or Merengue?
- Bachata.
- Hardest guy to strike out?
- Edgar Martínez.
- Best pitcher in baseball right now?
- Jacob deGrom.
- Tostones or maduros?
- Tostones, bro, by far.
- Funniest teammate you ever had?
- I would say Manny.
- Better baseball culture, Boston or D.R.?
- I would say D.R.
- Favorite Latin American baseball player? Five seconds.
- Ah, Vladimir Guerrero.
- Best fans in baseball?
- Boston.
- [Laughing]
That’s a wrap here, Pedro.
Hey, appreciate you for swinging by here, coming by the pool hall.
It’s been an honor, seriously.
- My pleasure.
- Thank you very much.
Appreciate y’all for watching. - Let me shoot, man. Let me shoot.
- He gon’ keep shooting. We out.