RSN: Let's start with July 5, 2001 at Shea Stadium. Do you recall doing something memorable with the bat that night?
JB: I'm guessing that's when I got two hits in the same inning? Sure, I remember that. Steve Trachsel was pitching and I led off with a single. I'm pretty sure I doubled later in the inning, but I'm not sure if Trachsel was still in the game or not. I wasn't really that bad of a hitter — I think I ended up close to .200 for my career. I know that a lot of people see pitchers come up and it's, "Hurry up and get out of there," but it's not like that. You can help yourself with a base hit or by moving a runner over, and a lot of times that will keep you in the game. That season, with the Cubs, Kerry Wood, Kevin Tapani, Jon Lieber and I were always trying to see who the better hitter was. We took pride in it.
RSN: Did you enjoy hitting?
JB: Except for facing Randy Johnson — that's not much fun. It's like he's standing right next to you after he delivers. Luckily, I didn't ever have to square around and bunt against him. You're in no-man's land when you do that. But for the most part, hitting was okay — not that it wasn't an adventure at times. You have to remember that when I went to the National League I hadn't hit since high school. Back then it was Merrimack Valley Conference guys throwing eighty miles per hour on a good day — not ninety plus. And some guys in the big leagues have sinkers that you swing at and suddenly the ball isn't there anymore. Breaking balls could be especially tough, too. Sometimes I'd guess breaking ball, and if one came I'd go after it?and it was never in the strike-zone to begin with. But a good fastball is always hard to handle. I know that on a cold day in Chicago, a fastball inside will really ring your hands.
RSN: How hard did you throw when you broke in with the White Sox, and how much did your subsequent arm injuries affect your velocity?
JB: I was generally at ninety-three and ninety-four, although I'd throw a few as high as ninety-six. Then my arm started hurting in 1995, which altered my free-and-easy delivery somewhat. I didn't feel right, but pitched through it and ended up having a terrible year. I had never been seriously hurt before, and didn't know how to handle it.
RSN: Is that when you had your first surgery?
JB: No, I actually rested it instead, which was a mistake. My MRI was inconclusive, and they weren't in a hurry to cut open a promising young kid, so even though Dr. Andrews and Dr. Jobe both recommended Tommy John surgery it didn't happen until September of '96. That made the 1996 season a complete waste for me. Then I came back eleven months later, in August of '97, which was too soon. And going back to what you were asking about velocity, there's a misconception associated with that. When you come back, people see you're throwing just as hard, or maybe a tick lower, and they think you're one-hundred percent again. But if your arm isn't getting out to finish, the ball runs back over the plate instead of you hitting your spot. Or maybe you're throwing great for two innings, but in the third? Forget it.
RSN: Do you feel the strike in 1994 had any impact on your career?
JB: In a way it was huge. I was twelve and two at the time, and the team was doing well. When we got going again the following year, I had the arm injury and was terrible.
RSN: Do you think it contributed to the injury?
JB: That's hard to say. We did have a short Spring Training, but working on a new cut fastball, which I probably didn't even need, probably had more to do with it. I wanted another pitch to use against left-handed batters, one that would bore in and get off the barrel. In a way it was more like a slider, but on an "evener" plane, and I put a lot of torque on it. And it was kind of like getting a new toy and wanting to play with it. Instead of just using it to bust left-handers inside, I found myself throwing it too much, even against right-handers down and away. I remember talking to Mickey Tettleton in '95, and him telling me, "You already had good stuff. Why did you try to fix something that wasn't broken?" But was that, or the late start to spring training, ultimately responsible for my arm injury? It's really impossible to say.
RSN: Did the strike affect you in another way — teaching you that the game is really a business?
JB: That actually happened prior to the strike. I found out when we released Carlton Fisk the year before. The team waited until after he had broken the record, and then let him go. We had a road trip to Cleveland, and released him before we played our first game there. What was the point of flying him to Cleveland instead of doing it before he got on the plane? And then, of course, we made the playoffs that year. He tried to get into the clubhouse to wish us luck, and they wouldn't let him in! Carlton Fisk, who spent over twenty years in the big leagues, and they wouldn't let him come into the clubhouse! Now, maybe I don't know the whole story, but I didn't understand that.
RSN: You've played in both Fenway Park and Wrigley Field. How would you compare the two?
JB: They're real similar. The amenities aren't there, for the fans or the players, but there's nothing like it. You're standing on a field with a lot of history, and there's nothing like playing with the fans almost on top of the field. I remember the first time I pitched in Fenway; I turned to make a pick-off throw and almost lost Frank Thomas in the crowd. Places like Fenway and Wrigley aren't generic, which is a good thing. They have character, and the fields aren't bowls. They have their different dimensions and little jogs. What is the Pesky Pole? It seems like two-hundred feet down the line. It juts out from there, but down by the pole it looks like Rotary Park in Wilmington!
RSN: Did you ever have an opportunity to sign with the Red Sox?
JB: The rumor mill had me getting traded here on two different occasions, in the mid-to-late nineties, but of course it never happened. And once when I was a free agent, Dan Duquette was the GM at the time, the Red Sox called to say they were interested. There were never any terms discussed, though, and they never did call back. Would it have been nice to play here? Yes. But would it have been difficult? Yes, in a way. But then again, demanding fans is one of the good things about Boston. Most players want that. You want them to care, and you want them to be knowledgeable. There's no doubt that Boston fans are both. Something that would have been tough for me is being from here and knowing so many people. It's not hard to give someone ten minutes of your time, but if everyone you know wants it?that's a lot of ten minutes.
RSN: What do you most remember about your first game pitching in Fenway?
JB: Probably that I went up against Danny Darwin, and he took a no-hitter into the eighth or ninth. Mike LaValliere caught me that game — he has roots here too — and he said to make sure not to look up. And he was right. Any direction I looked there'd be someone I knew or recognized. And that's tough, because pitching is three hours of total concentration. But to pitch here was special. I used to sit in the bleachers as a kid, so it was incredible to be on that field. A lot of times you'll hear guys say that it's just another game when they're playing in their hometown or against their old team, but those are just words. How can it not be different to pitch in Fenway when you grew up coming here?
RSN: You pitched in the All-Star Game in 1994. Tell us about learning you'd made the team.
JB: There had been talk about it. Pitchers have a lot of free time during games, so we were always making up teams. We'd pick All-Star teams, all-great-guy teams, fantasy teams — things like that. Jack McDowell, who I probably looked up to more than anyone, said he thought I'd make it. Anyway, I was on the bench in Comiskey when they announced it on the scoreboard. It was a nice feeling, having the guys come up and congratulate me. And let me tell you, it was kind of outrageous walking into the clubhouse for the All-Star Game — me, a twenty-two year-old kid. I mean, let's face it; it's just for a good first half, not a full season, but it really makes you reflect on where you are and where you came from.
RSN: Was that the biggest thrill in your career?
JB: It was high on the list, but my Major League debut was bigger. To this day, that's the most nervous energy I've had in baseball. I remember getting called up. We were playing in Des Moines, and I had ten Ks in five innings when they told me that was it for the day. Guys were saying that I must be getting called up — why else would they have pulled me early? After the game, our pitching coach said skip wanted to see me. When I went in, he asked me how my arm felt. I told him it felt great. Then he asked if I could have gone a few more innings. I said sure, I could have done that. Then he asked if I thought I could go a few innings in Chicago on Thursday. I kind of knew it was coming, but it still floored me.
RSN: How about the game itself — were you pretty nervous?
JB: Tuesday and Wednesday I was with the big league team, and I felt fine — no butterflies. Thursday morning I had breakfast with my family and girlfriend who had flown in for the game. I still felt fine. I was wondering when it was going to hit me. Before the game, I'm warming up and notice that Carlton Fisk is watching me. He tells me to not change anything, to just relax. I thought to myself, man, that's Carlton Fisk telling me that. But I still felt fine. Walking in from the bullpen to the dugout, I couldn't believe how good I felt. But then when I got to the mound and Ron Karkovice squatted behind the plate, suddenly I couldn't feel my legs! It felt like everyone in the stands was looking right at me, and from there the first inning was like a blur. I actually threw my first pitch for a strike — somehow. I ended up giving up a three run homer to Mike MacFarlane with two out, but that probably actually helped me relax. It felt awful when he hit it, but I was able to settle in afterwards.
RSN: You pitched in the playoffs in 1993. From a player's perspective, how different is the atmosphere in the postseason?
JB: Everything is magnified. The game I pitched was in SkyDome, and while a home game would have been nicer, it was still awesome. For me?I was just a wide-eyed rookie. But guys that had been around awhile? They'd walk into the clubhouse and be all pumped up, too. That's what you play the other six months for — to have a chance to win the big prize.
RSN: I understand that you have a pretty good story about a Porsche?
JB: Growing up, a lot of guys like cars and I always wanted to get a Porsche someday. After I signed a free agent contract with the Cubs in 2001, I asked my financial advisor, and he said I could afford one. Of course, he also told me it wasn't a good investment. But I bought one anyway, and after waiting a long time for it, it finally got delivered to me in Chicago. The next day we were playing in Milwaukee, and as it's only about seventy miles, the team let us drive there if we wanted. So I did, and the doorman at the Hyatt let me park it under the awning after the game. I then went to meet Jeff D'Amico for dinner and a few drinks, and told him about my new car. He decided he wanted to see it, so we walked back to the hotel. When we got there it was gone, so I asked where it was. The doorman said the guy had come to pick it up. I asked, "What guy?," and he said that a guy had come out of the bar and said it was his, so he gave him the keys. At first I thought it might be one of the guys on the team playing a joke on me, but it was getting pretty late and I realized that wasn't the case.
RSN: So, what happened?
JB: A little while later, the front desk called and said the guy brought the car back and then left. Apparently he had just taken it for a joyride. I said, "Wait, we were just down there talking about a stolen Porsche, and you let the guy leave?" So we had the car fingerprinted, and someone did end up confessing to taking it. But as the guy wasn't in possession of it, and there was no damage, there wasn't much we could do. With a brand new Porsche with maybe one-hundred miles on it, I'll admit that I felt a little violated by the whole thing.
RSN: I assume you've felt a lot of frustration in your career due to injuries, especially in recent years.
JB: I have. The last two years weren't much fun, because I wasn't a ballplayer. I was rehabbing. The work was hard, and the mental was a lot harder than the physical. In '03, I had rested and rehabbed from shoulder surgery and threw a side here at Fenway and couldn't get through it. I tried to pitch anyway, in Detroit, but after an inning it was apparent that I was done. It was killing me. In '04, I had elbow surgery for a nerve problem that caused my hand to go numb. But I still wanted to make it back, so I showed up last year with Cleveland. I stayed in extended and then went to Buffalo, but my shoulder starting hurting again. At that point I decided it was time. My wife and I have both been through a lot— all the rehabbing and travel. We have two kids, ages seven and six, and a baseball life is what it is. I always felt privileged to put on a big league uniform, but it was time to move on.
RSN: Now that your playing career is over, what comes next?
JB: It's not official yet, but there's a good chance that I'll be working as a special assistant to the GM in Cleveland. It would be an evaluating role, which is something I think will come naturally for me. As a pitcher, I was always evaluating players that I was going to be facing. Being offered a job like this is actually a little like being signed to pitch somewhere. Everyone needs pitching, but they want you. I feel fortunate to have a chance to stay in the game. For a long time, all I've known is playing baseball.
