Tony Watson
Robby Incmikoski: All right, here we go. The first thing I want to talk about is calling PNC Park your home. When you look back on your playing career, just how beautiful a ballpark is that? How much of a privilege or a pleasure—whatever word you want to use for it—was it like pitching in what people widely regard as the best ballpark in baseball? What was that like day to day, calling it your home stadium?
Tony Watson: This is an interesting question, because people have asked this a lot. Because it is, I think, hands down probably the nicest park that everybody kind of—opinions vary, but for the most part, PNC’s their top one, two for sure. And in the moment, from 2011 to 2017, it was just that’s your home park. This is where you park. This is the [inaudible[ you walk to. This is—Bill the door guy—it’s like the normal stuff that you just take for granted like this is your day-to-day. I didn’t really have the full respect for what it was until I left and came back, and you’re on the visiting side and you come out and you see it from a whole different vantage point. Seeing the skyscrapers behind, the bridges—everything just looks so picturesque, and then it’s a unique ballpark, where everybody’s kind of on top of you, and the sound reverberates a little bit different there. The people are a little bit more passionate in a different way there, and it’s just a very unique setting—almost like a, got that homey old-school vibe, as opposed to these new stadiums. They did a really nice job on creating that and bringing that back to life. And so it’s just a really cool place. The fans feel close to you; the backstop seems close—everything just seems really intimate there, but it’s all really well-maintained. Everything’s clean. I was always amazed at how clean the tunnels were, like the service tunnels.
Robby Incmikoski: Uh-huh.
Tony Watson: I mean, seriously, you go to some of these stadiums, you’re like, “What?” Like it reeks of trash, and outside it’s really nice, but in—PNC, they keep that thing, the thing is sharp, so while I was playing, while I was in it, guess I didn’t take it for granted, but it was just, “Hey, this is our home ballpark, this is where we are, and this is how it is.” But coming from a different place, where you’re—like even when I went to San Francisco, that’s a beautiful ballpark, but in its own different way. Coming back to PNC, where there’s not a ton of signage out there. You not, they’re not commercializing that thing, but it was just a really, really unique place to play.
Robby Incmikoski: You know, it’s interesting said it, ’cause I was gonna ask this. With the exception of those two months you spent with the Dodgers after the trade deadline, you went from Pittsburgh, short stint Dodgers, but then to San Francisco—which people also talk about as one of the most beautiful ballparks in major league baseball. What was it like having those two as your home ballpark for essentially the bulk of your career?
Tony Watson: Yeah, it was great. San Francisco is really cold. The fans out there are great; but they got three World Series in five years, and they were selling out every night, and stadium office is on top of stuff. The in-between-innings stuff is on point. You know, the fan interaction out there is really, really well done. And it’s just a unique atmosphere, because it is cold, I think. I think some people don’t realize, you know, when the sun goes down out there, and the wind starts swirling around, it can get chilly. And as a visitor, it was nice to go there in August and have a three-day break or four-day break of the 100 percent humidity and go in there and just have a little break, and bullpens weren’t in the outfield then, so it was like unique, where you were in the dugout. I liked it as a visitor. I really did. Like it was cool to be—you’re always with the guys in the dugout, and it’s a different experience when you’re there as a home player and you’re, you have to do the dugout and the bullpen’s in the dugout for eighty-one days, it’s a little different circumstance. They did a really good job, and there’s a room underneath on the home side where, back when you could have the TVs by the dugout, so the game’s live and you don’t feel like you’re in the hitter’s position player’s way. That was always kinda the thing. Like, if a guy’s striking out, he doesn’t want to like middle reliever at the end of the bench, you know. He wants to just go down and vent on his own and do his thing, so really a unique—and then when Bochy—or the manager—calls, and it’s Chinese fire drill getting out of the dugout and scrambling down, bullpen’s on the field. That’s a whole different experience. And you know, the fans are right there on you. You’re trying to get loose, hot quick. There is no phone; you’re just watching the game situation unfold right in front of you.
Robby Incmikoski: Right.
Tony Watson: The left fielder seems like he’s sitting there and you can touch him. So that’s a whole different animal. You know, like Wrigley Field had the bullpens on the mount—or on the field—but you’re sitting in them. So it’s a unique—you know, Tampa’s the same way. Oakland, I think they’re, honestly, they’re all dying out. So that was a whole unique situation to get used to. But as far as aesthetically and stadium atmosphere, yeah, those two always come up in the top.
Robby Incmikoski: You know, you raised an interesting point. I forgot to ask Kontos this as a home player. I’m glad I talked to you. Because I talked to Kontos about like pitching at ATT Park, what the challenges are. We’ll talk about that in a second, but how crazy is that? Like, you’re right, if a guy strikes out or the opposite and you’re there, and a guy hits a homer, where you’re usually not in the dugout high-fiving the guy?
Tony Watson: Right.
Robby Incmikoski: [Inaudible] right? Just how different that is to setting, and it’s at the major league level. Like, where you have to—“[Inaudible], go get hot.” You have to run.
Tony Watson: Right.
Robby Incmikoski: [Inaudible] are wearing you out. I know Wrigley, I’ve heard guys say all kinds of s***t that people would say to them, you know.
Tony Watson: Right.
Robby Incmikoski: What’s that dynamic like as opposed to the other twenty-nine parks?
Tony Watson: Yeah, so at the time when I was on the field, it’s different because, you know, relievers are a creature of habit, so you have your routines and you’re doing your routines, so as a visitor, you’re going in there, and all of a sudden, everything’s f***ked up for three or four days.
Robby Incmikoski: Yeah.
Tony Watson: So where am I stretching, where am I leaving my glove? Like, where’s my glove if I gotta get hot, where’s it at? I need it somewhere that I can grab it quick. Where are the balls? Where’s the bullpen catcher gonna be? Like, how do we get down here as quick and efficiently as possible?
Robby Incmikoski: Uh-huh.
Tony Watson: And San Francisco, I don’t think people realize either, is, the clubhouse is just like twenty-five steps away. It’s up that tunnel, and then the service tunnel’s there. But next to the service tunnel is the suite holder, so that like that concourse is active as you’re going in and out of the clubhouse there. So that was a whole different dynamic where you’re running up to the clubhouse, or you’re walking up to the clubhouse after a bad outing or a good outing, and somebody’s getting their Nachos, like thirty-five, forty feet away, and it’s like, “Oh, hey.” So that was always different, but the whole dynamic of just like sitting in there as a home player, took some seasoning to get used to. But you just, you know, you follow the guys’ leads. Luckily, we had a veteran group out there, a lot of guys who had been there for a while, so they were good. Nobody’s getting in each other’s way. Everybody had a good feel, and it was kinda cool once you got used to it and started jiving with the guys and figuring out your routines and how you can make this work in the cages underneath or up in the weight room in the clubhouse, it worked well.
Robby Incmikoski: You pitched in Kansas City before, haven’t you?
Tony Watson: Mm-hmm.
Robby Incmikoski: You mentioned the concourses. How [inaudible] did that place smell as you got out to the buses when you walked out?
Tony Watson: Yeah, I mean there’s some. I always think of Yankee Stadium. Like people think of Yankee Stadium.
Robby Incmikoski: That’s another one too. I forgot about that. Yeah, [inaudible] walk right by out there.
Tony Watson: It’s huge and beautiful, then you get off the bus, and it just reeks of trash. Like man, there’s like oil spills all over the concourse. Like shredded boxes, you know, broken-down boxes everywhere. It’s like, come on, we’re being picky here, but . . .
Robby Incmikoski: Yeah.
Tony Watson: PNC, compared to PNC, that thing was spotless.
Robby Incmikoski: Oh, no question. I want to ask you something else, kind of funny. And I’m gonna ask multiple relievers this question as I talk to them. So you’re in Miami as a visitor, and the Clevelander is right next door.
Tony Watson: Right.
Robby Incmikoski: What is that vibe like, sitting in that bullpen?
Tony Watson: Yeah, that’s . . .
Robby Incmikoski: Girls got no, topless, painted on and everything, and there’s a frickin’ baseball game being played?
Tony Watson: Right, I mean, that was a whole—so the first year we went in there, I remember they had mentioned it to us that it was gonna happen, and the first year, we were switched how it is now, I believe. So the first year we were actually in right field I want to say.
Robby Incmikoski: Okay, yeah.
Tony Watson: And then the next year—
Robby Incmikoski: Left field. Yeah.
Tony Watson: The Marlins realized that, hey, this might be a little advantage for us. Let’s swap. And so we went in back in there. So there first year was ’12, I believe.
Robby Incmikoski: It was, yeah.
Tony Watson: In ’13, we went back in there. I mean, we were next to the Clevelander, and it was like okay, this is a club. I think we were in there on like a weekday, and you now, school was still in session. It wasn’t a big crowd. It wasn’t like the weekend Clevelander crowd. there was a few people in there. And then all of a sudden, we look, you know, it’s like they got the DJ going. What you can understand, though, us when you’re at the dugout all the way on the first-base side, or even the third-base side where the Marlins are, even though they have no fans in the stadium, you can hear like the pulsing of the DJ, but you can’t actually hear how loud it is in there. It’s something about the acoustics of the roof, I think. But, I mean, it’s bumping. Like they’re going [inaudible], and then all of a sudden, you look over in like the third inning, and there’s this chick topless, getting her body paint, on like a Tuesday in Miami. It’s like, “What are we doing?” And it was, I mean, obviously, the most unique bullpen out there at that time when that stuff was going on. And then, literally, it’s a glass, double-paned glass panel away.
Robby Incmikoski: Yeah.
Tony Watson: And [inaudible] the bullpen catcher, is sitting there, and he’s from Miami, and he’s just shaking his head like, “Yeah, this is Miami.” It’s like, you know, she’s ten feet away. I’m getting ready to go in and try to get out the middle of the order.
Robby Incmikoski: Right. That’s what I’m saying. So how unique is that? Like as you’re like you’re trying to get, I mean, what if you’re getting into a 3/3 game, and it’s the bottom of the eighth inning, and you gotta face Stanton and [inaudible] or whatever? You know what I mean?
Tony Watson: Right.
Robby Incmikoski: [Inaudible] back in the day. I mean, what the hell is that like getting warmed up there versus any other ballpark?
Tony Watson: Well, I mean, it’s different because that glass panel is there, so it’s like you can’t, and actually, your back is—it’s probably worse for the bullpen catcher, honestly, ’cause he’s just staring back there the whole time, looking over your shoulder. But like how they have it so you’re pitching away from the action. But when you go back in there on a weekend, when it’s a little bit more crowded, and people are a little, having one too many cocktails, I mean, then it’s like you’re zoo animals. Back to the zoo animals. And they’re, you now, up up against that glass, and there, you know, it’s Miami. there’s people’s not wearing anything. So it’s like not only the girl on the pole, but it’s just the guests of the bar as well.
Robby Incmikoski: That’s incredible, man. I couldn’t wait to, I can’t wait to put that story in the book. So few people realize what that was. Hey, another thing I want to ask you about is playing in the Wild Card game. I actually, yesterday or a couple days ago, we talked to Sam LeCure, who pitched for the Reds. And I talked to Neil Walker. I talked to a few people that played in that 2013 Wild Card game. And Sam had a real interesting perspective from a visitor’s standpoint. He pitched the bottom of the eighth. You pitched the top half of the eighth inning. How would you describe that game as opposed to any other game you pitched in your entire big-league career? Not just the fact that the Pirates won that game, you know, Cueto dropping the ball and all that, but just what that represented for the city of Pittsburgh. What was it like for you, now that your career’s over, to look back on that game?
Tony Watson: Yeah, I think that Cueto dropping the ball is like, that’s what everybody remembers. But like for how meaningful that was for the city of Pittsburgh and the organization of the Pirates organization, I think that should trump everything because of, you know—I think about Greg Brown, Greg Johnson, the people that have been there when they were good before, and then went through all those lean years where it was—I mean, it was pretty hard times in Pittsburgh.
Robby Incmikoski: Yeah.
Tony Watson: And for us to be the group to be able to bring that back, and bring the—I remember it was a blackout. I remember seeing people on the bridges. I remember Clint Barmes telling us how playoff baseball would be different. And you’re like, “Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.” But then, he was like, “No. The anthem matters!” It’s like, “Oh, sure. Okay, yeah. Like, okay.” And then it was like, “Hey, first pitch of the game matters.” Like ball or strike matters. Everybody’s on edge. And then going in for the intros, it was like, “Holy s***t, he’s right.” There’s not an empty seat in this place, and it’s standing room only right now, and everybody’s wearing black shirts, and it’s loud. And I remember, like I spoke on earlier, how the stadium’s, you know, they’re on top of you.
Robby Incmikoski: Yeah.
Tony Watson: It’s close to the action, even the second deck. That stadium that night was the loudest until I played the World Series in Houston, inside, but that’s the loudest outdoor for sure that I’ve been in, and it’s a different—like David Freese always talks about the sound that’s coming. It’s not like [inaudible] like scream. It’s like a deep, it was like deeply rooted, like getting this out of us, yell for the night, like they were—it was a lot of pent-up tension. And when we started taking the lead, when Russ hit that homer, I mean, that was one of the most electric crowd noises that I’ve ever experienced in my life. And then as you could see the game unfolding and Grilli got the last out, I believe, and what it meant for, not only the guys on the team that, you know, put up 162. The one-game playoff, that’s a mess. But getting through that and going on to the DS, but also just like, getting on the buses after and flying to St. Louis and seeing the people still out and celebrating, it was really unique and special to be a part of, for sure.
Robby Incmikoski: Tony, what do you—I’m assuming, totally assuming, when Russ hit that homer, you were in the bullpen. Is that right?
Tony Watson: Yeah.
Robby Incmikoski: What was the vibe in the bullpen like when he swung?
Tony Watson: So I’ll never forget—he dropped the ball. Because the bullpen, for people that don’t know, it’s like stacked—home’s in the back, visitors is right up front on the fence line. And so you kinda get blocked off when the visitors are sitting there on the chain. You can’t really see. So when Jonny dropped the ball, you didn’t in live, I couldn’t really tell what was going on live. I just knew that like, “Oh, he dropped the ball.” But it could have been the [inaudible] from back there. You don’t know.
Robby Incmikoski: Right.
Tony Watson: And then the chats just echoing from the upper deck when they started. I remember listening to that, because we had like more of a vantage point on the left, high left-field foul pole down there. It kinda raps around by the Rotunda.
Robby Incmikoski: Yep.
Tony Watson: It felt like the chant was just right on top of us, and then it just like slowly waved towards home plate. I mean, that was pretty, that was like goose bumps, hearing those fans chant that and then him drop the ball. Russ hits the homer. I’ll never forget this. The Reds’ phone’s ringing, the bullpen’s phone is ringing, and nobody could hear. And only one guy in the pen. I would love to know, Sam actually knew, but one guy in the pen’s screaming at the bullpen coach that the phone’s ringing. And we’re talking—this thing’s like ten feet away, But that place was one of the loudest—that moment right there was definitely the loudest outdoor stadium events that I’ve been at in baseball.
Robby Incmikoski: As an offshoot, and I’m pretty sure you remember these guys ’cause I interviewed the main guy, do you remember the Renegades of the Rotunda, right? The guys all the way up top that dress like Pirates.
Tony Watson: They have the sign hanging over?
Robby Incmikoski: Yep. Yep, exactly. So you know those guys. As a player, how much do you appreciate seeing that blind support through good seasons and bad? What kind of appreciation do you have for those guys that have stuck through it all?
Tony Watson: Yeah, I mean, each stadium has one, each city has them. I mean, there’s multiple, I mean, you’ve seen it as you go through stadiums. Sometimes, if you’re fortunate to play for a long time and go into these stadiums over and over and over, you get to see the same people over and over and over. And that’s not just service workers. That’s like fans too, the ones that come out early for BP, like I always think about in Arizona, Flag Lady. She’s up in the upper deck.
Robby Incmikoski: Oh yeah. Her name is, Rally Sally is her name.
Tony Watson: Yeah, and then you got like Susan, the best in a million years. She’s at every Arizona fall league game too. It’s like they’re the same people every year. I mean, in San Francisco, we had Billy. He was this homeless guy that would come around, and he could be at every game, and all of a sudden, he’d show up in San Diego. Took the Amtrak down. It’s like they’re diehard fans, so I don’t know if it’s different because you’re in the bullpen, so you’re kind of separated from the dugout. So like that’s kinda where some of these unique characters start to lurk around and they’re sitting out there and you see them more. And maybe you’re not focused on the game all the time, and you chat with them or see what’s going on with them. Or you see the same faces, like especially in bullpens, like you’ll see in some of season ticketholders that have the same seats every year. I remember in Chicago, we—when we were on the field pre . . .
Robby Incmikoski: Before they remodeled, yeah.
Tony Watson: . . . renovation. And then all of a sudden, these people had been there for season tickets, and all of a sudden, it’s “Hey, you’re gonna be in the seventh row ’cause we’re getting rid of the bullpens, and we’re extending down. Do you want to keep them or not?” It’s like man, that’s tough.
Robby Incmikoski: Yeah.
Tony Watson: For thirty years, and now they’re in the seventh row. But it’s the same characters every weekend series we go in. It’s the same husband and wife saying hi, and it’s like, “I have no idea who you are. You have no idea who I am other than we’re here at the Wrigley at the same time.”
Robby Incmikoski: That’s great. 2014 All-Star game. Oh wait. One other thing I want to ask you. ’Cause you’re a funny dude. I know it’ll give us some good insight. How do you describe the first like four or five innings of a game in a bullpen? What goes on in the bullpen the first couple innings? Just give fans some insight, like what is the chatter like? What is the vibe like? Like do you sit there and see who can shoot a sunflower seed the furthest? You know, like what kind of hijinks go on the first few innings?
Tony Watson: Yeah, I think it all depends on where you are in your career too. I mean, if you’re early in your career, everybody’s down there. So if you’re service time, if you’re first year, second year, third year, like your ass better be down there in the bullpen for all nine innings, and . . .
Robby Incmikoski: Right.
Tony Watson: You know, the long guy’s gotta be ready to go. There’s been a couple times where we’re f***ing around down there, d***ing around, and the long guy’s upstairs. It’s like the starter’s struggling to get out of the first. He’s at forty pitches. The phone’s ringing. “Where’s the long guy?” Oh, s***t. Like this isn’t good. Like we’re all gonna wear this because we f***ked up. We got scrambled trying to figure it out. You know, call time. Get a mound visit. Figure out how to get the golf card from the clubhouse to the bullpen. Like stuff like that. Those are rare occasions, I would say.
Robby Incmikoski: Of course.
Tony Watson: Probably happens three times in my career. But as far as like what we’re doing, first inning, usually, you know, as—when I started my career, we’d all walk down after the anthem. Then we’d mess around. Like we’re watching the game, but like we’re anticipating that the starter’s going to get us at least four or five innings, you know what I mean?
Robby Incmikoski: Right.
Tony Watson: Each game’s a little different, but in the fifth inning, we called it like “halftime.” Everybody would start to move around, stretch a little bit, start their routines for getting ready, whatever they gotta do. And then, earlier in my career, Clint Hurdle was our ran manager. He kinda had it the old-school way, where we’d slot out, you know—six, seven, eight, you know matchups. We had the lefties, righties, but—and then you had your closer. So it was a lot easier for guys to fall into, “Hey, we’re winning; hey we’re losing; these are the guys; these are the guys.” Today’s game’s a lot different than that. But that’s how it was earlier. You know, shoot the s***t, see what’s going on. These are the times where we’d start to recognize, you know, the lurkers, the fans that are always there. You know, small talk with them. Occasionally see what’s going on with the other guys. You know, some of these bullpens, they’re split, and you could chat with them real quick and see what’s going on on the other side.
Robby Incmikoski: Right.
Tony Watson: Shared bullpens. And then once the fifth inning starts though, really, after everybody stretches, it gets really quiet down there. Everybody’s locked in. Sixth inning, waiting, watching the game a lot more intently, situations that are arising. Bullpen coach has the lineup up, somebody’s keeping the chart, so we know who’s pinch-hitting, available, who’s not pinch-hitting, who’s out, who they might bring in matchup wise, stuff that we talked about. There’s stats all over. But then as I got older in my career, you start, “Hey, I’m not gonna pitch until later in the game. I’m gonna sit in the dugout for the first inning.” So I sat in the dugout, watched our pitcher pitch for the first inning, had a Red Bull, sat with the starters, bullsh*tted with them, seeing what’s going on. The guys that aren’t, the starting pitchers that aren’t pitching. Sometimes I asked them about different situations, but depending on the stadium, like maybe you start looking around a little bit and see what’s going on in the stadium, see who’s filing in for—season ticketholders, stuff like that—watch us hit. Then I’d go upstairs, get my stuff done in the trainer room, weight room, and head back out to the bullpen in the fourth or fifth inning. And that way it was just a lot easier for me to keep my body going. And a lot of guys are doing that now, especially today’s game is different, with different routines and different options available that weren’t there ten years ago to get yourself ready. So there’s always something going on, for the most part. And I think probably the only consistently in the bullpen people are the bullpen coaches and the bullpen catchers.
Robby Incmikoski: Right, yeah.
Tony Watson: And there’s a lot of nervous energy down there too. It’s like, over the course of a year, some guy’s riding a hot streak, so he’s chatty. He might be a happy pitch guy. One guy’s not having a good outing. He’s on a rough stretch, so he’s got some nervous energy, and you want him to do well. Everybody’s pulling for each other, but . . .
Robby Incmikoski: Right.
Tony Watson: There’s seven, eight guys with different energy levels going on down there.
Robby Incmikoski: You know, Tony, a few other things, and I’m gonna let you roll, but in 2014, you made seventy-eight appearances and had an ERA of 1.63. Again, I know the answer to this, but just from your perspective, and I don’t want you to really talk about yourself, but just hard is that to have an ERA a hair above one and a half. It’s almost in every other game that year. You were an All-Star. What people fail to understand—they can look at a relief pitcher’s ERA and see it might start with a four, five, or six, but you could have twenty-five scoreless outings and you could have gave up eight runs without getting an out on one outing, you know what I mean? And that skews a reliever’s ERA big time. You can’t look at reliever ERA. You know, you can’t look at it. But when I see 78 games, I see 77⅓ innings pitched, and at ERA of 1.63—how f***ing hard is that? That’s hard to do.
Tony Watson: Yeah, I mean, the biggest thing is you’ve got to post. The ERA for me as a reliever, obviously that’s the baseball-card stats everybody sees right away.
Robby Incmikoski: Right.
Tony Watson: Like “He’s got a 1.6,” or whatever it is, 1.5. He pitched well, but there’s so many underlying factors. Like I wasn’t a big strikeout guy, so I was able to pitch efficiently, get the ball on the ground. We had good defense, we had great positioning. By getting the ball on the ground, I was able to keep myself more readily available ’cause I wasn’t throwing a lot of pitches.
Robby Incmikoski: Okay.
Tony Watson: It was back-to-back, stuff like that. The biggest thing that I prided myself on—I figured it out from José Veras and Juan Cruz early in 2012 when I was getting, Clint was using his pre-three-pitch batter minimum, you know.
Robby Incmikoski: Right.
Tony Watson: The lefty could just go all the time. And that was the first year that I had really been a fulltime bullpen guy.
Robby Incmikoski: Right.
Tony Watson: And I was like, I’ve gotta figure out a way. And they kept preaching the best way to do it is just keep your body going, but keep posting up. And if you post up over the course of 162 games, and you keep going, you don’t worry about your stats, at the end of the year, you look up be like, “Oh, s***t, I got a chance to do something here, right?. I’ve had a pretty good year—let’s finish this strong.” Or “I needed to get my ass going in September, you know. I had a rough stretch here.”
Robby Incmikoski: Yeah.
Tony Watson: That’s just kinda what I did over the course of the year. Seventy-eight games, though. I didn’t know I was signing up for that. I mean, that was almost every other day. And then ironically, later in my career, I played with Will Smith and walked into the Giants clubhouse, and the first thing—Will’s great. Like awesome dude.
Robby Incmikoski: Funny dude. I’ve met him a few times, yeah.
Tony Watson: Yeah, he’s great. And first thing he said was, “Hey, man, in 2014, I knew I had to pitch three days in a row because we were playing the Brewers in the last series of the game, and he and I were like neck and neck for league lead. And he said, his manager, I think his manager at the time was—
Robby Incmikoski: Ron Roenicke.
Tony Watson: Ron Roenicke. And Ron asked him, “Hey,”—They were out of it. “Do you want to pitch, do you want to be available today.” And he was like, “Yeah, because I know that Watson’s gonna pitch today. So I need to—like I don’t want him to win outright. I need him to tie.” So I think we ended up tying at seventy-eight apiece, and that was his intro. “Hey, how’s it going? I’m Will.” And so he and I joked about it, but yeah, it was just like try to keep yourself available. I know like nowadays we got workload management stuff and they’re all in on it, but that’s how I was brought up with my veteran guys. It’s, “Hey, if you can post, you’ll get out there. Manager’s going to trust you, depend on you. Go out there and just do your thing.” It’s not be every night. You know that.
Robby Incmikoski: Yeah. Yeah, of course.
Tony Watson: There were times, I mean, I remember an opening day, I gave up a three-run homer to Todd Frazier one year in Cincinnati, and it was like, “Well, my ERA’s like a thirty-six right now or something, like this one’s maybe infinity. Like this one’s gonna be hard to come by.” And I remember—it was the writer—DK—and after the game, yeah in Pittsburgh, he came up and said, “Well, you gotta go on a little hot streak now.” And I was like, “Wow, yeah, I do. That’s gonna be a long time for that thing to come back down.” Just kept chipping away, and it did eventually.
Robby Incmikoski: And the following year, seventy-seven games, a 1.91. Year after that, seventy-one games under 3½. And then in ’18, you pitched in seventy-two games and were you were at a 2½. Those are some good, good-ass numbers. Anyways, I don’t want to get too much into the minutiae of the numbers, but the All-Star Game. Can you just tell us, Where were you? Can you tell us what you remember about the exact moment where you were when you found out you made the All-Star game in 2014? And what was that like, and how did your teammates react, and who did you call, what was it like with your family?
Tony Watson: Yeah, I remember I think Clint told me before. Clint Hurdle told me before it actually happened. I think Neal Huntington might have been in the office as well. And then they did like the team announcement. You know, they call everybody in the clubhouse. And it was Cutch, Jay Hay, and I, I believe. Josh Harrison, Andy McCutcheon and I.
Robby Incmikoski: Yeah.
Tony Watson: And so we—I mean, he announced it. At the time, I believe Mike Matheny was the manager, and I believe that the coaches had a pick. And that’s how Jay Hay and I were able to get on. A lot of that, I believe, was because Clint was pitching me a lot against Mike Matheny when we played the Cardinals every series.
Robby Incmikoski: Okay.
Tony Watson: [Inaudible] back and forth. And I had a lot of success. Jay Hay was balling out. I mean, he had a great year. That was kind of his coming out party.
Robby Incmikoski: We interviewed him for the book. We talked about that. Yep.
Tony Watson: Yeah, and then Clint was actually, I believe he was an assistant coach in the All-Star Game.
Robby Incmikoski: He was.
Tony Watson: And so it was really unique to have four of us there. And then, at the time, my wife, Cassie, was pregnant with our first. So called her first, called my dad, called my agent. Got it all squared away. And then, it’s kind of a whirlwind, ’cause it happens and then you got like a week, five days or whatever, to kind of scramble and get tickets. I was in Minneapolis at the time. I grew up in Des Moines, so it was only three hours away. So it’s convenient for family and friends to get up there, so a really, really special occasion and definitely one of the highlights of my career.
Robby Incmikoski: Glen Perkins told us a funny story. He told a hilarious story for the book. I don’t know if you remember, but do you remember who sun the anthem that year?
Tony Watson: She was on—
Robby Incmikoski: Yeah.
Tony Watson: “Let It Go” girl, right?
Robby Incmikoski: Right.
Tony Watson: Idina—
Robby Incmikoski: It was Idina Menzel.
Tony Watson: Yeah.
Robby Incmikoski: So, Perk’s daughters at the time were six and eight. And he says—Idina Menzel was there and he was on the field. He said, “Oh my God. Can my daughters meet you?” And Idina said, “Yes, can you get me a ball autographed by Derek Jeter?” So Perk tells the story how he had to sheepishly walk up to Derek Jeter and say, “Hey, man, I know you barely know me, but can sign a ball so my daughters can meet Idina Manzel?” So he tells that story, which is pretty good. But which kinda leads to my question. Look, I can’t even, if we did the math on how many players, like what percentage of players not only make the major leagues, but make an All-Star team, it’s infinitesimal, the odds, to get there, right? And you did it. Talked to Capps about this too. He made an All-Star team in 2010. How do you describe the feeling when you step into that clubhouse with the greatest players in the entire world, and here you come in for your first time and you’re one of them? What’s that like?
Tony Watson: Yeah, I mean, I think the first thing—it wasn’t even the clubhouse—it was just getting on the bus to go over to the workout before the Home Run Derby.
Robby Incmikoski: Right, okay.
Tony Watson: In a major-league bus, there’s usually two buses, and like the veterans are up front, and then it kinda goes by service time to the back, and you know, the younger buys double up. Well, I hopped on this bus, and it’s like the All-Star bus. Every single guy is doubled up, and nobody gave a s***t. And it was like, “We’re going to the All-Star Game. We’re a bunch of frickin’ kids right now.” We’re the All-Stars, and we’re all doubled up going over to the stadium. And then you walk into the clubhouse, and there’s just s***t everywhere. I mean, I know guys talked about, “Get your jerseys out early for autographs,” or if you want memorabilia of some sort, like get it out there on the table early.” And I was always like, “What’s the table?” And you walk in, and no s***t, there’s a table right in the middle of a court—lockers on the outside, and there’s a table right in the middle. And there’s just jerseys, jerseys, jerseys, jerseys. And you now, something on the table, you go up and sign. So I remember that, and then I remember just like the gear that the—Nike, Adidas, the companies, the boxes of s***t that was there, like All-Star gifts.
Robby Incmikoski: Yeah.
Tony Watson: I remember thinking like, “What the hell am I going to do with all this stuff?” How am I gonna—the clubbies come up, you know. It’s like, “Hey, we’ll box it up at the end. We’ll ship it out.” It’s like, “Oh, that’s outstanding.” “Okay, here’s your tickets. All the logistics.” ’Cause it’s quick. You’re there less than forty-eight hours, and you’re doing a Home Run Derby, media stuff, workout.
Robby Incmikoski: Right.
Tony Watson: Dinners, family and friends are in. Walked to my locker. Bumgarner—hadn’t met him. Knew who he was. I was next to the Giants guys, and at the time, they were rolling. So Bum’s a pretty reserved guy. Got to know him later in my career, but at the time . . .
Robby Incmikoski: Was he next to you?
Tony Watson: He was, yes.
Robby Incmikoski: Who was on the other side of you?
Tony Watson: Cutch and Jay Hay. The Pirates guys. But they’re position guys, and the pitchers, you know, were on a different schedule. And I believe Tim Hudson was a Giant at the time. Maybe he was a Brave. But he was an All-Star. I went out—you know, you introduce yourself to guys on the bus or in the lobby of the hotel beforehand. Everybody kind of knows who everybody is, but you don’t—you know, it’s like I remember sitting with Paul Goldschmidt and Anthony Rizzo for a while. Rizzo’s brother’s giving him s***t because he can’t hit lefties. He’s like, “This is the guy, he comes in and you can’t hit him.” And he’s like, “Yeah, bug off.” And it’s just like, you know, they’re just normal dudes, but they’re really good at baseball. And then you go out and you play catch—I remember I didn’t have a throwing partner, and Tim Hudson said, “You wanna play catch?” And I was like, “Yeah, sure, let’s do it. How far are you going?” He’s like, “Sixty feet.” I was like, “Yep, you got it. Whatever you say, let’s do it.” And so played catch with him, did all that stuff. I just remember the banter back and forth. Some of the guys that had grown up with each other, which is crazy to think about. Played, you know, youth against each other, known each other for a long time. It was just normal clubhouse banter back and forth. Freddie Freeman was loud and going back and forth with the guys all the time, and I just remember like Aroldis Chapman was just, dudes like enormous, like, “Holy s***t. Like Greek god.” [Inaudible] same thing. It’s like, “Wow. These guys are [inaudible].” But then getting out there, I thought it was Jeter’s last . . .
Robby Incmikoski: Yeah.
Tony Watson: Last go.
Robby Incmikoski: It was.
Tony Watson: So that was really cool to, you know, share the field with that whole thing, the ceremony, him walking off in the middle. I remember the first play of the game. I think Cutch grounded out up the middle, and it was a bang-bang play. And it was like, Jeter was like, got the ball.
Robby Incmikoski: He singled.
Tony Watson: Yeah, it was like a bang-bang play. And it was like, “The old man’s still got a little bit. Like, he can still play.” So it was cool. And then, just out in the bullpen there. Kay Rod’s walking out with a huge bag of chew, and just the stories those guys were telling, like, you know, that’s the stuff that, you know—we went up there for one pitch. But like, just out there, like the stuff that you don’t see, the fans don’t see, that’s the stuff I remember. Like the bullsh*t in the clubhouse, bullsh*t in the dugout after. After the game, how fast people got out of there to enjoy their All-Star break.
Robby Incmikoski: Yeah, of course. You know, it was Jose Abreu who you faced in that All-Star game.
Tony Watson: Yeah.
Robby Incmikoski: But getting in. Even though it’s an exhibition game, you know, the home field, we’re not talking about that. But just that fact that it’s an exhibition game, but every eye, like you have every sports fan’s eye that night.
Tony Watson: Yeah.
Robby Incmikoski: Were nerves any different? Was it different warming up that night as opposed to any other game in your career? What was it like warming up in the bullpen, but then warming up on the mound? Like you started the eighth inning?
Tony Watson: Yeah, it was different because it was all scripted. So like, spring training could be a scripted game where like, “Hey, you’re gonna throw this.”
Robby Incmikoski: You know when you’re going in the game, yeah.
Tony Watson: Right. So Mike Matheny beforehand had said, “Hey, you’re gonna throw this inning,” and then it didn’t happen. And then you’re thinking, “Okay, like, you know, they’ve gotta get the closers in at the end.” And like, that’s how it happens. Like, you gotta get the guys in, so, but I knew that Chapman and I were gonna split an inning. So he said, I guess he threw me in against Jose Abreu, who at the time was breaking out and like . . .
Robby Incmikoski: Oh yeah.
Tony Watson: Killing lefties, and I thought it would be like the play on the Cuban, like Jose Abreu and Aroldis Chapman. Like, I thought that was how it was gonna go. So I went in, and I had Abreu, and I remember Miguel Montero was catching. He came out to me. Went up to the dugout. He got his gear on. I think Jonathan Lucroy, Miggy Montero like had batted, and so he was getting his gear on. Jonathan Lucroy warmed me up. And I remember feeling, I felt like I was throwing really, really hard, like the adrenaline was going good, but I also didn’t have like the butterflies or the nervous energy that I would have had in a regular season game or a playoff game. It was really kind of a unique situation. But I was definitely amped up, wanted to do well, and then Montero came out. “Hey, one-three wiggle, like fastball-slider-changeup. If there’s a runner on second, I’ll come out and ask.” Whatever. It’s like, “All right, let’s have some fun.”
First pitch—slider. Probably my third-best pitch in a longshot, to a righty especially. I said, and I don’t know what I was thinking, but I just went with it. And honestly, it was probably the best pitch [inaudible]. If I would have thrown a fastball, it would have been deposited in the upper deck, and just missed the slider. Popped it up, all the way up. Todd Frazier camped under it. That was my outing. I remember Clint came out—that was weird—to take me out instead of Mike Matheny. That was different. And then that was it. That was my All-Star game. One pitch.
Robby Incmikoski: That’s quite an ex—I mean, how, again, looking back now that your playing career is over, how great a life story is that to tell?
Tony Watson: Yeah, it’s great. ’Cause I also threw one pitch in a World Series game and got a double play, and that was my outing. So Kevin Rhodes, the video guy with the Pirates, always called me “One-Pitch Watson,” so that’s my MO.
Robby Incmikoski: Where’d you throw that? Were you in Houston or LA?
Tony Watson: In LA. So that was my first World Series outing, and came in. Brian McCann. Sinker [inaudible] a sinker that first pitch—4-6-3 double play, and that was my outing, and I was in line for the win. It was great.
Robby Incmikoski: Did you guys win that game?
Tony Watson: We did not. No, they came back.
Robby Incmikoski: Okay, gotcha. So, that’s unbelievable. One pitch in the All-Star game. One pitch in the World Series. How the hell do you make sense of that?
Tony Watson: That’s how you throw seventy-eight games.
Robby Incmikoski: Hey, one last thing. This is gonna sound out of left field, but I know you well enough, I can ask this question. Can you explain to fans, What is the ass?
Tony Watson: What is the ass?
Robby Incmikoski: Yeah.
Like, “I got the ass”?
Robby Incmikoski: Yeah.
Tony Watson: For me, “getting the ass” is just you’re pissed off. Like I got the ass that, you know, like a manager gets the ass ’cause somebody doesn’t run a double play ball out. Gets the ass ’cause you missed a sign, gets the ass ’cause you didn’t catch the thrown ball. Like fundamental stuff. Player gets the ass at the manager for a double switch. Player gets the ass because he got taken out for a platoon advantage. I can hit this lefty, or I can get this lefty out. I can get this righty out. Leave me in. I got the ass. How long does the ass linger is probably the most important part. You can’t take the ass home I don’t think, you know. Everybody always says you gotta leave the ballpark, you know, as it is, and let it go and go to the next day. The guys that take the ass into the next day and you’ll start seeing, that’s where you lose trust in the manager, lose trust in the teammates. Yeah, what is the ass? That’s a great question. It’s more or less just like you’re bitter, pissed off, in my eyes. I got the ass that the strength coach made me weight in today. Stuff like that. There’s just so many little things over the course eight months. I got the ass that Robby kept asking me the same f***king question early, and he already knew that I—he asked me at my locker and then he asked me postgame as well. You know, there’s just so many things that—I got the ass that so-and-so took my parking spot that I normally park in on start day. Like that stuff happens. There’s just a lot of stuff that goes on throughout the course of a season logistically, support-staff-wise. It’s a lot of moving parts, and it’s easy to get the ass, but you just move on and keep chugging along.
Robby Incmikoski: That’s it. Tony, you are the best, brother. That’s amazing, dude.