Mark DeRosa dishes on past teammates while looking through '90 Topps | Old Baseball Cards
16-year MLB infielder and MLB Network analyst Mark DeRosa joins Yahoo Sports' Mike Oz to sift through packs of 1990 Topps and 1999 Fleer Ultra baseball cards
Video Transcript
MIKE OZ: Hey, I'm Mike Oz from Yahoo Sports. This is Mark DeRosa from MLB Network. And we are gonna open some old baseball cards.
- Here's the pitch. That one is hit well into left center. Going back, Moises Alou. Still going back. He can't get it!
[CROWD CHEERING]
Garcia scores the go-ahead run, and Furcal right behind him. A 2-run double for DeRosa.
- You see a lot of guys-- if you're checking out Bo Bichette tonight, if you're checking out Bregman, even Altuve-- a lot of play with their hands. And I almost feel like they set their hands into a certain position to be able to drop it on-plane and to create massive pop.
MIKE OZ: All right, Mark. In my house, we watch "Good Morning America" and we watch "MLB Central." Those are the things we--
MARK DEROSA: I appreciate that.
MIKE OZ: --watch in the morning.
MARK DEROSA: I need the ratings.
MIKE OZ: So you are Michael-- you're the Michael Strahan of--
MARK DEROSA: Oh, please. Michael Strahan of morning baseball?
MIKE OZ: Yeah. That's what I think.
MARK DEROSA: That's a huge compliment.
MIKE OZ: That's what I think. We're gonna open some baseball cards. You picked 1990--
MARK DEROSA: 1990.
MIKE OZ: --Topps, which-- 30 years ago now. It blows my mind that 1990 was 30 years ago. But here we are. I got some 1999 Fleer Ultra. You were playing at this point.
MARK DEROSA: You went off the grid. I like the Fleer.
MIKE OZ: Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you told me you still have a lot of cards.
MARK DEROSA: I do. I collected as a kid. I grew up in the Northeast, in the Meadowlands by Giants Stadium. And they used to have card shows in those hotels surrounding MetLife Stadium and Giants Stadium back in the day. I used to ride my bike with my buddies.
Don Mattingly rookie, I still have to this day. Tony Gwynn, Wade Boggs, Rickey Henderson-- so the guys that I grew up idolizing, I made sure to grab their cards. And then some I fell in love with never completely panned out. Like Kevin Moss was huge when I was a kid.
MIKE OZ: Yeah. Like my Todd Van Poppel?
MARK DEROSA: Exactly. I remember all of 'em.
MIKE OZ: Let's open it up.
MARK DEROSA: All right, let's see.
MIKE OZ: Let see how who you got in here. 1990 Topps. They look very '90s.
MARK DEROSA: 1990 Topps. We got the gum.
MIKE OZ: You gonna go for it?
MARK DEROSA: I'll wait until the end.
MIKE OZ: Leave 'em wanting more at the end.
MARK DEROSA: A Little Steve Buechele right here. By the way, his son-- college quarterback. He was at Texas and then transferred.
MIKE OZ: Weren't you a college quarterback too?
MARK DEROSA: Yeah.
MIKE OZ: Yeah, see.
MARK DEROSA: Mickey Weston. Mickey Weston, gonna be honest, I don't remember you.
MIKE OZ: I saw the Orioles and I almost thought it was Ben McDonald. And that was gonna be another one of those "when I was a kid guys I wanted."
[RECORD SCRATCH SOUND EFFECT]
You're getting nobody here.
MARK DEROSA: We're struggling right now.
MIKE OZ: You're not gonna talk about anyone?
[CRICKETS CHIRPING]
Can we go back and talk about Danny Darwin's mustache or something?
MARK DEROSA: God, this pack-- see now, I would be chapped if I got this pack.
MIKE OZ: It's just commons? It's just all commons?
MARK DEROSA: It's just a bunch of commons. This is a bunch of Mark DeRosa's right here.
MIKE OZ: Oh, all right.
MARK DEROSA: We're going second pack.
MIKE OZ: We're gonna-- first time in the history of the show we've actually done a mulligan.
MARK DEROSA: Really?
MIKE OZ: Yeah.
MARK DEROSA: Give me somebody good. I mean, do you remember Andy McGaffigan?
MIKE OZ: No.
MARK DEROSA: Yeah, I don't either. A little Jeff Treadway.
MIKE OZ: I remember Jeff Treadway.
MARK DEROSA: Oof.
MIKE OZ: There's a guy.
MARK DEROSA: I played with Ozzie Guillen. Old teammate with the Bravo's. Hilarious, head was always in the stands. He should've been paying attention in the game a little bit more. He was always looking in the stands.
MIKE OZ: Give me your best Ozzie story.
MARK DEROSA: Best Ozzie story--
MIKE OZ: That you can say in--
MARK DEROSA: I think for me, the thing I remember about Ozzie, he was the top-step guy always pulling for his teammates. He always had that little red knee sleeve hanging out of his uniform. Regardless of what we were wearing, he had the little red knee sleeve. I always remember that. Cecilio Guante, pitcher. Yankees-- that's where I remember him. He pitched a little bit with the Yankees.
MIKE OZ: Tim Wallach.
MARK DEROSA: Tim Wallach. He got it done. He got it done on the field, also a great manager, bench coach, the whole deal.
MIKE OZ: I think we get him more than anybody else on this show.
MARK DEROSA: Really?
MIKE OZ: Yeah. He's like the ultimate '80s, '90s-- was just around.
MARK DEROSA: Ooh!
MIKE OZ: There you go.
MARK DEROSA: The hall-of-famer, Jack Morris.
MIKE OZ: Jack Morris. He looks like he's almost like-- "go ahead and try to hit me, go ahead try."
MARK DEROSA: You want to know something? I'm learning something right here.
MIKE OZ: You didn't know he played for the Angels?
MARK DEROSA: I didn't know Dante Bichette even played for the Angels. And soon no one's gonna remember Dante Bichette because of Bo Bichette.
MIKE OZ: Look how he looked like he should have been in a boy band or something though. He had that like-- he has the chain. He has the-- yeah.
MARK DEROSA: I wanted to be Kevin Elster.
MIKE OZ: Oh, there you go.
MARK DEROSA: New York City, handsome as--
MIKE OZ: There's your Mets.
MARK DEROSA: --all get out, could pick it, occasional homer. Bobby-V. See this is a better pack.
MIKE OZ: This is a good pack. This is a good pack. You got a good Bobby-V story? Do you know the wrap? Do you know that thing, that he claims to invent the--
MARK DEROSA: Yes, yes.
MIKE OZ: Is that true? Do you know?
MARK DEROSA: I don't know. I'm not buying it. Mark Lemke. I run into Mark Lemke in Atlanta. I lived there for 20 years, and he's still there. So I run into him a lot.
MIKE OZ: Shout-out to Mark Lemke.
MARK DEROSA: Mark Lemke-- when I think of him, you think of the zone and getting in the zone. This guy in postseason absolutely mashed. Fred Lynn.
MIKE OZ: I didn't know he played for the Tigers.
MARK DEROSA: Did you know he played for--
MIKE OZ: No.
MARK DEROSA: I didn't either.
MIKE OZ: No.
MARK DEROSA: Ol' Freddy Lynn.
MIKE OZ: Hensley.
MARK DEROSA: This guy was my hitting coach with the San Francisco Giants.
MIKE OZ: Nice.
MARK DEROSA: Hensley "Bam-Bam" Meulens.
MIKE OZ: Give me a Hensley--
MARK DEROSA: Always positive. He's gave me-- he's gonna be a manager one day. He will be a manager one day. Always positive, "look to do damage." He always used to tell me, "look to do damage."
MIKE OZ: So I'm gonna--
MARK DEROSA: A nice guy.
MIKE OZ: I'm gonna go off that because you have been pegged as a guy who is gonna be a manager one day.
MARK DEROSA: We'll see.
MIKE OZ: We've seen all the broadcasters go into the dugout. Where do you fall?
MARK DEROSA: We'll see. The timing's gotta be right. I'm totally interested, and it gets my juices going. This is gonna sound emotional. I'm not trying to be emotional. But my dad was always around when I was a kid. And I appreciate it now. And I have a 16-year-old daughter and a 10-year-old son. And I like being around right now.
MIKE OZ: 1999, so let's place you. You had just started--
MARK DEROSA: I got a call-up in '98--
MIKE OZ: You had just got in the big leagues.
MARK DEROSA: --'99. BA, he's in the book. I took him deep. He's in the book.
MIKE OZ: "Into the book." I don't know that I've ever heard that phrase. You know this guy though. You know that guy. He's your co-worker?
MARK DEROSA: Co-worker, dinner partner.
MIKE OZ: Now, let me tell you.
MARK DEROSA: Clifford.
MIKE OZ: Cliff Floyd may have gotten the worst pack of cards ever on this show.
MARK DEROSA: He didn't ask for a redo?
MIKE OZ: Well, you might have gotten the--
MARK DEROSA: I'm making a mess.
MIKE OZ: You may have beaten it. But your second pack was good. Ray Durham looks very happy to be here.
MARK DEROSA: Ray Durham could play. Second base-- I remember him more with the Giants.
MIKE OZ: You should've picked this pack. We got Albert Belle.
MARK DEROSA: Stud.
MIKE OZ: Why you taking my cards?
MARK DEROSA: Oh, you're holding 'em?
MIKE OZ: Man, come on.
MARK DEROSA: My bad.
MIKE OZ: Did you ever play with Albert?
MARK DEROSA: I did not. I played with the next guy.
MIKE OZ: Yeah I know you-- I know. I know you saw it, Andruw Jones. Is that your guy?
MARK DEROSA: Yeah. Andruw's been my guy for a long time. We've been on a ton of vacations with Andruw and his wife Nicole. We used to go on a lot of vacations with them.
MIKE OZ: What's your best vacation spot?
MARK DEROSA: Me personally or with him?
MIKE OZ: No, you guys. Yeah, what's your-- where do you go? Paint the picture. We're in Barbados. We're drinking Mai Tais.
MARK DEROSA: Yeah. We're at the Sandy Lane drinking fruity drinks in Barbados. He's a fish, by the way. He grew up in Curacao. I swear he's got, like, gills. He can like-- disappears in the ocean.
MIKE OZ: You're gonna want to trade for all my guys. I got Cliff, I got Andruw. Larry Walker.
MARK DEROSA: Stud.
MIKE OZ: Larry Walker--
MARK DEROSA: Hall-of-famer.
MIKE OZ: --not appreciated. Darin Erstad.
MARK DEROSA: Erstad, I got-- pondering Nebraska, whole deal. The first time I got on first base with the Angels, everyone told me that he doesn't talk too much. And I'm very cordial out on the field.
I'm competing hard. But if you get on the base, I'm like-- hey, what's up? I gave him a "hey, what's up?" Stoned me. Stone-- nothing. I'm like, all right. Never said, hi, again.
MIKE OZ: Piazza?
MARK DEROSA: Love "Pizza."
MIKE OZ: I got all your guys, man.
MARK DEROSA: You're in my cut right there.
MIKE OZ: '99, you should've picked this one.
MARK DEROSA: Mike Piazza, funny story. My second at-bat in the big leagues, I asked-- no, I wasn't asking. The bench was asking. Because they thought Dennis Cook scuffed the baseball, they asked me to check the baseballs.
My second at-bat ever in the big leagues, I asked the umpire if he could check the baseball. And Mike Piazza stood up and towered over me and said, are you kidding me? I said, Mike, it's the dugout. I promise, it ain't me.
MIKE OZ: It was them.
MARK DEROSA: It ain't me.
MIKE OZ: It was them. They made me.
MARK DEROSA: I'll gladly hit the rosin bag if he throws it.
MIKE OZ: They made me. All right, Aaron Sele.
MARK DEROSA: I don't think I faced him.
MIKE OZ: He fits our like-- man, that was a guy who's baseball card I wanted at one point.
MARK DEROSA: Yeah.
MIKE OZ: All right, time to make a trade.
MARK DEROSA: Who'd you'd see in here you liked?
MIKE OZ: Oh, I kind of like Dante. I kind of like-- but I mean, you want all my people. You're gonna want all these guys. You want Piazza. You want Andruw Jones.
MARK DEROSA: If I'm going one guy though, I'll gladly trade you Dante Bichette for Cliff Floyd.
MIKE OZ: I kind of like Bobby, just 'cause he's Bobby Valentine. I would do a Bobby Valentine and a Dante Bichette for a Cliff Floyd and a Andruw Jones.
MARK DEROSA: Done.
MIKE OZ: You'll take that?
MARK DEROSA: Yeah, I'll take that.
MIKE OZ: You'll take that deal.
MARK DEROSA: I think I got the better of that.
MIKE OZ: Mark DeRosa, it was a lot of fun. Thank you.
MARK DEROSA: Always, man.
MIKE OZ: Appreciate it.
