Pirates manager Derek Shelton finds Nolan Ryan, Mike Schmidt in pack of 1983 Topps | Old Baseball Cards

New Pirates manager Derek Shelton finds one of his 'favorite human beings' while openigs packs of 1983 Topps and 1999 Fleer Ultra baseball cards with Yahoo Sports' Mike Oz.

Video Transcript

Hey. It's Mike Oz with Yahoo Sports. This is new Pirates manager Derek Shelton, and we are going to open some old baseball cards.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

DEREK SHELTON: First and foremost, I want to say how excited I am to be a member of the Pirates organization. We're going to have a team that's going to be accountable, a group that's going to have fun. You know, we're developing a new culture for Pittsburgh baseball, and I'm excited about it.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

MIKE OZ: All right, Derek. We start off by asking this, were you into cards as a kids?

DEREK SHELTON: Yes, I was. Still have some.

MIKE OZ: Tell me about your cards.

DEREK SHELTON: Still have some. I have from the first year my son was born, my father bought it. So 2000 we have a full set that Edmund opened.

MIKE OZ: What cards were you chasing when you were--

DEREK SHELTON: It's funny, like, when I was young-- I mean, growing up a big fan. I was in Oriole fan growing up. So any time you get a Ripken card, it was cool. I was big into like looking for people's birthdays. Like, to see if it had my birthday or my brother's birthday.

MIKE OZ: I know for the rest of my life that Greg Jeffries has my birthday because I remember that as a kid.

DEREK SHELTON: I know that Jim Spencer has mine. How about that? That's crazy. And I got a chance to meet Spencer later on in my life. So it was kind of cool when you come and you're like, hey, that's the guy.

MIKE OZ: I was like that, too. I was looking at the-- what can I learn about you?

DEREK SHELTON: That's very cool.

MIKE OZ: Manager of the Pirates.

DEREK SHELTON: Yeah.

MIKE OZ: Big, big change this year. How are feeling about all that?

DEREK SHELTON: I'm super stoked. To be in the city of Pittsburgh with the people, and the energy, and the passion, and you know, a new general manager. So very excited, a lot of stuff going on. You know, first time doing it as a manager. So, ready to get started.

MIKE OZ: I feel like there's far worse ballparks you can call your office every day, right?

DEREK SHELTON: I think it's the best ballpark. I mean, I think you can go back to, like, the cards when, you know, they had the ballparks in it. The cards that had, like, you know, the four people in it. It looked kind of cool. But very excited to be at PNC park.

MIKE OZ: You picked 1983 Topps.

DEREK SHELTON: '83 Topps.

MIKE OZ: Which is also a very beautiful card. So you can you can open that up. Let's see who you go.

DEREK SHELTON: All right, here we go. So this is big, and I was telling our guys I wanted to make sure I got gum. I have gum.

MIKE OZ: It's in like six pieces, but there's gum.

DEREK SHELTON: '83, I would have been probably eighth grade.

MIKE OZ: OK.

DEREK SHELTON: So yeah.

MIKE OZ: Peak childhood.

DEREK SHELTON: Peak childhood. Started off with Junior Kennedy right away, although-- I don't know. He's doing some base running there. So that's a weird card.

MIKE OZ: Must be spring training. Oh, man!

DEREK SHELTON: Oh yeah, see? Nolan Ryan right there.

MIKE OZ: That's a nice looking card right there.

DEREK SHELTON: Oh, I got Ryan. I got to Schmidt. I got Trammell.

MIKE OZ: OK, we got to talk about each of these guys first.

DEREK SHELTON: We're going to talk about this guy right here. This is one of my favorite human beings on the planet.

MIKE OZ: OK.

DEREK SHELTON: I was able to coach with him in Tampa for six years, George Hendrick. I would consider-- George Hendrick was one of the few people in my whole career in the big leagues that told me every day that I was going to manage in the big leagues. He used to tell me all the time that my mind thought that way. So getting this card, you're not getting this card. This is no trade. Like, I'm giving you Schmidt. I'm giving you Ryan. I'm not giving you a George Hendrick card.

MIKE OZ: This is the perfect card that you could've gotten then.

DEREK SHELTON: Yeah. This is so cool.

MIKE OZ: OK, can we go back to Nolan Ryan real quick, though.

DEREK SHELTON: OK.

MIKE OZ: Do you have a Nolan Ryan story? Because I've heard so many great Nolan Ryan stories.

DEREK SHELTON: I think my Nolan Ryan stories are more like now as having coached in the big leagues for a while. Just the fact of seeing him at games, it's kind of surreal, you know, when you're seeing him sitting at a Rangers game over there, and you're talking about one of the greatest pitchers of all time. And you know, you grow up as a kid and you hope to be in a major league ballpark, and then you see someone you grew up watching. It's kind of cool.

MIKE OZ: We got Nolan Ryan, Mike Schmidt, and Alan Trammel [INAUDIBLE]. Man, that is 1983 gold right there. Where were we?

DEREK SHELTON: I'm going there. So I got Joel Youngblood here, OK. Roger Erickson. Oh, see? How about that? There you go.

MIKE OZ: Nice! Chuck Tanner, the Pirates manager.

DEREK SHELTON: You gotta show that one right there. You've got to go from the new pirates manager, and you're going Chuck Tanner.

MIKE OZ: There you.

DEREK SHELTON: Cool Pirates manager. That's kind of sick.

MIKE OZ: You gotta wear those hats.

DEREK SHELTON: I love that hat.

MIKE OZ: You thinking of wearing those hats?

DEREK SHELTON: We'll go back to the stars. Omar Moreno, had the opportunity to meet him the other night in Day Parker event, so that's kind of cool. I'm dealing. Your pack is going to have to dominate because my pack is dominating this right. Going Quisenberry and Sutter.

MIKE OZ: Dan Quisenberry looks--

DEREK SHELTON: And I got back to back Quisenberries, and I got Joaquin Andujar.

MIKE OZ: I loved Joaquin Andujar.

DEREK SHELTON: There is zero chance you're pack is beating mine. I mean, you're going to dominate.

MIKE OZ: Let's see. Starting off with a Bret Tomko, looked quite young. Tom Gordon.

DEREK SHELTON: Nice.

MIKE OZ: Tom Gordon's good. Ken Caminiti. RIP. Went to went to my college, San Jose State. Shout out to San Jose state. Todd Walker. Mike Frank. So far, I'm not there. So far I'm not--

DEREK SHELTON: So far I have gum and a lot better cards than you.

MIKE OZ: Status check not there. Al Leiter.

DEREK SHELTON: Saw him the other day. Very nice.

MIKE OZ: He's around. Nephew Perez. Brian Jordan.

DEREK SHELTON: Brian Jordan. Two way player.

MIKE OZ: I mean, that's gotta count for something, right?

DEREK SHELTON: Two way player. I like it.

MIKE OZ: John Wetteland and Pat [INAUDIBLE].

DEREK SHELTON: Pat [INAUDIBLE] I played against in college, so.

MIKE OZ: So yeah, my pack did not do it.

DEREK SHELTON: No, you didn't. I don't really know if I'm going to trade you anything. I mean, is this like part of the rule that I have to give you something, because I dominated your pack.

MIKE OZ: I mean, we can always just make like a small trade.

DEREK SHELTON: What do you want? OK. Small trade. I'll let you choose and then tell you no. What you got?

MIKE OZ: You didn't seem to care about Mike Schmidt. I'll have Mike Smith.

DEREK SHELTON: OK.

MIKE OZ: I'll take Mike Schmidt.

DEREK SHELTON: OK, I'm giving you Schmidt.

MIKE OZ: Well, see. Look at the Al Leiter card. It's kind of gold.

DEREK SHELTON: I'm giving you Al Leiter because he's still on TV. He's got some gold. I just talked to him the other night in the lobby. He's got the solid leg kick going.

MIKE OZ: I'll take it.

DEREK SHELTON: Let's check birthday. I can't see this. There's no chance. Way too small.

MIKE OZ: Birthday, 10/23/65.

DEREK SHELTON: There you go.

MIKE OZ: Not my birthday.

DEREK SHELTON: Not mine either. It's solid.

MIKE OZ: All right, Derek. That was a lot of fun. Thank you, appreciate it.

DEREK SHELTON: Thank you very much. Thank you for having me on.

[MUSIC PLAYING]