SCOTT FERRALL SPEAKS OUT ON JUDGE, AND HE AIN'T LYING!

 

One of the reasons I’ve always had a soft spot for Scott Ferrall is simple—he says what’s on his mind. No filter, no fluff... kind of like Bleeding Yankee Blue! 

That’s always been Ferrall’s style, and it’s exactly why I’ve followed his career so closely over the years. In fact, if you’ve been with us a while, you might remember I had the pleasure of interviewing the man himself on Bleeding Yankee Blue way back in March 2012. If you haven’t read it, go check out WHY FERRALL SHAKES IT UP BETTER THAN ANYONE! It still holds up.

Ferrall is a lifer in sports talk—he’s been all over the place, leaving his unmistakable mark wherever he goes. So, when I came across a recent clip of him talking about Aaron Judge, I had to listen. True to form, Ferrall didn’t disappoint.

He praised Judge’s all-around greatness, even throwing around the word “MVP”—and honestly, Judge has earned it with the way he plays the game day in and day out who doesn't love Judge. But Ferrall didn’t stop there. When it came to the postseason, he got fired up—and I have to say, he wasn’t wrong. Here's a clip.

Full thing is HERE

What makes Ferrall special is his fearlessness. He’s not afraid to make big calls, to stir the pot, or to hold players accountable when they don’t deliver. He breaks down games and storylines in a way that’s sharp, unfiltered, and always entertaining. That’s what sets him apart.

And when it comes to Aaron Judge’s playoff performances? Ferrall called it like he saw it, liek we all did—he’s been openly disappointed. And fair enough. Judge hasn’t always shown up when it matters most, especially during the World Series. Ferrall’s point is clear: it doesn’t matter how incredible your regular season is if you can’t carry that momentum into October. One bad postseason can leave a permanent mark on a legacy.

Now, don’t get me wrong—Judge is on fire this season and I love it. As of now, his 2025 campaign with the Yankees has been nothing short of electric. He’s putting up monster numbers—crushing homers, driving in runs, and getting on base at a ridiculous clip. His .519 OBP is eye-popping and easily ranks among the best we’ve seen in recent MLB memory.

But here’s the thing: can he do it in a short series? That’s the million-dollar question, and it’s one Ferrall has been asking for a while now. Last October was a big test for Judge—and depending on how you saw it, maybe even a missed opportunity. So, if the Yankees make the postseason this year (and yes, it’s still early), all eyes will be on Judge again.

I’ll be honest—Ferrall’s take hits home. I love Judge. But postseason baseball is where legends are made, and so far, he hasn’t lived up to the hype when it’s counted the most. Ferrall just says what a lot of us are already thinking. That’s why I love listening to him. He’s a sports media icon who keeps it raw and real.

And as for Judge in October? I hope he proves Ferrall wrong. But until he does, I’m not arguing with the man.

COULD JETER BE THE FIRST UNANIMOUS HALL OF FAMER?

Craig Calcaterra at Hardball Talk is awesome. I love going there for nuggets and he and his crew never disappoint.  And there was another good one yesterday. He broke down a piece from Alan Hoskins of the Kanasa City Kansan, read HERE, in which Alan asked overall “experts” from around baseball, writers, ESPN dudes a big question...”Could Derek Jeter be the first player to be unanimously elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame?” And Alan points out that the answer is NO.

Outrageous... I know.  We’ve seen Jeter grow up before our eyes. Jeter is not only a Yankee Icon, there could actually be an argument made that Jeter is a baseball icon.  Not to mention, this guy's name has never been drug through the mud. He’s squeaky clean and what’s the worst thing we’ve heard about the guy? Oh, he gives a gift basket to the women he beds. Is that a bad thing? It’s better then cab fare I suppose.  The point is with all the records Jeter is breaking and all the All-Time lists he's on, not to mention the World Championships, the individual awards, the leadership, the sportsmanship, the respect... you have to be kidding me...I would have predicted Jeter would be the first unanimous Hall of Famer, no doubt.

 I remember asking my friend Scott Ferrall about Derek Jeter and the Hall of Fame while back.  Here is that exchange:

BYB: How quickly will Derek Jeter get voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame?

Scott Ferrall: DJ will go into Cooperstown on the first ballot.

Sure, not the same question, but still relevant. That alone would be anyone's answer. Sure, Scott Ferrall is not an expert, he’s a personality, but he’s a personality in tune with all of sports.  That’s what he does, his opinion matters. 

The point is, how could Jeter NOT get in first unanimously into the Hall? I know how... writers with allegiances and a hatred for the Yankees.  I doesn’t matter if these writers like Jeter or not. To them, it’s whether or not another Yankee gets in.  They will formulate an opinion based on bias against the Yankees rather than the individual. They will take another route because other baseball greats in the past were never voted in unanimously. But I tell you what, Derek Jeter clearly deserves a fair look... and it could and should be the first time it's ever happened, I believe that. 

Check out some of these quotes from Alan Hoskins article:

STEVE STONE, Chicago White Sox broadcaster and former Cy Young winner – “Babe Ruth wasn’t elected unanimously. Who could leave off Babe Ruth? No one should leave Jeter off but probably someone will.”

 JOE POSNANSKI, Sports Illustrated – “Probably not but I don’t know who would vote against him. Greg Maddux too, He has the stats. Someone might say Jeter is overrated but it will be close (to unanimous).”

 STEVE WEIBERG, USA Today – “I would like to hear one good reason not to vote for Jeter.”

 CHRIS BERMAN, ESPN – “Twenty-four voters didn’t vote for Willie Mays. Not everyone voted for Hank Aaron, I don’t get it. Jeter has more hits than anyone in my time. No one has ever thought of Jeter being a .370 hitter but he has more hits than George Brett. Rod Carew, Tony Gwynn; more than Cal Ripken who played 50 years. So the answer is no; no one ever has. What can I say? It’s goofy. But I’m not one of the 500 or 600 voters so they can’t blame me.”

That last quote makes me laugh...somehow Berman always makes it about him. Anyway, back to Jeter and the unanimous vote...  Will it happen? No, because it’s about as corrupt a pyramid scheme. The difference is,  the writers keep their opinions close to the vest and are never challenged once the votes come down.  After all, no one knows who the writers vote for anyway, so they're pretty much protected. 

Yeah, it sounds like I’m ripping on the writers and sure, it may not be fair, but that’s why I believe that writers should have no say in the process.  They’re not neutral, they write for teams all season, they form relationships with those teams’ players and believe it or not, those friendships provide a slant in the voting. 

Look, for all we know Derek Jeter will get in first ballot in the Hall of Fame, but a vote unanimously, well, it's clear he'll be blocked from that type of history.  Does it matter, maybe not, I mean, the guy's going to get in anyway whether it unanimous or not, but the fact that he wouldn’t get it unanimous is puzzling to me, especially after all he's accomplished.  Then again…we’re a Yankee blog, a Yankee fan blog and we love the Captain.

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WHY SCOTT FERRALL IS THE BEST...THANKS!

I mentioned radio personality Scott Ferrall as one of my favorite sports guys and if you haven’t read our interview with him, do it! Read WHY FERRALL SHAKES IT UP BETTER THAN ANYONE! Scott’s one of the most honest guys out there and he does what he says and says what he does. You need to listen to him and his crew on SiriusXM Howard 101 is you haven’t already.

Scott was nice enough to send us a clip of his recent BYB shout out to us on his radio show last week. I just wanted to share it because that’s what this blog is, we share what we can for our readers because we appreciate you all and would be nothing without you. Take a listen:



Thank you Scott Ferrall for your help and thank you again for one of our most popular interviews on Bleeding Yankee Blue. You're a good guy and you know it. Shake it up buddy!

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WHY SPRING HAS SPRUNG IN NEW YORK

Happy St. Patrick's Day!



(I Love the Pogues) You know it’s baseball season if you went outside in New York City today. It’s days like this that you realize how big the New York Yankees are. I’m not the only one sporting a Yankee hat today. It’s almost like subliminally, people associate spring and baseball because there is a ton of Yankee fans out there that seem to have come out of hibernation. Gotta love it. I’d be curious how many green Yankee jersey’s will come out on St. Patrick’s day. It’s funny, I always believed in the Yankees tradition, I always believed in the Yankees pinstripes or the dark navy blue hat or spring training jersey or the road grays…ONLY. These days though, I realize the importance of representing. As you now... BYB represents whenever we can, in fact, Scott Ferrall said it best in his interview with us WHY FERRALL SHAKES IT UP BETTER THAN ANYONE! He said:

"...you guys need to see a shrink because you've gone MAD over the Bombers, which I can appreciate!"

Come on...that's funny and it’s true, Yankee fans... ALL Yankee fans are passionate about our team. We get impatient when we don’t win. We get the whole city to celebrate when we do. Sometimes you forget the Mets are even in town, and that’s no swipe at the Mets or Mets fans, those guys are in the dark days much the Yankees were back in 1990, but all teams turn around the Mets will one day too. The point is New York Yankee heart is huge in New York right now, especially with the signing of Andy Pettitte yesterday, read HERE and you can’t beat it.

Yankee fans in New York bring me to a story about an little old man in New York that I see about once a year for some reason. He wonders Times Square and he is always wearing a Yankee jacket and Yankee hat. No doubt he’s been around for a long long time, but it’s clear, he’s always been a Yankee fan. Now, I tell you this, I don’t know his name, but I know he’s homeless. Every single time I see him, I walk up, shake his hand and give him some money. He clearly needs it. He looks at me and every single time he says softly, "God Bless You." It breaks my heart. This is someone's grandfather or father or relative and it appears he's all alone. Now, truth be told, I rarely take that kind of time, but I don't know what I is, I have an attachment to this guy. Maybe it’s the Yankee connection or maybe it’s the fact that he’s out there wondering the streets or maybe it’s both, but right around now, I run into him. If I do, I’ll take his picture and post it. Tell you what, I’ll even get his name for all of you, because for some reason, we’ve never exchanged names, but I consider him a buddy in my head.

And that goes back to my point, Yankee fans are all over the place and this time of year, we all represent larger than anyone. Yeah, there's no doubt about it... it’s Yankee baseball season in New York. The Cities alive again. We’ve forgotten about the short playoffs and now it’s a clean slate. God I love New York! Go Yankees!

And Happy St. Patrick's day everyone. Go out, have fun, but be careful, promise me.

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WHY FERRALL SHAKES IT UP BETTER THAN ANYONE!

Ultimately I love sports shows and grew up watching and listening to guys I consider true sports personalities... Howard Cosell, Phil Rizzuto, Don LaGreca for example. These are guys I truly loved and love to listen too now. Big shout out Don! That being said, there's another guy's career I've followed for years and I'm not afraid to say it, I'll lump him right into this category. He's one of the best and if you don't know... now you know. It's Scott Ferrall. Scott has always worked and he does it his way and still delivers some of the greatest sports opinion and analysis out there. If you don't know him, know him. He's on SiriusXM Howard 101 and you can also check out FerrallRadio.com. Because I get a kick out him and his world famous Shake it up!... I had to ask him a few questions about sports, the Yankees and just being Scott Ferrall. Enjoy this!

BYB: Growing up, which sport did you follow the most and why?

Scott Ferrall: I like baseball and hockey because the Pirates won the World Series in 1979 vs. Baltimore with Willie "Pops" Stargell and the 1980 GOLD in Lake Placid got me fired up about hockey, so I started going to Penguins games. In the early 70's, my dad took me to Wrigley Field, Comisky Park, Chicago Stadium, Soldier Field and Notre Dame Stadium to games. I was a huge sports fan from age 5 to this day.

BYB: Was sports broadcasting always something you wanted to do?

Scott Ferrall: Since I was very young, I wanted to be Howard Cosell and would often imitate him everywhere I went.

BYB: A lot of people don’t know this, but you were the host of MTV Sports. That’s where I first remember seeing you. How important was that show for your career?

Scott Ferrall: MTV was crazy and put me on the map everywhere, at least on TV. I was already syndicated nationally on radio twice at that point, but nobody really knew me until that gig. Eventually, I did Battle Dome on Columbia Tri-Star all over North America and that was even bigger than MTV. MTV stays young though and would eventually got rid of me at 35.

BYB: Do you think Pete Rose will ever have his ban lifted? If so or not, why?

Scott Ferrall: Not as long as Bud Selig has anything to do with baseball. I think Pete Rose will get in the Hall of Fame long after he's dead. He was unreal as a player, but has kind of been cheesy ever since.

BYB: Does it matter to you that steroids crept into sports?

Scott Ferrall: Drugs have been around forever in sports-it's that people have to be on everyone's ass and know their business. Nobody gave a rat's ass when players were coking and eating greenies. Steroids are treated like heroin by the media and fans. The players were using them everywhere and it was no big deal. It became a big deal when players started getting exposed and busted.

BYB: As a sports guy looking at big sports rivalries, how important is a rivalry like the Yankees and Red Sox in your eyes?

Scott Ferrall: Around NYC and Boston-it's all that matters. It's the biggest rivalry in any sport in both cities. It matters nationally too, because they always air it when they are playing, on National TV. It gives fans a reason to believe they're a piece of it. They can argue until they are blue in the face.

BYB: If you could meet one New York Yankee in their rich history, who would it be and why?

Scott Ferrall: I guess Mickey Mantle because he partied and got a lot of ass, so he would have been fun to go out and hang with. There are a lot of sports figures that I would rather meet than New York Yankees, you know me, I follow everything, no disrespect meant toward Yankee fans or the Yanks themselves of course. I just liked other teams and towns most of my life in sports. New York has been my home four times and later in life I've learned to respect it and admire it's fans and teams and it's history.

BYB: How quickly will Derek Jeter get voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame?

Scott Ferrall: DJ will go into Cooperstown on the first ballot.

BYB: Tell me about your radio show... Go for it, give it a plug…

Scott Ferrall: My radio show on SIRIUSXM Howard 101 speaks for itself ! It's cool and unique! At the end of the day though, I've learned a great deal about how I don't affect anything in the world! I just entertain people every night and enjoy doing it and feel lucky to have been chosen by HOWARD STERN to be a part of his channels and career. He could have chosen millions of people to do it, but he chose me. It's been quite an honor and very humbling for me personally. I've enjoyed it a lot and am very grateful for the opportunity.

BYB: Do you read Bleeding Yankee Blue? If so, tell me what you think?

Scott Ferrall: Yes, I read Bleeding Yankee Blue and think you guys need to see a shrink because you've gone MAD over the Bombers, which I can appreciate! BYB is kick ass!

Scott, you kick ass. Thanks for taking the time and you're one of my favorites. Thanks for talking with us. Let's do it again soon. By the way, you can check out Ferrall on Facebook as well HERE.

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SHAKE IT UP YANKEES!

There are 2 reasons I like the phrase... Shake it up! For me, it all started when the Cars made it a monster hit. The song makes me happy and brings me back to a simpler time when it was all easy. No responsibility... fun, fun, fun.


Then, years later Scott Ferrall, (@ScottFerrall) a good friend and terrific sports mind uses it as his slogan. He uses it better than anyone uses the phrase since The Cars did and once again, he makes it fun! I have always loved the phrase Shake it up!

So what's my point? I'm not sure. I guess as the song pours out of my Ipod today, I feel an energy like no other. I’m anxious and excited right now… Spring Training is literally right around the corner and the Yankees have a good team. Sure, we have what we have, nothing more... nothing less. We're the same. Rejoicing is fine if you are super excited about Andruw Jones and of course, the Monster himself, CC Sabathia, then yes, the Yankees did huge things this winter. But the Yankees should have done more and didn’t and all I wanted then to do was to Shake it up!

I wrote WHY I MISS GEORGE STEINBRENNER a few days ago because I do. In the back of my mind, I loved the knee-jerk reaction to getting top guys after a loss in the playoffs, although, I’m not going to lie, I could get used to this patient, laid back approach, too. I see what Cashman's doing... looking over each guy, counting his money, but more importantly, looking beyond 2012 for the big pond of free agents coming down the pike...Cole Hamels... Matt Cain... Felix Hernandez.

Shaking it up would have been nice and it would have required 1 pitcher. If we signed just 1 pitcher, I think the majority of us would have been happy with that. Look, things could still happen right? I mean, stranger things have happened; Alex Rodriguez was signed in February. I was on my way home from a Bucky Dent /Mike Torrez signing when I heard about the trade on the radio. February 15, 2004. It was exciting at the time, especially after it appeared the Yankees weren’t going to do much...then, they did, and eventually, in 2009, the signing of Alex paid off and we won a championship… on his back.

Yeah, I guess I’m just saying I was expecting the Yankees to Shake it up this year too, just like we all were. I knew this "patience" crap was always there, and sure, we could end up with nothing this off season, but what I’d really like is that 1 pitcher, someone to Shake it up, something to get all us Yankee fans motivated. It’s dull in Yankeeland, you have to admit that. We’re all robots searching for any nugget out there to grasp onto… me included. There’s no new news coming out of Yankeeland, it’s absolutely nuts.

So, if the words of Scotty Ferrall and Ric Ocasek… Shake it up Yanks… Shake it up!

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