New York Yankees great David Wells slams ‘woke Nike,’ coddled ballplayers and Bud Light during Old Timers’ Day festivities in the Bronx: ‘That’s why everyone should carry a gun’
Nike is woke, baseball players are being coddled and everyone should carry a gun – says retired New York Yankees pitcher David Wells.
The slimmed-down 60-year-old southpaw joined Derek Jeter and a few other members of the 1998 world champion New York Yankees for Old Timers’ Day in the Bronx, where he lamented everything from “woke” culture to current club culture. struggles.
“We’re in a different world,” Wells told reporters as he donned a Yankees jersey with a piece of tape over the Nike logo. ‘It sucks. That’s why everyone should carry a gun.”
Wells, a beer-guzzling, soft-throwing southpaw who developed into one of the most successful pitchers of the late 1990s and early 2000s, has lost weight and gotten healthier in retirement.
But even without his famous weight, Wells remains one of the game’s most outspoken characters.
Nike is woke, baseball players are being coddled and everyone should carry a gun, said David Wells
Take, for example, MLB’s decision to allow the Nike logo on jerseys.
“I hate Nike,” Wells said while wearing one of the brand’s Yankee jerseys, albeit with the logo covered in white tape. “They’re awake.”
And like many conservatives, the Southern California native has also criticized Bud Light after the brand featured transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney in an Instagram post.
When asked if he would drink Bud Light again, Wells snapped back, “No.” The Athletics.
But Wells saved his harshest words for the current Yankees, who sit in last place in the American League East at 70-72 and are in danger of their first losing season since 1992.
David Wells’ Yankee jersey on Saturday had a white piece of tape covering the Nike logo
Without naming anyone, Wells seemed to imply that manager Aaron Boone and general manager Brian Cashman are not responsible for the problems, all of which he blames on the current players.
“It always seems like the (general managers), the managers and things like that get fired and get blamed for it, and that’s the players’ fault,” Wells said.
“If you’re not doing the work on the field, and if I was general manager, I’d send a message.”
Several Yankees players have disappointed this season, including pitcher Carlos Rodon, who came to New York as a free agent after signing a six-year, $162 million contract. Since then, he has struggled with injury issues while making just 10 starts and yielding a whopping 34 runs in just 46.1 innings for a 6.60 ERA.
For Wells, the answer is simple: send struggling players to the minors.
“I don’t care who it was, if he was in the stink hole – pardon my French, if you can say that now,” he said. ‘Don’t know. But send that son of a bitch to Triple-A or Double-A and send him a wake-up call.”
Wells recalled an instance where catcher Jorge Posada slammed him into a wall after a bad outing.
Well, Wells believes, such an act would be a clubhouse scandal.
“He hit me against the pillar and got in my face, but I respected it,” Wells said. “He said, ‘You gave up.’ And that pissed me off because I never gave up, you just get a kick in the ass every now and then.
‘But for me that’s what you don’t see anymore. You don’t see the boys hitting each other in the face. And it’s not something personal. You’re here to win, and that’s what they’re trying to do. From my perspective and looking in, I don’t think they have that kind of camaraderie anymore.”
David Wells celebrates his perfect game against the Twins at Yankee Stadium in 1998
Wells began his career as a mediocre starting pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays and Detroit Tigers, but began to find some success in 1995 when he earned his first of three All-Star nods. He would eventually be traded to Cincinnati that season before joining Baltimore as a free agent in 1996 and then, better known, the New York Yankees in 1997.
He pitched a perfect game for the Yankees in 1998 en route to his second World Series title.
But ahead of the following season, Wells would be sent back to Toronto in a deal for Cy Young winner Roger Clemens.
Wells wasn’t done yet, however, and was named to the 2000 AL All-Star team before returning to the Yankees and ending his career as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2002 and ultimately 2007.