An Interview with Yankees Reporter Ken Davidoff

Well, that’s all the info about Ken, so let’s get to the interview.

Matt:  What sports did you play and watch as a kid?
Ken:  As a kid, I played organized baseball and soccer, but also loved bowling. I watched all the American sports, from baseball to football to basketball to hockey.

Matt:  When did you start realizing that you wanted to write about baseball?
Ken:  Probably when I was about seven or eight. I would read all the articles about sports in the Star Ledger and I would even write articles on the Yankees with my grandma’s typewriter.

Matt:  From the time that you’ve covered the Yankees, who has been the most exciting Yankee player to watch/write about?
Ken:  Hands down it’s got to be  Mariano Rivera . His consistency on the mound and his courtesy to others makes him one of the coolest people I have ever met.

Matt:  What do you think is the best Yankees team of all time?
Ken:  I’m gonna have to go with the 1961 Yankees. They were a stacked team, with  Mickey Mantle  and  Roger Maris  duking it out in the home run race and  Whitey Ford  on the mound.

Matt:  Who do you think belongs in the Hall of Fame that currently isn’t from all time retired players?
Ken:  Guys not on the ballot, but who I think should be in the Hall, are  Bobby Grich ,  Lou Whitaker  and  Willie Randolph .  I vote for  Edgar Martinez , and  Larry Walker . Some other people who deserve to be in are  Kenny Lofton  and  Kevin Brown .

Matt:  Which Hall of Fame Yankee has the best nickname?
Ken:  I will have to go with  Jim “Catfish” Hunter ”

Matt:  Right now in baseball, who would you vote for to win the MVP and  Cy Young  Awards?
Ken:  In the AL,  Robinson Cano  should win MVP and  Carlos Gomez  in the NL. For the  Cy Young Award, I will have to go with  Matt Harvey  for the NL and  Matt Moore  in the AL.

Matt:  What’s the funniest or weirdest story in baseball that has happened to you in your career?
Ken:  In 2001, there was a pitcher on the Yankees named  Brian Boehringer . I asked him if I could ask him some questions in Spring training and he said that he wasn’t doing any interviews for the whole year, and I had no idea why. Midseason, he gets traded to the Giants and the Giants play the Mets at Shea Stadium, a game I had to cover. So I go into the Giants clubhouse and I see Brian doing an interview and I said to him, “What the heck, man? I thought you said no interviews?” And he says to me, “I swear, this is my first one all year!” I got a kick out of that.

Matt:  If you could’ve met  Babe Ruth , what questions would you ask him?
Ken:  I would ask him about his childhood because not much is known about it.

Matt:  If you could add one non-Yankee pitcher and hitter from baseball history to the current Yankees roster, who would they be?
Ken:  The hitter would be  Barry Bonds  because I think he is one of the greatest hitters of all time and the pitcher would be  Christy Mathewson  because he had a very successful career.

Well, that’s the interview. Thanks a lot to Ken for agreeing to let me interview him. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this post and thanks for reading it. Check back in a couple of days for more of “all the buzz on what wuzz.”