A Yankee and Patriot - A Q & A with Jeff Nettles
by: Daniel Buontempone | Staff Writer - NY Sports Day | Wednesday, July 21, 2004
 Jeff Nettles is the third baseman for the 2003 Atlantic League Champion Somerset Patriots. He is currently batting over .350, leading the Patriots in runs, home runs, and RBIs. The third sacker also won the 2003 ALCS MVP Award for the Patriots. While Nettles is performing very well with the Patriots, he is working hard to get to the next level. Inspired by his call-up to AAA, the former Yankee farmhand works hard and is hopeful to one day play in the Major Leagues.
Nettles is the son of former Yankee great, Graig Nettles. Being around his father for so many years while he was in the Majors, Jeff knew as a young boy that he wanted to play baseball for as long as he could. Graig played for the Yankees for 11 years, with over 2,000 hits, 350 home runs, and 1300 RBIs over his career. Marc Russinoff, the Patriots Media Relations Director, peered out of the home team’s dugout entrance. Right behind him came Mr. Nettles, donning Patriots warm-up gear. As he approached me, he gave a firm hand shake and replied, "Hi Dan, I’m Jeff. How’s it going?" From the moment he stepped out of the dugout, I knew that this was going to be a great interview (and it was). After chatting a bit, I sat down and talked baseball with Patriots star Jeff Nettles. MOFO Sports: How did it feel to play for the Yankees minor league organization? Jeff Nettles: It was fun. It’s a first class organization, they treat you well. It’s a fun organization, and it’s the best organization in sports, so it was a great opportunity. MS: Did it feel even more special for you, playing within the organization that your father played for? JN: I didn’t really care. I just wanted to play ball. So, no matter what organization it was, I was just happy to get the opportunity to play. But yeah, it was fun. MS: Being in the Yankees organization as the son of a great Yankee, did you feel any additional pressure from the organization because of your father’s name? JN: No, I don’t believe so. Any pressure that’s given to me is put on by myself and I really don’t like to put pressure on myself, so I just go out there and play. MS: Growing up as a kid, did you feel any additional pressure to play baseball, rather than other sports? JN: No, I just always wanted to play. You know, I was always around it and it’s something that I’ve always enjoyed and always been around. So, there really wasn’t any pressure to play, I have just always enjoyed playing. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do. MS: Are there any players or teams you like to follow in the Big Leagues? JN: I don’t really follow any teams. I just follow sports in general. MS: Are there any Major League teams that you’d like to play for? JN: I’d love to play for the (San Diego) Padres. I’m from San Diego, so that would be the prime job for me, to be back at home. MS: What do you do in the off-season, outside of baseball? JN: I play a lot of golf and hang out. I try and keep my mind off baseball, because six months of baseball is enough for me. So, I just play a lot of golf and hang out, really. MS: I read that you are a friend of Drew Henson. Did he ever ask you for advice about choosing between football and baseball? JN: No, not for advice. He just let me know how he felt about baseball, whether he’s having fun or not or whether he was leaning towards football. He’s never really asked me for advice, because his family has enough influence on him, so he could have just talked to them. But we were just hanging out, and if he ever wanted to talk about anything, I was there. MS: How do you think he’ll do in Dallas this year? JN: I think he’ll do fine. Hopefully he’ll get some playing time in preseason and compete for a job. I read some stat where the last four or five quarterbacks started five or six games a year for them (the Dallas Cowboys) from (Quincy) Carter to (Troy) Aikman to (Chad) Hutchinson, guys like that. So hopefully he’ll get some time in, and be ‘the guy’ next year. MS: Do you have any pre-game rituals? JN: Pre-game? No. No, I really don’t. There’s nothing I need to get my mind cluttered with. I just worry about playing the game. I don’t really have too much to do. I mean, I just get loose, the same way everyday. I run and throw and make sure that I’m ready to play. MS: Do you have a favorite memory in the minor leagues? JN: Getting called up to AAA, which was the highest level I ever got to. It was good to know that you were there, and you knew that you were one level away (from the Major Leagues), so it was a pretty good feeling. When I was little, I got to follow my dad around. But this time I was a player, so it was kind of neat. MS: What would you say to someone who has never heard of the Somerset Patriots, to get them to come to a ballgame? JN: You could see a lot of great baseball for cheap. The tickets aren’t twenty or thirty dollars per game (per ticket); it’s only six, seven, eight bucks here. You can just see a lot of good baseball, and have a lot of fun. MS: Last Question: What was the best advice that was ever given to you? JN: To have fun with it, don’t take it too serious. You know, you just have to play the game, and don’t let the business part of it get to you. You have to have fun, and you want to give it your all. You don’t to turn around when you’re done and say, "Oh, I should have done this, I should have done that". You just have to do what you can when you’re there (in the game of baseball).
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