Mike and the Mad Dog

Johnny Vander Meer remains the only pitcher in MLB history to throw two straight no-hitters in consecutive starts. As John Means attempts to tie that feat in Queens on Tuesday, we resurface an old interview with Mike, Chris, and Vander Meer from 1996.

Then-Mets general manager Omar Minaya appeared on "Mike and the Mad Dog" on Jan. 25, 2006, just as the back pages were accusing him of showing preference toward signing Latino players. “I understand when you’re the first Hispanic general manager, there are going to be people that are going to look at everything that you do and try to analyze it or try to say, ‘He’s doing this because of that,'” Minaya said. “The fact is growing up in New York City, I never think about race. “The New York Mets, what we’re trying to do as an organization is put the best team on the field.”

Boomer Esiason and Dan Reeves were among the parade of big-name guests to wish the "Mike and the Mad Dog" show a happy 10th anniversary in November 1999. At the time, Reeves was the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, who were struggling a year after reaching their first Super Bowl, and Esiason was the color commentator for “Monday Night Football.”

 Derek Jeter’s best season came in 2006, when he batted .343 with 14 homers, 97 RBIs and 118 runs. But he only finished second in American League MVP voting, being edge out by Minnesota’s Justin Morneau.Mike and the Mad Dog thought Jeter should have won, and on Nov. 21, 2006, the day the results were announced, they wanted answers. What was even more perplexing for Chris “Mad Dog” Russo is how one voter put Jeter sixth on his ballot. Mike and the Mad Dog tracked down that writer, Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times, and put him on the spot. “To me, you take Jeter out, are the Yankees as good a team? No. Are they a playoff team? Probably still a playoff team when you look at that lineup,” Cowley said. “So I mean, I base it a lot on that, and I talk to people. You grab some guys from around the American League and tell them: ‘Which guy do you think is the MVP? Which guy do you fear the most in that lineup?’ And I heard more people say they fear A-Rod and Cano more than they fear Jeter.” “They’re not watching Yankee games,” Russo fired back. Earlier in the show, the guys talked to Ed Price of the Newark Star-Ledger about why he voted Morneau first and Jeter second. “Everybody has their own definition of MVP,” Price said. “That’s kind of the beauty of it is that it’s open to interpretation.”

In this "Mike and the Mad Dog" clip, Chris “Mad Dog” Russo tries to call a horse race. There are only a couple of problems: Chris doesn’t have binoculars, and he’s not sure where the finish line is.