Q & A with Jim Negrcyh

By Andy Bitter

Published: April 26, 2008

You’re from Buffalo. What’s the best thing about the city?
Just being around my family, something I haven’t been able to do since I was in high school (he went to college at Pittsburgh). And I guess local restaurants. There’s real originality there. There aren’t many chains. I like this little hole in the wall, it’s called Mackie’s, it’s a little place. That, or, I guess we go to Duff’s a lot. It’s nice. It’s a cheap wing place.

Is there a noticeable difference between Buffalo wings in Buffalo and elsewhere?
(They’re) just bigger, I guess. The skin’s a little bit different there too. There’s no breading. If you go to Hooters or Wing House, they’ve got breading on there. There’s none of that stuff going on in Buffalo.

Can you eat Buffalo wings not made in Buffalo?
I don’t eat at those places. It’s like spaghetti sauce. I don’t eat sauce at other places. My family’s Italian, so I’m so used to my mother and my grandmother’s spaghetti sauce. I can’t eat any of that other stuff.

What was your most embarrassing moment on a baseball field?
Last year when I tore my oblique, I crumbled like a sniper shot me. That could be pretty embarrassing. I was swinging and I got a step out of the box and just crumbled to the ground.

What’s the most annoying thing about the minor leagues?
Getting used to a new city every year is probably the toughest thing. Going out and being relocated every year. You’ve got to go to someplace new. And you get to know the people and then you’ve got to go.

What player did you admire growing up?
There were a lot of guys. I liked Derek Jeter a lot. He was just a quiet guy, goes about his business in one of the toughest places to play. He never makes any mistakes in an interview, never throws anyone under the bus. He’s always a team guy.

If you were commissioner of baseball for a day, what would you do?
I’d reinstate Pete Rose. Four thousand hits is a lot of hits to get. If you play a season in any type of baseball, you really respect something like that. It’s tough enough to get 200 hits in one year. You’ve got to do that 20 years at a minimum.

You can overlook his gambling?
The gambling happened after his playing career. I think he should be in as a player. I don’t think he bet on his team to lose any games either. He was always betting them to win. I know it’s bad, but he was unreal as a player. They could put a wing in the Hall of Fame for all the cheaters, like gamblers and steroid users? You can do a lot worse things that what he did. I’d definitely put Pete Rose in the Hall of Fame.