Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Dave Winfield played 22 seasons, including nearly a decade with the New York Yankees, and won a championship with the Toronto Blue Jays in 1992. Winfield sat down at 92NY to chat with Brandon Steiner, founder and former CEO of Steiner Sports, as well as founder and CEO of CollectibleXchange and The Steiner Agency, to discuss his new book, “Touching All the Bases: A Story of Power, Purpose, and Surviving the Bronx,” on the eve of the book’s release in September. The book was written with Alan Maimon.
“It’s been in me for over 30 years,” Winfield, who is the only athlete ever to be drafted by four professional sports leagues — the MLB, the NBA, the ABA, and the NFL — said of his desire to write the book. “It wasn’t time to share my story. And as time went on, I kept adding. There was more and more added to my life and my story and my history. But the easy answer, the quick answer is that I finally got an opening after I finished playing [during COVID-19] where I just had the time.”
Winfield said that he was busy raising his three kids while also working at ESPN and Fox Sports doing television broadcasts.
Though the conversation discussed Winfield’s time with the Yankees and his famous clashes with then-team owner George Steinbrenner, Winfield was a phenomenal man off the baseball diamond as well.
He was among the first professional athletes to start a charitable foundation. In 1977, he created the David M. Winfield Foundation to provide educational scholarships and other services to underprivileged families in his hometown of Saint Paul, Minnesota.
“When I finally started making some money, I said, ‘I’m gonna give back,’ so I started a scholarship back in St. Paul, Minnesota, the Winfield Awards,” he said. “Started with minority student-athletes. We expanded it to other people, and we just had our 50th anniversary, sending over 500 kids to college over there.”
Winfield is proud to be a pioneer in philanthropy and to have inspired many, including a fellow Yankees legend.
“Before me, no one did it, so I was in fact a pioneer,” he said. “I remember Arthur Ashe asked for help, and I helped Arthur Ashe create his foundation. I did it with Martina Navratilova.”
Winfield then shared a story about one of the most popular New York Yankees players in history, Derek Jeter, and how Winfield inspired him to launch his own foundation once he became a professional. Winfield attended the 30th anniversary of the Turn 2 Foundation that Jeter created in 1996.
Later this month, 92NY will host Nara Smith in Conversation with Ashley Graham: Homemade on Oct. 12, a discussion of home cooking, wellness and Smith’s debut cookbook, “Homemade.”
On Oct. 16, Kind of Blue Band: Miles Davis Centennial Celebration I brings an all-star lineup, including Eddie Henderson, to Miles Davis’ masterpiece “Kind of Blue.” The following night, the Miles Electric Band: Miles Davis Centennial Celebration II takes on his fusion era, featuring Keyon Harrold and DJ Logic. Both concerts are presented with the Miles Davis Estate.
For more information, visit 92ny.org.
