Joe Girardi Q&A: Former Yankee talks catching perfection, managing Domingo German and Kyle Higashioka

Having been behind the plate for David Cone’s perfect game in 1999, Joe Girardi knows what it’s like to catch baseball history in a Yankees uniform.

So when Domingo German and Kyle Higashioka teamed up for the 24th perfect game ever on Wednesday night, Girardi related with ease. He also felt some pride.

In addition to catching for the Yankees from 1996-1999, Girardi managed the club from 2008-2017. That span included the starts of German and Higashioka’s time with the Yankees, first as prospects and then as big leaguers.

Higashioka joined the organization in 2008 and debuted in 2017. German arrived in the majors that same year after the Yankees acquired him in a trade in 2014.

Being on the East Coast, Girardi only saw the start of Wednesday’s perfecto in Oakland before watching highlights Thursday morning. Nonetheless, he was eager to talk about his own perfect game experiences and two of his former pupils in a chat with the Daily News.

*This interview has been edited for clarity and length*

— When did you realize Cone was working on a perfect game?

You start to see it in like the sixth inning. And then you start to go over the lineup in your head, how you get through it one more time. The biggest bat in that lineup was Vlad Guerrero. And that’s who we had to get by. And then you really think it’s a possibility after you get by him. It had the feel of a playoff game, and you don’t get that too often in a regular season game.

— Did you change anything you were doing once you realized that?

No, I don’t think so. Because you’re always trying to get everybody out. But the pressure that you feel gets larger with each out. The pressure of calling the right pitch or not blocking a ball on a strike three.

You start thinking about all the ways that you can screw it up. That’s what you really have to control.

— Did you talk to Cone once you knew? Or were you superstitious about it?

No!

I never really talked to him during the game. All our game-planning was before, and he was a guy that was extremely locked in, very intense. He was not a guy that you would necessarily go to the mound very often because he might yell at you and tell you to get back and shut up and catch if you had something to say. So I understood that and I would laugh when he was yelling, but it was all part of being his catcher in a sense. You had to understand who he was. He needed to blow off steam, so no, I didn’t say a word. And really, in a perfect game, there’s not a whole lot that can go wrong that you need to be talking about.

— As a manager, what were your initial impressions of German when he first came around?

He was hurt. He had Tommy John, and you could see he was coming back from that and how whippy his arm was. There was talent there, and [pitching coach] Larry Rothschild was working really hard to give him a breaking ball. He had an excellent changeup at a very young age when we got him, and he was just a kid that you could say, “I can see this panning out some day.” He threw hard. It looked like it would be an uncomfortable at-bat.

I’m really happy for him because he’s been through a lot. Now, some of it’s been brought upon by himself, but he’s in a special club. I mean a really, really special club. Even the stuff that he’s been through this year, I’ve always believed that he was really talented, and I’m really happy for him. He’s a good kid. A really good kid. That makes me sound old.

— What about Higashioka? He had to spend a long time in the minors before getting a crack at the big leagues.

Oh, I always loved Kyle! Always loved Kyle!

When he was in big league camp when he was younger, he would come and he wouldn’t get to play a ton because he was pretty young, but man could he catch, could he frame a pitch. He was just really soft back there. He could block, he could throw. And then he had some arm problems, but still. He was a fairly textbook catcher back there that really knew and understood the position. And his power didn’t come until later. But he was more than that. People were attracted to him because he was funny. And he would play his guitar in the clubhouse.

He was a great kid. He was a kid that that you pulled for because of the way he was.

— He’s caught Corey Kluber’s no-hitter and now a perfect game. What does that say about him as a game-caller?

He’s really smart, and he does his homework. That was never our concern when he was a young catcher. I felt comfortable when he was in A-ball sticking him with anybody. Because I knew that in a spring training game that he would take care of the pitcher. I had no concern, and that’s not always the case with young catchers. A lot of times, the veteran pitchers won’t want to throw to a young catcher because they don’t think they understand them. But that was not Kyle. Kyle was that guy that anyone was willing to throw to.