- [Narrator] Funding for this edition of One-On-One with Steve Adubato has been provided by Holy Name.

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The Fidelco Group.

Fedway Associates, Inc.

The North Ward Center.

The New Jersey Education Association.

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Where Cougars climb higher.

And by Johnson & Johnson.

Promotional support provided by BestofNJ.com, all New Jersey in one place.

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- This is One-On-One.

- I'm an equal American just like you are.

- The way we change presidents in this country is by voting.

- I'’m hopeful that this is the beginning to accountability.

- Life without dance is boring.

- I don't care how good you are or how good you think you are, there is always something to learn.

- I did do the finale, and guess where my trailer was?

A block away from my apartment, it couldn'’t have been better!

- People call me 'cause they feel nobody's paying attention.

-_ It'’s not all about memorizing and getting information, it'’s what you do with that information.

- (slowly) Start talking right now.

- That's a good question, high five.

(upbeat music) - Hi everyone, I'm Steve Adubato.

We are honored to be joined by Harold Reynolds, who's not only a former great Major League Baseball player, but also an Emmy, four time Emmy award winning sports commentator at the MLB Network.

Good to see you, Harold.

- Hey, great seeing you, Steve.

- Harold, do you mind if I tell folks just a little bit about your exploits, if you will, on the field?

- Oh, absolutely.

- 10 seasons with the Seattle Mariners, two time American League All Star, three time Gold Glove second baseman, led the American League in steals in 1987.

One of the Mariners' career leaders in 10 offensive categories.

Also played with the Orioles, the Angels, philanthropist, the George Bush Senior Award Points of Light, Roberto Clemente Award, Dr. King Award for Humanitarian Efforts.

Harold, an honor to have you with us.

- Hey, my pleasure.

You know, you have a platform.

So I'm the youngest of eight kids and that's where all the humanitarian stuff comes from.

Grew up on welfare, single parent home.

And we always knew that when we got in a position to impact other people's lives we were gonna do that.

So that was kinda where that all comes from for me.

- Now, let's stay on that.

The other thing, let me disclose, is that Harold's daughter, my daughter play softball together.

They're at different ages, but they're hard working softball players.

And Harold's at virtually every game and people are constantly asking for his advice about things, and he's just there to be a part of that experience.

Let me ask you, softball/baseball for younger kids, harder to get them motivated to want to play this game than ever before?

- I think the numbers are changing a little bit.

Not as much anymore.

And obviously you and I are in unique situations 'cause our kids are constantly wanting to play, but globally, particularly in the U.S. the numbers are rising.

Actually, it's kind of a steady climb, the other sports are starting to decrease a little bit.

So it's kind of an oxymoron because you would think there's not as many kids playing baseball and softball as there used to be, but I think with softball being part of that equation, it is exploding across the country.

So I think that rises the numbers for baseball as well when we throw it in that group.

- Now, Harold, Major League Baseball, they got this rules committee, right?

They're changing a few things about the game.

Number one, they're trying to make the game faster.

How the heck do you make the game faster?

Help everyone understand that.

- Well, I think it's more about the pace.

A couple things.

One, the ball's not in play.

Clearly with the the high strikeouts and home run swings you're gonna get more strikeouts, and therefore the ball's not gonna be in play.

It's gonna be ball one, strike one, ball two, that type of stuff.

And about two years ago, I think the average was over four and a half minutes before the ball was actually in play.

So there's not as much action.

When I was playing, if you struck out 100 times in a season you were never playing Major League Baseball again.

You know, now it's like a guy's struck out, like, 100 times a season it's no big deal.

So we were the put the ball in play generation.

And so we worked a lot faster and the pace was quicker.

So I think that's why the rules are being implemented to kind of get guys in the box, swing a bat, let's go, let's get this game moving in hope of putting the ball in play more.

- Let's talk about a second change.

The shift.

So, Anthony Rizzo with the Yankees, right?

Left handed, you got six guys over on that side of the, that is being banned by Major League Baseball.

A, why?

B, what impact do you think it'll have, Harold?

- Well I think number one, why it's being banned is players won't hit the ball the other way.

Why won't they hit the ball the other way?

'Cause they're not being paid to do that.

We are in a time where they're being paid to hit home runs, on base percentage, that's where everybody's at in the front offices of Major League Baseball.

So for a guy like me or Rod Carew or my generation, walk up there and have half the guys on one side of the field, we would've just hit the ball the other way and went for a batting average and said, "great."

You don't get rewarded that way, so I think it's changed the game.

The reason the rule is in is to enforce action once again.

It goes back to that same thing.

Like, let's take Anthony Rizzo for example, left-handed hitter, Major league Baseball average for left-handed hitters on balls hit on the ground is .160 because of the shifts.

And so you'll see your favorite team, whether it's Rizzo or whoever it might be hit a ball to the right field, there's a guy standing out in the right field and he's actually the second baseman now.

And he's sucking up ground balls and throwing guys out.

So they want to take that away.

And the other part of that is that great athleticism is gone.

We always hear this generation is the best athletes, right?

But when you're standing as statues of five guys on one side of the field, you don't see that athleticism come into play.

With the shift rule, the plan is you have two infielders on each side of second base.

Their feet have to be engaged with the back core of the dirt.

That's all the deeper they can go.

- Right.

- Now you're looking for that athlete again.

That Robby Conal going up the middle and flipping it back over to second base, you know?

That type of athlete and action, we're trying to get that back in the game.

- Love it, and real quick.

Can I get the bigger bases?

The Major League Baseball is making the bases bigger.

Why?

- Well, that's one that kind of throws everybody.

But they tested all this in over 8,000 games in the Minor League and they found that the three inch difference, one, it's more put in for safety, for the first baseman's leaning in for a throw coming from across the diamond.

They felt like the numbers of collisions at first sometimes that you see, really loosened that up a little bit.

And then the other part was to encourage stolen bases.

You know, it is a game of inches.

I don't know if I would've all sudden said, "Okay, I got three inches, let me go run."

That changes everything.

But that is a big part of it.

But I think it all, they all work together, Steve.

And I'll throw this in there real quick as well.

The other thing is a throw over rule that pitchers have.

They have 18 seconds to deliver a pitch.

And then if you throw the first base twice on a pick-off, right?

Then the third time you either have to pick the guy off, or deliver a homer or it's a balk.

So that's- - You can't throw five, six, seven, I'm sorry for interrupting, Harold.

You can't just keep throwing at first base?

- No way, not anymore.

Only two throws over, if you throw over on a third time you have to get him out or it's a balk.

- Yeah, by the way, in 1987 when Harold led the American League in steals, I can't imagine how many more bases he would've stolen if the bases were bigger.

(chuckling) Can I do this one?

- Big difference.

- Harold, I saw you in the Derek Jeter documentary on ESPN, did I not?

- Oh yeah, yeah.

I told Derek there's no documentary without me.

I've covered his whole career.

- What is the most, as a hardcore Yankee fan, I have my Derek Jeter cup that I've been carrying around back in the day.

It's falling apart, but it's a Derek Jeter thing.

I loved Derek Jeter.

Love Aaron Judge as well.

Don't know where he is gonna be.

We'll stay with, we'll see what happens?

Derek Jeter matters to baseball because?

- Of who he is and the way he carried himself.

His legacy, I think, stands because of that unbelievable Hall of Fame player, all of that.

First Yankee to get 3,000 hits.

First (indistict) Hall of Famer, but it's the character of the man off the field.

You know, I met Derek when he was first called to the big leagues.

He was 20 years old I believe.

And he asked me that winter to go to Kalamazoo, his hometown where he grew up at and do a baseball clinic with him.

Went out there in snow, hung out with Derek and we've been tight ever since.

And he is the same person that I met when he was 20, and knowing him now all these years later.

He is just one of those special rare human beings that fame and fortune never affected him.

He knew all the time what he wanted to do and and how to carry himself.

And a lot of it has to do with his parents and his family as well.

- Give me a minute on this.

There's a broadcaster over on Fox, who I believe she was the one who said, "Shut up and dribble.

Athletes should play the game and not be engaged in social justice, racial justice issues."

Colin Kaepernick and the rest.

Go ahead.

- I mean, for me, I grew up in a generation where I'm just off the cusp of being involved in the early, the normal civil rights movement.

You know, I'm 61 and in 1965 and '68 and on through when it was really heated and heavy, I'm five, six, eight years old, and I'm growing up in a family, like I said, of youngest of eight.

And I mean, my older siblings knew all about the civil rights movement.

So I was taught in that.

And we were always taught, use your platform.

And I think now as the years have gone through, we see how important athletes are in our country.

And if we look back through the civil rights movement with Jackie Robinson or Muhammad Ali, or Jim Brown, or Bill Russell, all the the other athletes that have come forward and you can throw up Bill Walton, or other white colleague friends that have come with them through these movements.

If athletes don't stand up, I don't know where we're at in this country?

Because that really was the barrier breaker of accepting racial divide that came through athletics.

And so it played a big part anyway when you were seeing those athletes and they were able to be in locker rooms and tear down walls of stereotypes and become friends with people.

I think a lot of that has to do with the movement of the country that we have.

So I think there's a role for athletes, and actually if you're not speaking up I think it's a disservice for the platform that you have.

So I think you're called to duty with the platform.

- Howard, cannot thank you enough.

Not just for being with us, but for sharing particularly what you just shared.

Thank you my friend.

- Thank you.

- I'll see you on the field.

Well, not playing 'cause I batted, nevermind.

I went one for 16 on JV high school and then they said goodbye.

Go become a talk show host.

That's Harold Reynolds.

Thank you, Harold.

- It worked out pretty good for you.

- Yeah, not bad.

Stay with us, we'll be right back.

- [Narrator] To watch more One on One with Steve Adubato find us online and follow us on Social media.

- ( Ominous Music ) - (Off-Screen) Oh my God.

- Don'’t tell anyone.

Not ever.

- (Off-Screen) I can do this.

I can keep you safe if no one ever hears about it.

The boy you hit this morning is Jimmy Baxter'’s son.

- Do not adjust your television set or wherever you're seeing this.

We do have him.

He is Bryan Cranston, who needs absolutely no introduction other than being an Emmy Tony Award-winning actor, nominated for an Academy Award in his performance in "Trumbo".

You, I say this to certain people, but you absolutely honor us by your presence, Bryan.

Thank you so much.

- Well, it's great to be here, Steve.

Thank you for having me.

- Let me ask you, you're filming as we speak right now the second season of "Your Honor", which we loved.

My wife and I are going back and watching "Breaking Bad" again, Walter White, and I'm just, not for this show but because I wanted to get go back and see it.

When did you know that acting would be such a huge part of your life?

- Well, I knew that I was going to take a shot at it when I was 21 years old and I was riding a motorcycle across the country not knowing what I wanted to do.

And I was on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia and it started to rain and rain harder and harder.

So it got off and I spent the night in a picnic site on a cement slab with four posts and a roof and a little picnic table.

And for the next five days, I was stuck there because it never stopped raining.

And sometimes that kind of isolation gives you an opportunity to reflect and it sure did.

That loneliness was all-consuming, and actually, a great lesson in patience and... Contemplation.

And so I was reading a play and I realized, oh this is what is getting me through this boredom and loneliness.

And I thought, wouldn't that be amazing if you can actually make a living doing this?

And so I made a vow right there to attempt to do something that I loved, acting, and hopefully became good at as opposed to finding something that I was good at but wasn't in love with.

And it was that moment that everything just turned around for me.

- Can you do this for us?

And I know it's a cliche question, extraordinary actor on Broadway and film and television, "acting" acting or different based on the platform?

- It's different.

It's sometimes very different.

And now, most Broadway houses, the actors are miked.

So you don't have to really super project to make sure you hit the back row in the balconies.

But it's different in the way you're, you present yourself and the way you have to endure the hardships of it.

And I say hardships, but it's sometimes often a struggle because you're exhausted.

Doing a Broadway play is much harder actually than doing a film.

In the film and TV business, it's bits and pieces every day, a little bit here, a little bit there.

But in a good play, you're doing the beginning, middle and end every single performance, eight performances a week, one day off, and get into a system where it's so consuming that you talk to actors on Broadway and that's all they can focus on while they're doing it.

They're grateful to have the job but it is kind of a grind and you have to protect yourself.

You know, I think back on the old stories of Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole and all those guys who went out and just drank themselves into a tizzy after every show and then would show up to the theater the next day.

I couldn't imagine, I couldn't imagine doing that and being able to perform.

No, it takes its toll because when most people are starting to taper off throughout the night, at eight o'clock, nine o'clock, they want to start slowing down and resting, your body is telling you to do so, that's when performers have to be at their peak.

- Wow.

- I did the LBJ play and from 8:00 PM to 11:00 PM when the curtain came down I had to be at my strongest.

Well, it takes some retraining of your body and your mind to be able to feel like you are going to be at your strongest at those hours and then you just collapse afterwards.

- Bryan, Bryan, - I'm sorry for interrupting.

You just triggered something.

I don't know your workout routine, again, I know you're a Dodgers fan but I don't think you play a lotta, I'm not sure if you play a lot of baseball, but I've gotta believe you work out.

I've got to believe that physical fitness is a big part of how you do what you do at the level you do it.

Fair?

- Yeah, for me, it's necessary.

I used to run marathons.

I've ran New York City marathons and those days are gone, and I used to also play adult baseball.

- Oh I take that back, I apologize.

I sucked at baseball in high school.

I should not have assumed you, that was wrong of me.

So you played adult baseball?

- Yeah, yeah, I did for many years and then I had shoulders, my rotator cuff, I had to have surgery, and just the wear and tear, I'm now 66 and so the wear and tear, the arthritis, my shoulders are not functioning the way they used to but that's the way it is.

But I find that if I don't take care of myself, the older I get, the less able I am to be able to be fit enough to do Broadway.

- Yeah.

So by the way, I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge that Georgette Timoney, our executive producer and Bill Timoney, her longtime partner and spouse, they made the connection for us, and thank you for connecting with Bryan to allow him to be with us.

Georgette's telling me to get back on track, talk about "Your Honor".

So she's telling me, she's all kinds of things going on in here.

"Your Honor", you're not just a star of it, and what an incredible story, second season, Showtime, check it out, you're the executive producer.

- Mmhmm.

- What does that mean?

Help people understand that.

'Cause that's gotta be complicated.

- It is.

It's related.

It's all part of the storytelling realm, producer, writer, director, actor, we're all charged in our own lanes to being able to tell the story as best we can.

Many times there's hyphenates, as I have done, I've written, directed and acted, produced, and so you kind of wear different hats, but it's possible.

It's kind of like juggling.

You know, at first it could be clumsy, but then you do it enough, you start to get used to it and being able to realize there's balls in the air and they're coming down and you still have to have to make it work.

And I do enjoy it because I like the sense of knowing the entire entity of the story.

And so as opposed to an actor which really by nature, we're very self-centered animals, part of our training as an actor is knowing what your character wants, how your character is going to get what they want, who is in your character's way to get what you want, how you've, so it's a very, when you think about the training of it, it is very self-centered.

And so it's nice for me to be able to see all aspects of the creative element, not just so myopic in the actor's point of view.

- Bryan, I promised my wife, Jennifer, I'd ask you this as we're watching, I believe this season is, "Breaking Bad" started 2008, if I'm not mistaken.

- Yes.

- Okay, so going back first season, and for those of you who haven't seen it, it's not old, it's just iconic and important.

Playing Walter White, I don't even know how to, I don't have the adjectives to describe, complex, multifaceted, a whole range of things going on.

Did it change you?

This is where the Bryan Cranston, the person, the actor, but it looks like such an incredibly intense role to play.

What in any ways did it impact you, if at all, as a person?

- Well, I mean from a general perspective, it changed my career trajectory for sure.

There were several different things along the way, and I tell young actors this all times, you have to have patience, persistence, you have to have talent, and you have to wait for the luck to enter into that equation.

No career in Hollywood is ever really achieved without a healthy dose of luck.

And I have had it, whether it's the series "Malcolm in the Middle", "Breaking Bad", my Broadway shows- - "Seinfeld", I'm sorry for interrupting Bryan, "Seinfeld", oh yeah, that little show.

Go ahead, I'm sorry.

- Lucky breaks, lucky breaks.

And I think it's great to look at it that way because I don't, if you always look at these things that happen to you along a career as lucky breaks, it doesn't mean you don't put in the work, it's not mutually exclusive like that.

You must put in the work and then you hope for those lucky breaks.

And by accepting them as breaks, you prevent any sense of entitlement to enter into your world, which is a good way to live is that no one owes you anything.

Just keep working.

And that's where I credit my family and a work ethic that I learned from my mother's side of the family and it's served me.

- You know, you just triggered something else for me.

I've never been great with rejection and all the networks that fired me or didn't renew my contract or told me not to come back, I lost count, and that's why I'm happy to be with the public television family.

That's not the only reason, but I've never been great with rejection, the ego part of it, the insecurity part of it, the vulnerability, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

But for you to, that's my world.

Your world, I've got to believe that rejection, or particularly early on, a major part of it.

What advice do you have for younger folks who want to go into the profession but have never really experienced much rejection?

- Well, I look at it from a different point of view.

I don't look at it from that they love me or they don't love me.

I look at it from a point of view of you are in it because you must love to do the art within you.

When an audition comes up for an actor, it's another opportunity to act, and your job is to go into that room or on Zoom and do your work.

The decision of whether or not you will continue on being considered for that is not part of your work.

Just keep focused on what you do well and it will find its reward at some point down the road.

You have to have faith in that.

Being able to go into a career as an actor requires a lot of trust in fate that you answer the call that you're feeling inside of you, you put yourself in that position, you work really hard, you meet people, you show up on time, you know your work, you do a good job, you're respectful to everyone else, and that will permeate out and people will remember you to being that ultimate professional and being damn good.

- My feeling beyond all the accolades and the recognition you received and I also want to acknowledge your biography, "2016: A Life in Parts", an author as well, and yes, a Dodger fan.

You've helped a lot of people, Bryan, particularly those interested in, not interested in, have a passion for, believe they do, for acting and the arts.

I cannot thank you enough for joining us.

We wish you and your family and also the team at "Your Honor", we look forward, Showtime, right, Showtime?

- Showtime.

- Bryan, again, you honor us, all the best.

- Thank you, Steve.

- I'm Steve Adubato, that is Bryan Cranston.

See you next time.

- [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato has been a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by Holy Name.

The Fidelco Group.

Fedway Associates, Inc.

The North Ward Center.

The New Jersey Education Association.

Summit Health Investors Bank.

Kean University.

And by Johnson & Johnson.

Promotional support provided by BestofNJ.com.

And by Northjersey.com and Local IQ.

Part of the USA Today Network.

- Hey, hey, hey - hut!

- (Narrator) Nothing has ever been handed to me.

I've had to work for it.

On the field, and off the field.

Kean worked with me, guided me, helped me climb higher to get where I belong.

To change my life.

- (Knocking at door) - Hey, welcome to the team.

Cougars Climb Higher.

Kean University.