The Post’s Steve Serby chatted with the four-time Yankees champion and current YES analyst.
Q: George Steinbrenner liked to call you The Warrior because you refused to lose.
A: It was almost embarrassing at the time. People used to make fun of it. It’s a pretty good honor.
Q: Who are the warriors on this current Yankee team?
A: Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada mixed. . . . Derek is much more calm and reserved, but he’ll battle you to the end. If you add Posada’s intensity in there, if you take those two guys, you get a lot of what I believe helps a team win.
Q: Favorite George Steinbrenner story?
A: The 2000 World Series, playing the Mets at Shea Stadium. I used to go into the locker room between innings to try and relax. As I was going to the tunnel up to the locker room, I heard a bunch of commotion. I walked in, and the Fire Department was there. There was a leak. George was bossing people around with a fire helmet on. This was during the middle of a game!
Q: Yankee fans serenading you in the top of the ninth inning of Game 5 of the 2001 World Series.
A: That was just a weird time because of 9-11. It’s something you don’t forget as a player. How many people dream about it when you’re a little kid — let alone Yankee Stadium?
Q: Did you get goose bumps?
A: I do now when I see video clips of it.
Q: What did your wife think after the cameras showed you beating up water coolers or throwing a fit?
A: She used to meet me at the door and ask me what was wrong with me. I was just not good at getting out of the public eye. You gotta get up in the tunnel.
Q: Did Joe Torre ever talk to you about it?
A: He called me in his office one time and said: “I want to tell you one thing — don’t get hurt! I want you to think before you do something. That was the cool thing about Joe Torre — he’d been through all this stuff.
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Q: Game 5 of the ’96 World Series, bottom of the ninth, your immediate reaction when (Atlanta’s) Luis Polonia hit that drive?
A: Ohmigod! And then the ball took off on me at the end.
Q: Your thoughts as you ran in after making the catch in right-center?
A: You’re thinking of Bill Buckner — you don’t want to do something like that in a World Series game.
Q: Charlie Hayes catching the foul pop to end the ’96 Series?
A: That was exciting because it was so new. I remember the noise of the place. I don’t think I realized how many people were affected by the Yankees winning the World Series until the parade.
Q: The parade?
A: I think the players were more in awe than the fans.
Q: Where do the ’98 Yankees rank in history?
A: In my mind, I think it’s up there with anybody. Seldom do you have a team with a lot of great players all having great years.
Q: Catching the final out of David Wells’ perfect game?
A: Right off the bat it’s a shot of adrenaline. . . . It’s an easy fly ball.
Q: David Cone’s perfect game?
A: Some days in life are a little bit better than others. It was a day game, Don Larsen and Yogi Berra were there, I had friends from Cincinnati that day. . . . Then we went to a Bruce Springsteen concert that night.
Q: Most bitter defeat?
A: Definitely 1997 against the Indians. I remember that night flying back . . . sitting next to Andy Pettitte and talking . . . you can’t get it back. That’s the thing about playoff baseball. It’s over.
Q: Mariano Rivera?
A: It doesn’t matter if it’s April or October. When he gets the ball in tough situations, his demeanor never changes. He knows how good he is, but he doesn’t flaunt it in people’s faces.
Q: The difference in A-Rod?
A: It’s just confidence. In the past, you could see he was trying to take the whole thing upon himself.
Q: How could you tell Joe Girardi would be a manager?
A: He was my card partner. We’d go over strategies before the game even started.
Q: Meeting Joe DiMaggio at Old-Timers’ Day?
A: He just had that presence about him. And he had a suit and tie on.
Q: Meeting Mickey Mantle?
A: I can just remember his smile, that boyish grin you see in every picture.
Q: Playing for Buck Showalter?
A: I loved it. He was so in tune with preparation.
Q: Playing in Cincinnati for Pete Rose?
A: Obviously growing up, you watched The Big Red Machine. They were what you emulated in the backyard. If you were in his lineup, you were gonna play every day. You knew you were one of the best nine.
Q: Your 10-pitch at-bat in the Subway World Series before Armando Benitez walked you?
A: If he only knew I had no chance of getting a hit right there. I got down in the count — you keep battling and battling, hoping he’d make a mistake.
Q: Playing alongside Bernie Williams?
A: I can not see Bernie for years, and when you see him, it brings back that friendship, that trust. I asked him (before Game 1 of Yankees-Phillies) if he wanted to go out and have a catch.
Q: Willie Mays was your baseball idol growing up.
A: He just had that flair.
Q: Your nickname “Ace”?
A: I was shooting pool one time and I was running the table. This one guy said, “This kid’s an ace!” Since then, I don’t think I’ve ever been called Paul in my family since.
Q: Three dinner guests?
A: Tiger; John Travolta; Babe Ruth.
Q: Favorite wine?
A: Cabernet.
Q: Favorite New York restaurant?
A: Fresco’s; Mulino’s in White Plains.
Q: Your legacy?
A: Just being part of that dynasty team of the Yankees — if I’m remembered as one of the big parts of that team.
Q: Yankees-Phillies (prior to Game 2).
A: I still think something magical’s gonna happen for the Yankees this World Series.