Let’s begin by catching up on our most recent Pop Quiz questions:
1. From John Collins of Greenwich, Conn.: Name the famous White Sox hitter who gets a shout-out in a 2013 musical episode of the TV show “Psych.”
2. From Collins again: Name the Hall of Famer who appears on a 2011 episode of “Psych.”
(Yes, John Collins of Greenwich, Conn. appears to like “Psych” quite a lot. I’ve seen a portion of one episode, I believe, and found it rather charming.)
In Sunday’s Post, we ran a story on Roc Nation Sports, the young athlete representation agency that already has made an impact and, because of the fact that its co-founder is Jay Z, has generated far more than the usual amount of anonymous chatter from other industry folk.
I really enjoyed working on this story. I spoke with Juan Perez, Michael Yormark and Ron Berkowitz on a conference call July 24; I attended Rusney Castillo’s workout July 26 at the University of Miami, where I met the mysterious Perez for the first time; and I went into the belly of the beast on July 28, spending about an hour with Perez (and Berkowitz) in his Roc Nation Sports office. Perez wouldn’t allow a Post photographer to accompany me. I made other phone calls along the way, naturally, and my Post colleagues Brian Costello, George A. King III and Paul Schwartz all contributed, too.
As you want to be the case in a story like this, I couldn’t squeeze every last detail into the story.
Thanks to the Internet, we now have the forum to share some of those extra details:
1. I thought it was interesting that Roc Nation Sports took in the Yankees’ CC Sabathia last winter, given that Sabathia is locked up through 2016 with a vesting option for 2017 and, even before his career-threatening right knee injury surfaced, he had clocked the worst season of his career in 2013.
Here’s one benefit of landing the big lefty: As one of the game’s most respected players, he can serve as a Roc Nation Sports ambassador. A recruiter, too, though maybe one who’s more reactive than proactive.
“Obviously, I know a lot of athletes in baseball and in other sports,” Sabathia said last week in a telephone interview. “If anybody wants to come to me and talk about coming to Roc Nation, I’m happy to talk to them. It kind of does it for itself, but I’ll be sure to talk it up and definitely let them know how good it is.”
As I noted in the story, Roc Nation Sports bigwig Michael Yormark told me that the agency plans to announce the addition of three or more athletes in the next 90 days.
2. Jose Cano, Robinson’s father, always has been a character to watch in his son’s saga. A mostly minor league pitcher who threw in six games for the 1989 Astros (his manager was future Mets skipper Art Howe), Jose Cano threw to Robinson in his three Home Run Derby appearances. On occasion, he’d speak about Robinson’s impending free agency, and when reporters would track down Robinson to ask him about his dad’s words, the primary response would be an eye roll.
At Roc Nation Sports, Jose Cano remains on the radar — more so arguably than if Robinson Cano had remained with Scott Boras. According to Perez, Jose Cano played a role in Roc Nation Sports’ landing of Castillo.
“A friend of mine contacted me, this guy from the Dominican,” Perez said. “He said, ‘There’s a Cuban kid out here. I think you should come check him out. I was in New York City. Robbie Cano happened to be working out in his town. I had my friend contact the player and say, ‘Why don’t you come to Cano’s field?’
“Cano’s dad came down and looked at him and gave him the thumbs up.”
There surely was more to the landing of Castillo than that; the process with Cuban defectors usually involves a good amount of red tape. Yet I found it interesting that Jose Cano was involved.
3. Perez talks a big game, but I was more entertained by it than offended by it. It felt more like confidence than arrogance. Here are two great quotes that I couldn’t fit:
a. As I noted in the story, Perez and Jay Z first contemplated starting this arm of Roc Nation about five years ago before launching in April 2013.
“If I would’ve done this five or six years ago, I would’ve had LeBron [James, of course], Carmelo [Anthony, of course], Tom Brady, Derek Jeter…,” Perez said. “They all probably would’ve been with us.”
Jeter told King he does know Perez. He pointed out, however, that he has known his agent Casey Close since he was 18. Jeter wasn’t going to leave Close.
Anthony will participate in a Roc Nation Sports charity basketball game Aug. 21 at Barclays Center, so there is a relationship there. However, Anthony just re-signed with the Knicks and didn’t use Roc Nation Sports to represent him.
b. I asked Perez whether he thought anyone else would try to replicate what Roc Nation Sports is doing, blending sports and entertainment folks so … directly.
“People could try,” Perez said. “But to be Roc Nation, with this mix of the entertainment world and the sports world? You’d have to get Jay Z, Beyoncé, Shakira, Kanye West, Robinson Cano, Kevin Durant and CC Sabathia in one year. Good luck.”
Your Pop Quiz answers:
1. Harold Baines
2. Wade Boggs
If you have a tidbit that correlates baseball with popular culture, please send it to me at kdavidoff@nypost.com.