Is Turk Wendell Living His Best Life as a Farmer?!

Turk Wendell is enjoying his second career as a farmer, living on a farm in Adel, Iowa, with cattle, pigs, chickens and cats! Listen to this breakdown where Turk explains what a day in the life of a former big leaguer turned farmer is like, learn how many eggs Turk gets a day, how the cattle are …dispersed and more!

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Jay harwitz with amazing conversations with uh one of my closest friends in the game Mr Turk Wendell thanks for joining us Turk Jay it’s always my pleasure to help you out and just be part of your life buddy okay T let me would you be insulted if I called you eccentric absolutely it would be come on J you know you can’t insult me come on you know you know before we start what I want to talk about is you know we’re outdated now I don’t know if you remember we we got you and the trade with the Cubs in 97 you wanted 13 alons was worth we gave you 99 now every Club in baseball has a 99 now I mean uh I don’t think that was because of me but I mean will you were you were probably the only have 99 then we were you know Williams had it in Philly for a little bit and um you know I was first person in New York but I think you know I mean let’s be real Aaron judges had a lot to do with that but that’s after that’s pre that post Turk though I mean Taiwan Walker had it after you I remember we went through the whole thing we s up some bands but now you pick up every what is it 30 teams 31 teams probably every team has got a 31 he got a 99 now oh it’s pretty cool I mean it’s a unique cool number I I think that’s one of the reasons I chose it yeah I you know you this but we we got remember fansy speaking to a relief pitcher with the Mets who once pitched a nine straight game that’s one two super nine that would never happen today will it tur no way because not only was it nine games but I think I threw 23 or 24 Innings what did Bobby V have against you Turk he didn’t like you no nothing at all I hey I I I get paid to play I get paid to pitch so yeah and I was on a roll and I felt good if I didn’t feel good I would have told him you know I need a day off what happened for the 10th game though I forgot to ask you I don’t know I have no clue maybe it was a blowout and they didn’t didn’t need me in the game at that point so you’ve settled now in Arley Iowa right how did you Iowa Day Day Iowa near De Moine right yeah it’s about 35 40 miles up how did you settle in in day Iowa aell J like like a singer Adell like Bobby Rell yeah not an r a i know okay how did you settle where you are well when I played tripa out here with the with the Iowa Cubs uh I just fell in love with the area the people um and then I lived here in the off Seasons um unfortunately when I got married my ex-wife now uh had a job in in Denver so that’s where I kind of settled once I was married and then after I retired we got divorced and I said once my son Wyatt graduates high school who’s my youngest of two children that I would move back to Iowa he graduated May 6 and I was here May 15th well so what how long you been here for it’s gonna be six years this June or July the name of your Ranch is why after your daughter Dakota your so why I know is playing with in the Arizona chain playing um M League ball yes so how is he doing he’s doing good he got invited early to go to camp this year on the minor league side with um you know to be maybe that Justin guy for some Big League games this spring that Justin Justin in case they need a back how do you spell Justin call him the jck or the Justin they call guys up just in case they need them for a fill in or something like that someone uh gets hurt or doesn’t uh get to his it gets to his pitch limit too soon without getting enough outs or something that so and your daugh play softball I played I mean she’s a soccer player but now she’s she’s a police officer in man now that’s great I mean where did she go to school Mano State and she played she played soccer so athletic kids you know she was she was an All-American both academically and uh athletically so that was pretty cool for her I mean as far as uh women’s athlete you know they can’t get much higher than that other if she went to play for maybe the Olympic team or something did you did why take your number what what numbers did he were they gave him 46 he’s not at the point where he can pick and choose yet he’s just glad he’s got a uniform so I gotta so you live on a how many acres is your farm my farm is only 48 Acres but I have uh at least the 120 behind me I have access to the 120 to my so it’s about 300 acres right there at the house and then there’s about uh six or seven other Farms that I have access to that we we uh sett around you you sent me some great videos and we’re going to show what this podcast probably my favorite is uh every Farm has to have two cats uh we was here on the two cats I thought it was Tom and Jerry now it’s Tom and Sher well I guess they had a lot of cats between them it’s was yeah they’ve had I think three lit so far and I think they’re I think it’s pregnant again too so probably explain to the people why does every Farm have to have cats well I mean just to control the mice you have feed with the cows with the chickens and everything so there’s always crumbles of food around uh that kind of thing and little hiding places for mice and it’s just kind of the way it is so you know you like to have these Farm cats a lot of times they’re not as nice as cats we have I think it’s cuz uh they get fed too much I you had a picture you were feeding them how many times a day do you feed them uh I feed them once or twice they stay they they stay outside yeah I built them a little house they like to stay in there got some straw for when it’s cold out in the winter time it’s a you know it’s a little metal metal hut dog dog explain something to a guy Bor in New Jersey you said vide were they were cows pigs chicken it wasn’t any sheep Jay no was no sheep no so there were cows cows pig pigs chickens chickens one particular day you had a good day you got 24 eggs yeah that’s usually about what I 20 I got 22 yesterday so 20 to 24 eggs a day what do you make egg creams with them Kirk make whatever you want um omelets you can do Sunnyside you can do uh poached eggs you can do hardboiled eggs like today I have an egg salad sandwich for lunch do you do you sell them at all or no or yeah I I do a little bit of selling and I do a lot of just giving away to my buddies what they come byy you you a lot of eggs to spare and everything oh yeah I mean think about it Jay I mean I can’t eat 24 eggs a day all my buddies my other farmer buddies I’ll give them eggs uh uh give some to the neighbors you trade off what do you get from your neighbors oh yeah no we trade off uh my neighbor his wife’s from Poland so I gave him 158 eggs the other day think was you know just over 13 12 13 dozen eggs and she makes a lot of sourdough bread some really good desserts so they’re always bringing me stuff like that tell me about the chickens I mean how many chickens do you have uh well I guess I have at least 24 Jay if I 24 math was isn’t your strong suit no no no no I have two roosters and I think there’s 25 or 26 laying hands so what’s your daily routine what when you when do you get up in the morning uh I get up about 4:30 quarter five and what what do you do first um probably usually take the leak well good J shower I’ll shower and uh get a little breakfast um go out do some chores I just started working for my buddy um at a it’s company called Midwest wheel where they sell truck parts for big trucks and light duty trucks so I’ll do that for now in the summertime from 6:00 to 2 uh then come home do chores with the with the chickens and then the cattle and uh the pigs and stuff the pigs pigs won’t be around much longer though I think we’re going to slaughter them next week and who do you give them to then uh uh we’ll divide them up between five or six of my buddies farmer buddies and stuff we we’ll slaughter them another another nonfarm question the cattle what what do you what do you do we raise them you know my buddies pretty much handle all that stuff they raise them and we Slaughter 12 to 13 every year and we divide them all amongst each other so I’ll usually get half a cow to a full cow um slaughter them hang let them hang for a couple week to age and then we all all get together with wives and stuff and uh cut them up and package them and label them you know burger and roasts and ribs steaks whatnot and usually it’s today’s you know we’re doing one of my good buddies is farmer Matt he did a lot of the video work for the stuff people are going to see with the cattle and um you know he’ll split half a cow with me and I you so it’s just it’s kind of a cool really friendship live off the land um you know old school kind of thing did you ever think you get into this TK when you were playing I know I had dinner in your house when we were in Denver I remember we at the dinner table and it was like a bear over my right shoulder yeah no that I mean how big of a farm did you have in Denver or I had 220 acre ranch out there uh it’s kind of weird when you get out to the Midwest no one really has a ranch it’s a farm when you get out west it’s not a farm it’s a ranch and I don’t know if it depends on the acreage or just the geographic location of where you’re at but uh I had we had a house when I was married on a on a prestigious golf course Castle Pines Golf Course in Castle Rock and then 45 minutes south of there is where the ranch was I mean did you think you’d be far mat Turk when you were playing or how how no I never I I always envisioned owning a land I didn’t Envision actually being a farmer and growing crops and planting stuff and it’s really pretty cool even when I do the garden and can all my vegetables and stuff uh it’s just so much fun it’s such a great appreciation when you plant a seed in the ground and then all this grows and you see the deer eating it and the turkeys eating it um just the simple fact that it you planted that seed and it grew it’s pretty awesome I mean even the garden I plant I get so many pickles and so many zucchini and squash I can’t give them away enough do you do you so you you all your meals you grow I mean you don’t go to the downtown grocery shop to shop then right or no not usually I mean I go in there for butter and we don’t have any dairy cows so yeah but you know butter milk little things like that orange juice no I have a bunch of fruit trees so I get a lot of blackberries make jam uh for smoothies too I have lots of peaches and apples um I haven’t had good luck with strawberries and blueberries for some reason how how much help do you have turkey may you do it yourself yeah pretty much just do it myself like my buddies you know they do the cattle thing the chickens and all that I do all that myself do you miss the I mean what’s the closest movie theater to you are you uh you can get to the movies in 20 25 minutes so I mean do you were I mean do you you missed that part of not beating the city or are you kind of no no I I’m okay being alone being out by myself um but if I want to go in town it’s it’s not that far it’s it’s a little it’s a lot closer here than it was in Colorado I mean in Colorado um my kids drove 52 miles one way to go to school every day wow I know I know um you love coming back to New York and the fans love seeing you here you’ve been back the Oldtimer a game what’s your memory of the Oldtimer at game first when you came back a couple years ago it was really awesome and you know the Cohen just did an unbelievable job and the detail they they you know from swag to a ring to just being part of such a cool event that hasn’t been that they didn’t have for a very long time and hopefully they have it again because I got lots of feedback from it and people thought it was going to be every year but it was cool to get to know and talk to players from a different generation that I never got to talk to or meet and uh you know just that kind interaction and seeing guys that I played with that I haven’t seen in years and you know joking about man these uniforms are a lot smaller today than used and you come back for a couple of fan events and I mean I you could sense the excitement right the people absolutely yeah you know tenfold it’s just the whole organization to me now the way the cones have taken over and you really taken a whole another level of pride in not just being owners but being fans um I that trickles down to everybody really it’s just how everyone’s treated now and you know how can you not be excited about that I love coming back and I wish I was closer so I could come back more and people still remember you turkey I see you you know you know you’re not you spend time with the people you you engage him you talk to him you just don’t sign an autograph or leave which is you know that’s the way to do things I know it’s why the people always love having a these kind of and that’s kind of what it’s all about you know being a player is not just being being a player and it’s the respect for the fans of course you know you’re going to run into fans that are jerks or players that are jerks are having bad days and stuff too that’s just life but to me it’s just what I I think you owe the fans the appreciation and the respect of um you have the the privilege in humble honor of putting on a uniform and playing the big league level every day and their dedication to support you because without the fans the players are nothing I remember Kirk when you were when you when when you were a player came to us and wanted to start your own charity thing we used to call it wend wends and one of the few players that I worked with took the initiative to start their own charity stuff every Wednesday he did something to give back to the community yeah and that’s just the way that helped me stay grounded too and um just appreciate what I was able to do and try to give back and having kids of my own and then helping other privileged kids if it’s just putting a smile on their face for a day um it just makes you appreciate life and family and children and the whole thing it’s just uh you know like I said it’s just a great honor to to to not just play baseball but to be a met I mean I’m I’m a huge Met fan now and still follows on TV T TK oh yeah absolutely um you know I grew up a Red Sox fan I’m still a Red Sox fan but I find myself watching more met games now because um you know I like to do a lot of stuff for for you guys whenever you ask me to I there’s I would do anything to support the Mets in any way shape or form to promote the Mets and support the Mets how of do you see your your son play to her I went and saw him last summer I I’m sure I’ll go out wherever he is this summer and see him play um projection wise I think he would he’d be in the big leagues hopefully within two to three years how proud would that make you for oh are you kidding me that that would be unbelievable I I I get more nervous watching him play than when I played yeah and I just for me he works so hard at it and that to me seeing a lot of kids coaching a lot of kids growing up it’s kind of a lost art I told him as a young kid if he wanted to play I would help him but it takes a lot of hard work and at four years old he would say Dad sit down watch a game with me so I can learn and he could tell you you know guy didn’t stay back on change ups and why’d he get out in front on that pitch and you know he’s a student of the game and you almost have to be now with the analytics and stuff so he’s he’s way far above me as far as the whole analytics side of the game goes um but I’m very lucky because he’s just a really good kid and my daughter is unbelievable too I mean I I considering all the stuff they had to go through uh as children with the metes you part of a Renaissance 99 and 2000 for the first time in club history we made the postseason two years in a row um a great bunch of guys I always felt the 2000 team of course we lost to the Yankees at five games you know but I think by four runs or five runs probably the most unappreciated team we never really got the credit we deserve because you know certain guy lost the first who’s the losing pitcher in game one yeah that was me buddy oh it was you I didn’t know that yeah I was the losing pitcher game one in that x a little little what a 20 hop ground ball a little flare byy you know to left field yeah but those are two pretty lot of great bunch of guys you know great memories you know and um and and fony and Big Mike you know and uh was it’s a good group of guys and we lot of w a lot of games and you were a big part of that that I enjoyed every single minute of it and a lot of people asked about the world series of course that’s the goal by all 30 teams in spring training but only one team’s fortunate enough to LIF the trophy um but that’s the Pinnacle of your careers if you get get to play in a world series I mean I played and got to know a lot of players you know Ryan Samberg Cub players never got to play in a World Series win one yeah so I mean crazy guys you had Robin imitating really funny and Bobby V putting on his disguise yeah it was just a great group of guys great characters everyone uh kept everybody loose you know you had guys from like you said pza to L lighter chewing his glove on the mound if he gave up a hit to Super Joe mcing being that super utility guy before super utility guys existed in uh Lenny Harris being the alltime pinch hit guy and yeah Maddie Franco he just there was so many guys that made that whole thing so special yeah from Mike it wasn’t really a quote super super superstar you and I I actually been asked that question a lot like what separated you guys from you know because Mike was basically your only big Superstar player and the only thing I can really put my finger on is the fact that nobody cared who got credit for winning the game as long as we won the game and I think you know not a huge discredit to the Yankees but they have so many Superstar players all the time that a lot of their egos Clash because they all want to be the Superstar I mean who really cares if you’ve already got more money than you can spend your focus should be on winning that’s it funny story a couple years ago Benny bani came in do it so uh I I he did a TV thing so I asked a TV guy to ask him a question like we betting when it was coming the question was Benny how come you know think Kemo didn’t run out the ball game one and Betty was so Betty’s not gonna say big word about anybody well I mean he thought it was a home run I mean yeah just kidding obviously he would have been probably sitting in the Dugout before the ball got back to home if he if he knew it wasn’t going to go over the fence because he was so fast and you know truth be told teimo Perez is one of the big huge reasons no question Jay Payton and Teemo and Payton yeah Teemo came in when Derek Bell got h and was a huge spark plug to that team and to the offense that gets overshadowed by that one yeah what one thing hey promise me one thing before we go I I like egg creams you know you know what an egg cream is it is milk Selsa and chocolate serup and I would love to put one of your eggs in my egg cream so if you get a CH could you autograph the egg for me two J you bet how many eggs do you want two would be great two two two iend I got to send at least a dozen what what color eggs are they tkey they Brown uh they’re different colors here’s a here’s a unique fact for you city folks and fact that Jay is a very much a city Folk oh big TI big time so when I collect the eggs every day I don’t have to put them in the refrigerator why not because they have a a I don’t know I don’t want to say the word Shield they have a coating over the egg that you can set them you go to Mexico they don’t put eggs in refrigerators got you learn something every day set them if you put them in the refrigerator then they have to stay in the refrigerator but if you wash them then you have to put them in the refrigerator because there’s a coating that that helps keep the egg fresh and so you can literally have eggs sitting out on your cter that are farm fresh eggs for four or five months wow Turk I got a great idea the next day I come to City Field we’re GNA open up a stand Turk wendle autograph eggs I guarantee you we would sell a bunch of them I mean tell you right now I I laugh because now Wyatt after eating eggs every day for breakfast he’s kind of an egg snob and my neighbor say the same thing about his kids once you have farm fresh eggs you don’t want other eggs all right we next time BEC come you got to promise me pack some eggs in your suitcase and we’ll sell them in I don’t know if I can carry them if they let me I bet they [Laughter] would you’re the best I’m gonna bring you some you laugh I might even just send them to you yeah Mr wend you’re the best man you’re a good friend always count you’re the best yeah can always count Mr reliability I always counting you and we’ll bring it a couple times this season I promise you shk no where is Jay whatever work be safe hey you too buddy