John Flaherty: From Yankee Catcher to Color Commentator

By Brian Clifford

Former New York Yankee and current YES Network commentator John Flaherty, whose baseball career began in the Rockland County Little League circuit, came to St. Thomas Aquinas College to speak to students in a Comm Arts Seminar class recently. He spoke honestly and openly about his experiences in Major League Baseball and his transition into television.

When he played in the Majors he was a catcher for several teams and many of us know that when he was with the Yankees he was backup to Jorge Posada. He told us that because he didn’t have the big name it added more pressure when making the shift to television. He knew he was going to have to be better at this career than many of the great ball players who made the shift before him. He took this attitude and worked hard to be where he is now and truly enjoys his career.

He is able to look back at the early days when he was full of nerves and laugh about his inexperience, he said, even though at the time he would watch the video and analyze his follies as his worst critic. He continues to be his toughest critic and that his why he has been so successful and has not been replaced. He talked about how he was lucky to use his college education after his baseball career ended and that he loves what he does. He only works 70 days out of the year and can spend his new found free time with his family and he values all of the time he gets with his family.

He left the class with two main messages. One, always believe in yourself and believe that your dreams can always come true. He said that at seven years old he dreamed of being in the Big Leagues and that with hard work he was able to make that dream come true. And secondly, be open to try new things and embrace new challenges because you will never know where they might lead you.

Flaherty told the class how he chose communications and public speaking as a college major because he was terrified of public speaking and wanted to face it head on. This major lead him to his current career and he loves going to work in the morning.