Jim Leyritz Tampered To Avoid Getting Traded To Red Sox | OutKick Hot Mic

Living through the MLB trade deadline can be a headache for players. Jim Leyritz, once an MLB journeyman, shared a story about an almost divine intervention leading up to MLB's trade deadline in 1999 when a luckless team wanted to acquire him.

The former Yankees player joined OutKick's Hot Mic with Jonathan Hutton and Chad Withrow on Tuesday, ahead of the league's trade deadline.

ATLANTA, GA - OCTOBER 24:  Jim Leyritz of the New York Yankees bats during Game Five of the World Series against the Atlanta Braves on October 24, 1996 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Sporting News via Getty Images via Getty Images)

In every trade season, well-known players are targeted, and Leyritz was once a frequently traded asset, which is all part of the business.

"Well, you know, I was that guy after ‘95 and ’96 with the Yankees," Leyritz said, speaking on being a perennial trade target. Leyritz shared his experience as a player that approached most trade deadlines knowing it was soon time to pack up and head elsewhere.

Leyritz added, "All of a sudden, I played for a couple of teams that weren't going to make the playoffs. They always traded me to a team going to the playoffs. 

"There was quite a bit of my last three or four years of being pretty much packed up on July 12th, and I just wondered where we were going to wind up because we were going to end up somewhere. It's not easy."

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The two-time World Series champ, playing 11 seasons in the league, shared that he once managed to avoid a bittersweet return to Boston after his name popped up for trade considerations. 

Leyritz spent one season with Boston prior to that year's deadline (1999) and didn't want to go back, so he got creative and called in a favor from former Yankees owner George Steinbrenner. 

"I played for San Diego. It was a situation where I got a phone call. I was on a rehab assignment, 1999, in Las Vegas, coming back from a broken hand. I got a phone call, and all of a sudden it was like, 'Hey, you're being traded to the Boston Red Sox.'

"And I said, ‘No, no, no, no, no, please.’ I don't want to go back to the Red Sox. And they said, 'Well, we need to make a trade for you in the next day or two. I'll give you 24 hours to figure out something else.' 

"I put in a phone call to George Steinbrenner's secretary, Debbie Nicolosi. I said, 'Debbie, tell George I'm being traded back to Boston.' She goes, 'Nope, you're not going to Boston. You're coming here.' Within 24 hours, I was traded back to the New York Yankees. That would be considered tampering, I'm sure. But we got away with it back then."

NEW YORK - CIRCA 1995: Jim Leyritz #12 of the New York Yankees in in action during an Major League Baseball game circa 1995 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx borough of New York City. Leyritz played for the Yankees from 1990-96 and 1999-2000.  (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)

For more, watch OutKick Hot Mic w/ Hutton & Withrow live from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., ET

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