Cone reflects on rivalry ... from Sox side

This story was excerpted from Ian Browne’s Red Sox Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

David Cone was one of the top righty starters in MLB from the late 1980s all the way through the ‘90s. He won 194 regular-season games and eight more in the postseason. Now one of the most informative and engaging analysts in the game, he is part of the Sunday Night Baseball team for ESPN and called Red Sox-Yankees games the last two weekends. A few days ago, I caught up with Cone, who enthusiastically recalled his one season pitching for the Red Sox.

MLB.com: I think your place in the rivalry is interesting. Everyone thinks of you as a Yankee -- and rightfully so, given the four World Series titles you won with them -- but I bet a lot of people don’t even remember you pitched for the Red Sox in 2001 and had a pretty good year. Were you hesitant to sign with Boston given your long ties to the Yankees?

Cone: A little bit. But just the juice of staying in this Northeast corridor because of this rivalry and how much it means was important. It’s just center stage, it always has been. The mound at Fenway Park and the mound at Yankee Stadium and even Shea Stadium when I was there, it felt like center stage. I was 12 years old in the ’75 World Series, and Luis Tiant was my guy. That ’86 World Series just sucked me right in, the romance of Fenway.

MLB.com: After you had a career-worst 6.91 ERA in a nightmarish 2000 with the Yankees, you lowered it all the way to 4.31 in Boston. How satisfying was it to get back on track that year in Boston, and what was the key to your resurgence?

Cone: Kind of simple, but I just adjusted my offseason workout program. I had dislocated my left shoulder down the stretch in 2000 and continued to pitch through that injury. So I got my body strong again, kind of a re-dedication of working out. Started throwing year-round like a lot of guys do nowadays, really. We were discouraged from throwing the ball all year round. I know a lot of guys take a couple of weeks off, but they throw. They continue to throw and build nowadays. We just kind of shut it down and put it in the garage so to speak. They don't do that anymore.

MLB.com: You got to pitch in the same rotation as Pedro Martinez in 2001. What was that like?

Cone: His charisma and presence in the clubhouse, it was like no other. He could be there a half-hour before the game. When he’s ready to pitch, he’ll go pitch. Doesn’t even have his uniform on, listening to music and dancing. Or in a funny mood, messing with his teammates. It’s like, "Pedro, you’ve got to go warm up. The game starts soon." And he’d go out and strike out 15 guys. He was remarkable.

MLB.com: Do you think he was the best pitcher you ever saw?

Cone: In his prime, I think so. There was just something mythical about him. Just his style of pitching, kind of winging it in there, almost 100 mph from a lower, almost side-arm delivery the way he threw the ball. A slingshot delivery. It’s kind of like Tiant and [Juan] Marichal in that regard. Just the style to him that was like no other.

MLB.com: How about Manny Ramirez? After battling against him for years, you got to watch him as a teammate in 2001.

Cone: It’s like a pure shooter in basketball. His swing was so pure. It just really was a thing of beauty the way he could swing a baseball bat. Up close, you really learned to appreciate that much more.

MLB.com: Another thing I remember about you in 2001 was that epic duel against Mike Mussina in September at Fenway. The game was scoreless in the top of the ninth, when the Yankees finally got an unearned run off you. Mussina came one pitch away from a perfect game, but Carl Everett broke it up. It was a Sunday night game on ESPN. How fun was that for you?

Cone: That was just a gift for me. After the face-plant the year before, my last year with the Yankees, to have that kind of a night again to me was everything. It just really was. I really felt for Mike that night, too. One pitch away. That’s just unreal to get that close and have it slip away. I could empathize with him. I was the last guy to throw a perfect game at that time. He was going to be the next one.

MLB.com: The last game of the ’01 season, you pitched at Camden Yards. It was the final game of Cal Ripken Jr.’s career. What was your approach with Cal that night?

Cone: I know we talked about it before, and he probably would have wanted me to pitch him the way I always did, but I made it known early on I was just going to challenge him with fastballs. I wasn’t going to try to trick him or embarrass him. It was like, “Here it is.” I’m not going to lob it in there. “Here’s my fastball.” He almost hit a homer the first time up. He hit a bullet to left field right to the wall that had some topspin on it.