Mario Cuomo Author: 'He Was an Extraordinary Man'

William O'Shaughnessy, the author of a new book about the late Mario Cuomo, talked with Newsmax TV Wednesday about the former New York governor.

During an appearance on "The Steve Malzberg Show," O'Shaughnessy said Cuomo "was an extraordinary man" with whom he had a friendship for 38 years.

"I kept him waiting in the lobby of our radio station up in Westchester and he never let me forget that," said O'Shaughnessy, a longtime radio host. "I'd never seen anybody like this. He was so bright and so intelligent, I wanted to flee from the studio to get out of there."

Cuomo died in 2015 at age 82. O'Shaughnessy's new book "Mario Cuomo: Remembrances of a Remarkable Man" is available now.

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O'Shaughnessy was asked about Cuomo's minor league baseball career, which lasted just one season. He left the sport after recovering from being struck in the back of the head with a pitch.

"I called him a failed baseball player with too many vowels in his name," O'Shaughnessy said. "As he lay dying in his final days, somebody at our radio station found a baseball card for the Brunswick Pirates and we framed it and sent it up to the hospital.

"There's a great story … this wise guy reporter, the Steve Malzberg of Buffalo, said, 'governor, you've got $2,500 as a signing bonus and Mickey Mantle only got $2,000 and Mickey Mantle jumped in and said, I think that was the dumbest scout I ever saw.'"

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