The Post’s Steve Serby chatted with Yankee All-Star Gary Sheffield about Bonds, BALCO, the Boss and much more.

Q: Do you think you’re physically or mentally tougher?

A: Mentally.

Q: What is your definition of mental toughness?

A: Not taking yourself too serious. Not taking what people say about you too serious. Because a lot of things people say can destroy you. And there were a lot of things that people said to me as a kid that could have destroyed most kids.

Q: So it’s hard for you to trust?

A: Yeah. So, basically, that made me mentally tough.

Q: You’re very tight with Barry Bonds, right?

A: Not as much.

Q: What happened?

A: Because of this whole BALCO thing.

Q: Why did that affect your friendship?

A: Because I’m the type of person, if I introduce you to anybody, I’m not gonna introduce you to my drug-dealer friends.

Q: Did he try to explain his side.

A: It was a legitimate company, that it was all good intentions of going there and doing the right thing, and not knowing what they were doing behind closed doors.

Q: So you felt betrayed by him?

A: Kinda.

Q: What ticked you off most about the whole BALCO flap in spring training?

A: Test me, say what the test says and move on. You’re making it public news, but you ain’t making my test public news.

Q: What does it mean to you to be the first man to be an All-Star with five different teams?

A: It’s not a real big deal to me, because I don’t look at stats and what I’ve done in the game and try to define myself. It’s something to say you did, but it ain’t nothing to brag about.

Q: The one pitcher you would least like to face in a clutch situation?

A: Robb Nen.

Q: The one batter you would not want to see in a clutch situation?

A: Barry Bonds.

Q: Describe your feelings for the pitcher.

A: Either your family … or mine.

Q: You remind Reggie Jackson of himself with your approach.

A: I just don’t care about my surroundings, I don’t care about the situation, I don’t care if it’s the last out in the World Series, a man on third, I want to be up there. I’m not fazed by any of it. I can get it done or I might not get it done but it’s not gonna affect me one way or another. I want that kind of pressure.

Q: How intense was George Steinbrenner was while you were negotiating with him?

A: (Laughs) Oh man! If anybody can explain it, I want to find out who. I would say a typical billionaire, and that’s why they become that. They know how to separate friendship and business in a matter of two sentences.

Q: Hank Aaron was your guy as a child.

A: My granddaddy used to talk about what he endured and how he got through it. He wanted me to pattern my game after him, because he’d say he wasn’t a one-dimensional player, he was an all-around player.

Q: Describe what you’re like on the field.

A: Violent, but under control.

Q: Violent how?

A: In when I see a baseball, I want to attack it as a hitter. When I go after a ball, I’m going after it like my life is on the line. When I’m running the bases, I’m always thinking, “Get to home plate.”

Q: What’s different about wearing the pinstripes?

A: You can’t describe it. A lot of people try different things to describe what it’s like to be a Yankee, and what makes it different. There’s nothing in the world that you can compare it to. That’s what makes it different.

Q: Do you think people understand what you’re really like?

A: No. I know they don’t.

Q: Is that the media’s fault, your fault, or both?

A: I think it’s a little bit of both, media and my fault, because it started with the media determining who I was at 18 when I first got to the big leagues. And as an 18-year-old, there was no way I knew how to defend myself, and explain myself. I’m an only child, so I’m always used to being alone. So I never really had to interact with anybody, and that’s how I came in the league.

Q: What would you want New York fans to know about you that they can only see from a distance?

A: What you see is what you get. I’m not gonna politic people to like me. I’m gonna go out here and play my guts out because I love the energy that they give this ballclub, and their dedication to this ballclub, and I’m gonna give everything I got, and hopefully that’s enough.

Q: Why are you embarrassed when you strike out?

A: Because, it’s like baseball is a challenge, and the pitcher’s up there to either get you to fly out, ground out or make an out. And the worst way you can make an out is striking out.

Q: You’re afraid of dogs; any particular ones?

A: All of ’em. Puppies, everything.

Q: You were at all the ’86 Met World Series games. What was that like watching Uncle Doc Gooden?

A: I was probably more nervous than he was, because you wanted him to do well.

Q: Favorite movie?

A: “Scarface.”

Q: Favorite actor and actress?

A: Denzel Washington and Sharon Stone.

Q: Favorite singer?

A: My wife (Deleon, gospel).

Q: Favorite book?

A: The Bible.